This quote is my favorite quote from my silent reading book. I started this book and enjoyed it very much. Nicholas Sparks is one of my favorite authors because his books have writing which flow and they have great detail.
This specific book, A Walk to Remember, is very poignant. Although the book started off a bit tedious, it grew into a book which was so deep; I was preoccupied in reading than doing any other activities.
Basically, this book is a flashback of 57 year old Landon Carter who is recalling his events which happened 40 years ago, when he was 17 years old. His events and their descriptions are very relatable to my life.
The book starts off with a prologue where the older Landon is standing near the Baptist church which looks exactly the same as when it did when he was 17. The story is set in the year of 1958 which the older Landon describes as "joyful and sad".
He starts off as this senior at Beaufort High School which collaborates with the Southern Baptist Church to put on a Christmas play called The Christmas Angel. In the book, this play is originally written by the priest of the church, Reverend Hegbert Sullivan. This play is about a man who lost his wife while she was giving birth to their first child. He came up with this idea for the play based on his own life. This year, his daughter Jamie is playing as the main character of the angel, who comes upon the man on Christmas and gives him the gift of being a good father to his daughter.
Landon's family has a history of hatred with Reverend Hegbert. Landon's grandfather, who has passed away, used to manufacture illegal drugs and was also a banker during the Great Depression. He built this rich estate for the Carter family by preying on the poor. One of Grandfather Carter's employees was Reverend Hegbert and the Reverend regrets it.
Reverend Sullivan's daughter, Jamie, is exactly like Hegbert Sullivan. She carries the Bible around with her every day, reads the Bible in the library during lunch period and thinks that everything happens because He wants it to happen. In other words, Jamie was not the average high school girl.
Early in his senior year, Landon is elected student body president and must attend the Homecoming Dance. Mortified that he has no date for the dance, he asks out Jamie, Reverend Sullivan's daughter. He has known her for a long time and she wasn't very attractive the year before. This year, Landon has come to think that she might not be that bad in the looks department. To Landon's surprise, Jamie dresses very nicely and doesn't carry the Bible with her!
After the dance, to Landon's surprise (again), Jamie thinks they are such great friends that Landon would do a favor for her. Jamie wants Landon to participate in the school play and the play the role of the man. Landon wants to refuse but since Jamie went to the dance with him, the least Landon could do was this.
Throughout the course of practices, Landon develops a deep friendship with Jamie. On the day of the play, Landon notices how angelic Jamie looks in her angel outfit and realizes that he has fallen in love with her. He doesn't care now what his friends think. Jamie and Landon officially start dating when Landon invites Jamie over for dinner at his beautiful mansion like house. There he tells her his true feelings for her and they kiss for the first time.
As Jamie and Landon spend more time together, Hegbert feels more and more uncomfortable. He doesn't like Landon being around Jamie. Landon thinks that it is because Hegbert despises him but Hegbert has another reason.
One evening when Landon is walking Jamie home, he tells her that he loves her. Jamie couldn't take it anymore and told Landon that she was dying of a very rare type of lukemia and that she only has a few months more to live. Devastated by the news, Landon holds back his sadness and starts praying for her and for a miracle.
His prayers soon make him realize that he has a part to play in Jamie's illness; something that he has to do to mend an emptiness in his heart. As he realizes what it is, he turns to Hegbert for permission. He wants his daughter's hand in marriage. Hegbert cannot think of anything to say but yes.
As Landon is getting ready for the wedding he remembers Jamie's dream. Her dream was that when she got married, there would be lots of people there and she would be wearing a flowing white dress. Her wishes were fulfilled and she was pushed down the aisle in a wheelchair and Reverend Hegbert himself conducted the vows.
Now 57 years old, Landon remembers these events and realizes that she left him but her heart remained with her.
This book is a great way of portraying the difficulties and obstacles of young love like parents and even personal problems. Yet the only way to survive through them is to believe in Him and believe in each other. On a scale from 1 to 10, I would rate this book with 10!
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