Dear John door Nicholas Sparks

Author:Nicholas Sparks

Date and place of publishing: August

7, 2007 New York

Number of pages:338

Publisher:Nilsson & Lamm

summary

The story is about a rebellious boy, John Tyree, who goes into the army after graduation from high school. There is no connection between him and his father anymore, because his dad only talks about his coins and John isn’t that interested in his fathers’ hobby since he was young. His mother left John when he was still a baby. In the army, he changes. And during his leave, he meets Savannah. Together, they have the greatest time of their lives, but eventually Savannah has to go back to school and John has to go back to Germany to serve his country. Savannah won’t be done with school when John is free to go, but he promises her to come back for good after that. In the meantime, they write each other, but sometimes it takes a while to receive the letters from one another. And they promise each other to remember their time together when it’s a full moon, because they first met on a full moon.

But just before he gets another break to go home, September 11 happens. He goes home, but tells Savannah he has to serve his country for two years longer. Savannah understands eventually and they keep writing, but the contact is very hard to remain. When John gets a chance to go to her, his father is in the hospital and he goes home instead. Savannah understands again and tries to be supportive as much as possible, but she has to go to school and this wasn’t what they needed to repair their relationship.

Eventually – when John is in Germany again – she writes him a letter: she’s fallen in love with someone else. Tim, her new lover, is a good friend of Savannah ever since their childhood. John decides to stay in the army, since he doesn’t have anything left at home anymore.

When his dad dies, John goes home and he also visits Savannah one last time. Her new boyfriend Tim is in hospital; he has cancer and will die soon if he won’t get the medication he needs. John does not feel comfortable at Savannahs house, he feels like he doesn’t belong there anymore. Nevertheless, John sells his dads coin collection and makes an anonymous donation for Tim, so Tim can get the medication he needs. Savannah never knows and never sees John again.

A year later, when he’s on a break once again, he goes to see Savannah and he watches her looking to the full moon, remembering their time together. But still he doesn’t let her see him.

A short account of the beginning and end of the novel.

Beginning

John had enlisted in the army after high school, not knowing exactly what he wanted to do with his life. Now on leave from his Army tour in Germany, he enjoys the return to surfing along the beach. It is here that he retrieves a young lady's bag that has dropped into the deep waters, an incident that changes his life forever.

End

While John is home for his fathers funeral, he decides to go visit Savannah. It turns out she married her best friend she grew up with, Tim, who John became friends with when he met Savannah. Tim has Melanoma and there is nothing the doctors can do anymore. Savannah wants to send him to a better hospital that can run experiments and test on him but she can’t afford it. Before John leaves to go back to Iraq, he donates all the money his father’s coin collection was worth to Tim’s fund. He never spoke to Savannah again and goes on living his life in the army.,

Main characters

John: a man of 23 years old. At school, he was rebellious. That’s why he decided to do something with his life and join the army. He loves surfing and has a father, but they don’t seem to have a connection (anymore). He also had one friend in the army and his girlfriendSavannah waiting for him to come home.

Savannah: a 19 year old girl. She helps to build houses in her holidays for a foundation, she still studies and she loves horses. First, her boyfriend is John, but when he stays in the army for another two years, she falls in love with Tim. Tim gets ill and then John comes back. After that, she never sees John again.

Tim: a friend ofSavannah, he has been in love withSavannah for a while and he has a little brother: Alan, who’s autistic. He takes care of him, his parents died in a car accident. Because of an anonymous (John) donation, he gets better when he’s ill (cancer).

Mr. Tyree: Johns father. A man of routine, he probably has autism. He’s anti-social and only busy with his coins collection (for the time he’s not at work). He gets ill and dies eventually.

Alan: Tims little brother. He had autism and because of that, he’s not very social. He can get along withSavannah because she knew him his whole life.

Explanation of the title

Every letter that Savannah wrote to John started with ‘dear john’. 

Explanation of the main theme

The main theme of the novel is love and separation. This main theme comes back in the hole story. Savannah and John failed in love with each other and when John goes back to Germany they are separated. They are writing letters to make the distance between them smaller and to keep there relation strong and good.

Explanation of the climax

The climax of the story is when John goes back to the army and he writes letters with Savannah. But the 12 months John is away, Savannah falled in love with someone else she write John one last letter. John is very sad and he doesn’t understand why Savannah wrote him the letter and why she doesn’t want to wait for him.

Personal opinion

I had seen the film before I read the book, but I think the book is better because the feelings of the main character come more to the form. You want to read more and more. I like romantic novels and this is a very nice story of two people who fail in love with each other and try to keep there relation strong even though they don’t see each other for 12 months.