Rezension

Boring!

The Last Song. Film Tie-In - Nicholas Sparks

The Last Song. Film Tie-In
von Nicholas Sparks

In "The Last Song" by Nicholas Sparks (yup, no shame in that) Veronica "Ronnie" Miller discovers that not all men are bad. Especially rich volleyball players with tragic backstories that have no relevance to the plot whatsoever.

This is clearly a random read just for fun. I loved the movie, I adored it, and that's why I decided to just say f it and buy a novel by Sparks. First and last one probably, not even because it's bad but because it's just such a summer read. Summer, as in, I didn't feel like I got anything from this novel besides light entertainment. Loved Ronnie. Loved Steve, Ronnie's dad, but really didn't see anything interesting in neither Will, nor him and Ronnie as a couple. They just had absolutely no chemistry. From the beginning I did not care the slightest about him, he felt like a cardboard cutout in comparison to all the wonderfully developed characters there are in this book. The fact that Sparks switches in POVs for basically no reason just makes it even more difficult to keep up with the characters and bond with them. Had I not had such an interest in Ronnie and Steve, I probably wouldn't even have finished this.

A novel this length has to be justified. The romance has to be right there and capture the reader, you're going to have to root for them big time to make it official and there should absolutely at no point be scenes that aren't bringing the story forward. Sadly, I felt like Sparks just tried to lengthen the story with random scenes that neither interest me nor help character development. He cuts the days into short little events, sometimes goes too long, sometimes adds unnecessary pages and pages of conversation that no one gives a crap about.

The forced antagonistic notion going out from Marcus' character is just unnecessary and he's a ridiculous pseudo-villain. He is just a bad person overall, has no perks, is just evil through and through and that's just bad style. There are no real life people like him that are so horrible and cruel without having even an ounce of anything positive in them. It also makes absolutely no sense how there are so many people interested in him. Sparks just wants the reader to hate him, but by using such an obvious character as the bad guy, my dislike isn't necessarily envoked, I just get bored.

Another thing I have to mention is the peculiar writing style. Sparks is very inconsistent with his point-of-view passages and tells every chapter from another person's perspective. As a reader, this isn't only confusing but also makes it impossible to bond. Hell, I can't even tell you who the protagonist is supposed to be. In YA or romance literature I am not a fan of getting both lovers' perspectives, because it just makes everything too forseeable. We know from the beginning how the characters feel about each other and this just takes away the tension, and therefore also my interest. By having so many main characters the storyline gets blurred. It feels more like a way for Sparks to develop his characters than an actual novel that is supposed to be read like this. Essentially, this is a rough draft. Ronnie's and Will's relationship is insta-love-y to no end and I didn't bond with either of them. The twist is so painfully obvious that I can just shake my head.

Still, this isn't a bad book. It's just very, very light entertainment, you can read it without turning your head on. Sometimes you need books like this, even if you know it's not going to be a work of art.

 

Overall: Do I Recommend?

If you've already seen the movie, there's no need to read this. This is average entertainment without any original thoughts, characters or quotes. If you just want something light, go for it.
 

Rating: ★★☆☆☆