Review to follow

Tissues highly recommended.

"Ninguna de las cosas que valen la pena en esta vida son fáciles. Tenlo en cuenta."

"Me refiero a que..., ¿cómo es posible construir una relación si no nos vemos con frecuencia?"

"Pero a veces el amor no basta."

Siento que agarraron mi corazón y lo pisotearon unas cuantas veces a lo largo de todo el libro  y sobre todo al final, ¿Qué te pasa Sparks, tas bien?

No había leído ningún libro de este autor (aunque sí he visto un par de las adaptaciones que hicieron de sus obras) así que no sabía exactamente que iba a encontrar. A decir verdad, no me atraía tanto la lectura pero encajaba bien con una categoría del PopSugar y dije "¿por qué no?"

La historia sigue a Theresa Osborne, una periodista que ha pasado por un divorcio y que ya no tiene fe ni busca una relación duradera. Animada por una amiga, se toma unas vacaciones durante las cuales encuentra una botella con un mensaje, la cual contiene una carta de amor que le cambia la vida. Y a partir de aquí, es una búsqueda por encontrar a ese hombre que le robó el corazón.

La lectura me hizo sentir, me hizo suspirar y me hizo enojar. A ratos si llegué a pensar "¿Cómo es que llegamos a este punto?" Siento que mi perspectiva de la lectura se vio influida por mi situación amorosa, ya que me identifiqué muy muy bien con la relación a distancia, lloré con los pensamientos de Garrett respecto a Catherine y me enojé con ciertos comentarios hasta que reaccioné que yo estuve en una situación así y claro que había reaccionado como ellos.

Pasé por un montón de emociones, hasta el momento es el único libro en lo que va del año que me ha hecho llegar refunfuñando a casa después de haberlo leído en mi traslado desde el trabajo. Y hoy que vuelva, definitivamente mi novio se va a aventar la versión extendida de mis quejas por esos capítulos finales.

Nota de mí para mí: Al parecer si me gustan los libros románticos, solo me hacía falta leer uno adecuado.

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Libro leído para la Categoría 13 "Un libro publicado en el año en que naciste (1998)" del PopSugar Reading Challenge 2023.

الا نتمني جميعا ان تعثر علينا تلك الزجاجة الغامضة التي تجرفها الأمواج؛ من الماضي و هي تحمل رسالة من مجهول لمجهول

زجاجة محكمة تقطع مئات او الاف الأميال و السنوات احيانا ؛و بداخلها كلمات
فما بالك لو أرسلتها و عادت اليك؟

The plot was good I think but the book in totality lacked the cohesion or fluidity. I am no fan of his way of writing, but if you've got it, you can read it in a stretch lying down, under a table-lamp before going to sleep.
The novel starts as it does, but the urgency in Deanna’s character forcing Theresa to go meet Garrett and see if he is the love of her life looks sad and bad. The Garrett person is already in pains and to go down there, meet him for your own gains is very selfish.
Then, their experiences together, their so immediately falling in love with each other felt unreal because it appeared that the chances of everything falling in place so soon does not happen so easily in real lives. Garrett who couldn’t think of anything without Catherine in his minds suddenly steered in path of finding of love again in his life is just fictitious. I don’t deny the possibility but it was a bit tacky. Rather, the inabilities of Garrett fighting his feelings for Catherine and Theresa simultaneously later have been displayed aggressively.
I got bored with it while Garrett and Theresa were trying to figure out their lives together, how they wanted to live their lives. It got way too descriptive and even then Garrett was showed to have not thought of everything in anticipation when he asked Theresa to move to Wilmington.
Frankly, I was worried I was not getting tears in my eyes until the last. Yeah, this novel will bring tears in your eyes. I didn’t like the climax. It felt like even God was willing to skip on dealing with the complications in people’s lives and it was easier to remove him from her life. But, the sequences of actions enveloping the climax were adequately written. The last letter to Catherine to make it reach Europe made it a bit cheesy but okay, another for Theresa to forgive him. Truthfully, the letter he wrote to Theresa sounded the best of all and what she had written to him in the last owing to moving on welled up my eyes.
I don’t know if it was intentional but I liked the way she signed her letter ‘T’ and not Theresa so that even if anyone found out about it, they wouldn’t know who the sender was and she wouldn’t be caught in the vicious circle of what she had created when she went to contact him.

Just like many, if not most, the movie did NOT do justice to this book. Nicholas Sparks wrote a very detailed, vivid story of Theresa and how she found Garrett through clues in the letters that eventually were found offshore. The difference lies in that the characters described in the book were more human, they were much more flawed, but definitely real. The movie portraied Garrett as a victim of the circumstances that was lied to and that somehow did not have any say in what occurred. It also projected Theresa as someone that was easily thrown into searching for Garrett for the purpose of "knowing what kind of person would right romantic letters," which seems like a lame excuse. I mean, realistically speaking, how many people would go out of their way to seek, find and become intimate with, the author of a romantic letter?
One of the most interesting descriptions is that Theresa later finds herself in the same situation she found Garrett in when they first met, and did not understand.... a lesson embeded everyday life.

Nice story, but parts didn't age too well... A journalist telling the man of her dreams that she can't move to his hometown because she can only work from Boston as it is impossible to do research anywhere else... Oh how the time goes by

Nicholas Sparks' second novel (after the Notebook). A classic love story.

Cuando comencé a leer este libro, lo primero que pensé fue que no iba a conectar demasiado bien con la historia contada por Theresa. Claramente eso fue solo el comienzo.
Cuando empieza la verdadera acción de la novela (desde que Theresa se decide encontrar a Garret debido a las tres cartas que provenían de él) se me volvió adictiva, porque el romance entre los protagonistas se me hizo real, porque Nicholas Sparks no muestra que es todo color de rosa, porque se empezó de a poco y no de repente, porque para mi sorpresa pude ver la historia desde los puntos de vista de ambos personajes y así entender mejor que sentía cada uno, porque no es tan fácil "sacar a un clavo con otro clavo" pero intentarlo puede traer hermosas consecuencias, como por ejemplo, algo llamado amor.
Sparks creó una historia no demasiado complicada y sin entrar demasiado en detalles innecesarios, pero que aun así, me dio la posibilidad de sentirme como si estuviera ahi y vivir la relación entre Garret y Theresa muy de cerca, lo cual provocó cierta adicción por ver como concluía la historia entre ellos dos. Y creo que fue ese cierre lo que no me gustó demasiado.
En el fondo tenía un presentimiento de que llegaría un final que no sea demasiado de mi agrado, pero eso no quitó que me haya sorprendido lo que sucede a lo largo de las últimas páginas. No sé si fue por bronca o tristeza, pero al terminar el libro lloré, tal vez por bronca o tal vez porque me puse en la piel de los personajes, o tal vez por las dos cosas.
Simplemente dolorosamente emotivo.



"En este mundo que nunca llegaré a entender los vientos del destino soplan cuando menos lo esperamos. A veces soplan con la furia de un huracán, y a veces apenas te acarician la mejilla. Pero no podemos rechazar los vientos, pues a menudo traen un futuro que es imposible ignorar. Tú eres el viento con el que yo no contaba, el viento que ha soplado con más fuerza de la que yo podía imaginar. Tú eres mi destino"

Ομορφο και συγκινητικό βιβλίο. Λίγο περισσότερο μελό από ότι θα ήθελα και με ένα θεμα που δεν ξέρω ποσό μπορεί να αφεθεί κάποιος να το ακολουθήσει καθώς είναι αρκετά βαρύ αλλά πολύ ανθρώπινο . Κάποια στοιχεία μου άρεσαν πολύ και μου προκάλεσε έντονα συναισθήματα αλλά και κάποια στοιχεία θα τα ήθελα περισσότερο δουλεμένα και μελετημένα . Μενει περισσότερο στο συναισθηματικό σύμπαν από ότι χρειάζεται και σε πολλά σημεία αυτό λειτουργεί αρκετά Καλα αλλά έχει και κομματια που είναι κακό . Θα ήθελα περισσότερο δουλεμένο τον αντρικό βασικό χαρακτήρα …. Τον βρήκα λίγο λιγότερο τρισδιάστατο από ότι του αξίζει . Τα αλλά στοιχεία μου άρεσαν . Και για κάποιον που θέλει μια δακρύβρεχτη ιστορία αγάπης με κάποιες καλές σκέψεις (στο σύμπαν του μπαμπά κύριως, του γιου δευτερευόντως και της πρωταγωνίστριας σε Τρίτη μοίρα …. ) είναι μια αποπειρα που θα πάρεις αυτό που περιμένεις . Ίσως και λίγο παραπάνω .

Message in a Bottle

tWhile reading the book in my most-behave-and-holding-back-tears manner, I found its great preponderance on the last parts of the story. The first message was deeply doleful. It contained a full hint of longing and desiring to be with one's love again. Such a powerful epistle, in depth with emotions that will really trigger your lachrymal glands to weep. I was very eager to finish the book, cause aside from the fact that the reviews are boosting with accolade, I've been hearing words on the street that it's the saddest in most of Sparks' novel. Inevitably, I was enticed and moved to purchase the book without any hesitations. Eyeing the cover, I got my adrenaline working to finish James Frey's A Million Little Pieces on one extreme sitting 'cause of my exhilarated-ness of starting Message in a Bottle in a hurry.

It truly left its effect on me. I read the last three chapters in my room which I kept locked in case of an awkward moment of someone opening the door and seeing me in tears, never knowing why. I bet hard on myself that it will not make me cry, no never, unless I can relate to the situation, which I surprisingly did. I was on the halfway point of Theresa letting go Garett because of their heartbreaking situation when my eyes began to soaked with tears. Honestly, I was expecting to be teary-eyed only, but it's far from the cry I revealed after reading the part. It was more of a sob. And yet, the last two letters turned the sob into snivel, a poignant mixture of weep and sniff. So, after finishing the book, I had a lot of realizations. And those I will only keep for myself. I'll be forever thankful to Nicholas Sparks for writing this book. It's my third, read-it-and-weep bestseller. Read it for yourself.


Postscript: I closed the book with a sad sigh.

This is my first Nicholas Sparks book and it's exactly what I expected, a chick lit romance. Which is fine, because that's what I was looking for.
Reasons I enjoyed the read..
1. I seem to enjoy books that feel like fate or destiny. It gives a magical feel to the book. When events occur because the universe, something beyond our control willed it to happen. Sparks does this when Theresa finds that message in a bottle. A love letter that is so powerful that you cannot ignore it after you've read it. A letter that is from the heart and soul bearing. This letter leads her to an adventure she has been craving and a love that she has been yearning for. A message in a bottle that sailed the waves of the ocean to end up to the right reader at the right time.
2. It was realistic. Obviously a message in a bottle that brings people together seems unlikely, however the story felt believable. Plus don't you want that in a romance? Life is messy and when books portray that mess, it makes it more relatable. The characters, Theresa and Garret have demons of their own. They both need to face them, before their routes can truly align with one another.
Reasons I did not like the book...
1. The ending. I don't want to explain why, because I do not want to spoil the book for anyone who reads this. I understand why the author wrote the ending to this book, but I wish it was different.
2. The characters bugged me. Theresa more so, she seemed manipulative.
3. The instant love. I just do not see how you can fall love within a week. Especially with the pasts and demons the character themselves were facing. I guess I'm not as much of a romantic as Sparks is.
All in all it was a good book (3.5 stars) and I will probably read another one of Sparks' books when the time is right.