True Believer by Nicholas Sparks Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of True Believer
Book Review: Good, but not his best
Summary: 4 Stars
True Believer provides another solid showing from best selling author Nicholas Sparks. However, this is not the best Sparks work out there. Here, Sparks uses his typical love story plot to take the reader to the rural North Carolina, where psychics, ghosts, and premonitions are a normal occurrence. Jeremy Marsh is, as the main character, a critic who focuses on debunking the strange. As his writing takes him to North Carolina, Jeremy has to decide what is real, and what is worth risking everything for. Fans of Sparks will recognize his "Can their love survive?" themes. True Believer provides an enjoyable read, but is not as successful in drawing the reader into the love story as other Sparks' novels have been. Too much time is spent laying the groundwork for the supernatural for the reader to become fully engaged in the underlying love story.Book Review: Black Cherry Bookshelves. Tombstone Lamplight. Off to Market I Go, Oz Bewitched & Ozone Baited
Summary: 5 Stars
Reading this book leisurely, at home in my easy chair ...
(I received my copy of the hardback 12/27/05 in my rural mail box from Amazon's entertainingly addictive "click-n-shop" free-ship carnival of convenience.)
... gave me a different impression than reading it in spits and spurts, loitering against bookshelves at City-Market and Wal Mart during a series of grocery shopping sprees.
What stood out in the leisurely read at home was the vivid reality in the settings, the sports bar TV scene in NYC, Lexi's library made out of a two-story old house, the local caf?, homes of characters, and small town base, including, of course, the old, seedy cemetery. In the stand up read I was focused on the plot rhythm, which seemed much faster than in the lamplit-living-room, luxury read.
Either way, TRUE BELIEVER feels even more special than my early intimations of it led me to believe.
Okay. So, what's so special about this novel?
It breathes.
Strutting in spontaneous steps over a paper page stage, it lives.
As the last page lifted from fingertips, the settings in the novel did not begin fading into the archives of memory. Somehow they remained lit, like the glow of morning twilight as the sun edges slowly above the Eastern land-line, or like a never-ending sunset spreading golden mists over the edges of scenes, like a dollhouse or a small town diorama highlighted for future use.
Does TRUE BELIEVER descend the reader to the absolute bottom of an emotional well, and keep him there, deep enough and long enough that a catharsis blossoms peacefully from an artistically sensual depression? It doesn't wander through exactly that type of soulful solitude of deep dark spaces of the healing heart that A BEND IN THE ROAD does. But TRUE BELIEVER has its own special magic. I believe it.
It appears, based on reading many and varied reviews of TRUE BELIEVER (before and after reading the book), and after reading A BEND IN THE ROAD (see my review), that Nicholas Sparks's novels (other than TB) give an amazingly effective type of emotional therapy which descends deeper and cleaner than most types of psychological analysis can hope to accomplish. I see why a reader could come to compulsively anticipate that catharsis, and be disgruntled when it has been replaced by another type of reading pleasure, which, to me, is equal. But, of course, if accounts are to be measured, I'm 58 hellacious-years-old, so maybe that explains it.
What is that equal pleasure?
It's hard to describe, even for a girl with be-ribbon-ed pigtails hiding inside the broken down body of a wise old crone wearing a black-cone-hat, bent at the tip. But, it seems as if Lexi and Jeremy are older souls than Sarah and Miles. It seems that the relationships in TB have, almost imperceptibly, matured and mellowed compared to earlier Sparks novels. The character connections in earlier novels seem younger and fresher, more emotionally volatile (to me that's not "for better or for worse"; it's just different).
I believe that if a reader isn't craving something he has been led to believe (and hope) a book will give him, maybe he won't be disappointed to receive a different, equally satisfying gift. Gifts are difficult, though. Even if a person's expecting a certain thing, and is given something he didn't expect, even if it's better or as good, it might take a while to see that the change is what he had come to need and didn't know it yet.
(See my reviews of a few culinary cozy series where I sheepishly admit to only gradually becoming able to enjoy mysteries in which characters not only do not "sink teeth into the warm, steamy sponge of a freshly-baked slice-of-bread" they don't EVEN mention "taking a bite of bread" while discussing clues. Or, see my Miss Marple reviews on AT BERTRAM'S HOTEL and MURDER AT THE VICARAGE in which I begin growing into an awareness of the subtly sensual appeals of Agatha's mysteries, even withOUT my mouth being surged into watering or my stomach being triggered into a series of growls.)
As one of his fan bases, Sparks seems to have established an appeal to sensitive yet feisty young women (probably mature ones, too, along with various types of testosterone bodies-of-water) who crave and seek what Miles Ryan describes as "sad and romantic."
Having recently finished reading (and reviewing) Sidney Sheldon's memoirs, I see an uncanny contrast between the appealingly youthful Nicholas Sparks's books, and Sheldon's intensely mature novels, written later in his life. I wonder what type of stories Sparks's would have offered had he been forced to wait until he was in his 50's to begin writing and publishing them. I wondered what type of novels Sheldon would have come out with if he had been allowed to write and publish his first novel shortly after his Hamlet choice against suicide at 17 years old.
Soul paths are indeed fascinating, as Spock would say. Look at the convoluted road he traveled to get to a bare light bulb highlighting a Holy Book's invisible paragraph saying that the emotional richness in the intimacy of mature friendship is the brass ring which enhances rather than desecrates the power and clarity of Logic.
"Live Long & Prosper,"
Linda G. Shelnutt
CRASHHHHH!!! Oh man. I KNEW a person who can't chew gum and walk at the same time shouldn't try that Vulcan hand-sign thingy. Sigh. I gotta quit being a HAM. But... whenever I try to slough off that pigskin cloak, I become a TURKEY. Where's the BEEF!! Is that it, stampeding across the prairie on steroid-strengthened limbs?
McD's here I come. Need a Quarter Pounder hit. Then I'll do Burger King, Wendy's, Arvey's, Carl Jr's, etc.
Book Review: One Of His Best
Summary: 5 Stars
Okay. Here's the deal. I just finished reading the book around five minutes ago. The thing about this is I started reading it pretty much 22 hours ago.
True Believer is indeed one of Nicholas Sparks' best. I won't go into details about the plot but I can tell you much regarding the style and what makes this book a must-read, especially for fans.
Nicholas Sparks is truly talented in making his characters believable. Mind you, the whole book only took place in 2 weeks or so.. actually just pretty much 5 days if you skip fast forwards. But everything is so well put that you feel a certain attachment to the main characters. I find it hard to believe that such love could be formed in days, but with the way Sparks have put it, it worked.
Of course, all fans of Nicholas sparks will be treated with the same wit, humour, passion, and not to mention the thrill he had in his previous books. If you've read his previous works and loved it, then stop reading my review and go buy it now.
But for others who are still new to him, I recommend starting with The Rescue or The Guardian. Those books are more of the semi-epic kind of love stories most people are accustomed to. Although, by no means I am stopping you to give it a try.
Like I said, having to believe that true love can be found within days is still a little distant to me. Yet this book actually caught me to somehow think that maybe it -is- possible. Afterall, this is a story about believers.
And as far as predictability goes, I'm pretty sure a lot of, if not some, people have already guessed halfway what the ending would be. Not just what would happen, but the final words of the book in itself. It's almost given, actually. Yet when you read it, you still feel some strange sensation of accomplishment. Yes you may have wished for a more sudden, surprise kind of ending. But by the time you reach that far, it's just like Nicholas Sparks heard you calling for those words to appear.
And that's what he did.
Book Review: A departure from Sparks's previous works
Summary: 4 Stars
In TRUE BELIEVER, journalist Jeremy Marsh spends his time debunking the supernatural. He has just finished exposing a fake television psychic, proving that the man was not able to read people's minds or see into their pasts. When he hears about a phenomenon happening in the small town of Boone Creek in North Carolina, where ghosts are seen inhabiting a local cemetery, Jeremy knows he will be able to find the truth behind the lights that are seen glimmering on certain nights above the cemetery grounds. He knows that ghosts do not truly exist.
When Jeremy arrives in Boone Creek, he experiences what small town life is all about. He's from the big city and feels like he's walked into a time warp. Everyone knows everyone, and gossip spreads like wildfire. His "hotel" is a hole-in-the-wall motel, filled with dead animals ranging from a bear to snakes and all sorts of wonderful critters that can be found in the wild. He's as far from New York as he can get, and he's not sure he likes it.
The very day he arrives in town, Jeremy makes a quick visit to Cedar Creek Cemetery, where the ghosts are reported to have been seen, when he notices a young woman there who catches his eye. He later finds out that her name is Lexie Darnell. Neither of them knows it but soon their lives will be changed forever. Lexie is the granddaughter of the woman who had invited him to visit the town. Doris Marsh is the town psychic.
As Jeremy slowly does his research in the library where Lexie happens to work, he gets to know her. Despite what he feels about the town, he finds himself interested in this woman who doesn't seem to want anything to do with him.
Having read nearly every Nicholas Sparks book that has been written, it is safe to say that TRUE BELIEVER is quite the departure from his previous works. While Sparks tends to write tragedies as opposed to true romances, this novel is far from the tragedy that some of his other fiction books have been.
This is not to say that TRUE BELIEVER wasn't enjoyable. But fans who are looking for the typical Nicholas Sparks book will not find it here. Instead of concentrating on the romance, this reviewer found the focus of the novel to be on the mystery behind the cemetery, and the high point of the plot was Jeremy's answer to the story behind the ghosts. The fact that Jeremy is dating a woman who believes her parents' ghosts have come to her in the cemetery makes the reader anxious to know what he finds, realizing that the answer will greatly impact the relationship that is central to the love story.
One aspect of storytelling in which Sparks excels is his ability to create the characters who populate his books. His capacity to bring into being likeable, everyday people helps make this novel readable. The strength of the story isn't necessarily the plot, and the romance that is found here is not one that a typical romance reader might expect. For this reader, the characters were the highlight of the novel, and the process of getting to know some of the more prominent ones was a delight. One will find oneself chuckling over some of the antics of the townspeople. The brouhaha that the people make over Jeremy's celebrity is very cute, if not humorous.
Overall, the plotlines are balanced between the mystery of the cemetery, Jeremy and Lexie's relationship, the aspect of small-town living, and the individual life stories of the two protagonists. Focusing on the individual characters is just one way of truly enjoying this book. It's a soothing type of read, and readers will feel comfortable with these characters.
On that note, TRUE BELIEVER comes recommended. However, newcomers to Sparks should not think that this novel is characteristic of the type of writing that has popularized him over the years. His forte lies in the tragedy, and to read THE NOTEBOOK or MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE --- two of this reader's favorites --- is a must.
--- Reviewed by Marie Hashima Lofton
Book Review: His best yet
Summary: 5 Stars
The premise of this book somewhat reminded me of another that I recently came across and loved: Bark of the Dogwood. Both books deal with a New Yorker going to some place else (the south in both cases) on a mission. But once there they both find more than they bargained for. I do have to say that the Sparks book was much more acessible and easy to read. While I loved them both, I'm been N. Sparks fan from way back. Jeremy Marsh is the main character in this latest Sparks novel, and his background in journalism and his interests make him a fascinating character enough without the journey to a small North Carolina town being thrown in. But it all works wonderfully and whether you like Mr. Spark's novels or not, there's NO WAY you'll want to miss this one. It's really more along the lines of a good Grisham novel than his usual fare. Highly recommended to book lovers of all genres.