The Last Song

I hope everyone had a FABULOUS weekend! Mine was actually very productive as well as fun! I was able to scrapbook a bunch, but I was also able to check another book off my list!! Sunday morning I woke up at 7:30 and immediatly dove in the book The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks because I knew I wanted to not only finish the book but also watch the movie version that morning!

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First off I am so HAPPY I did not finish this book while at the gym. For the last 20% of the book (yes the Kindle does it in percentages) I cried my eyes out. I must have had to put my Kindle down at least 5 times to get my eyes to quit dripping and start focusing! Had I been at the gym bawling my eyes out while on the treadmill I'm sure they would have asked me to leave :-)

This book was, as almost all Nicholas Sparks books are, phenomal! I wish I had been able to read it when I was 17 instead of now at 24, but nonetheless I was still touched by every moment in it.

It's the tale of a young rebellious child named Ronnie who is forced (along with her younger brother) to spend the summer with her father that she hasn't spoken to in 3 years! From the get go you can almost predict that there is going to be some sob ending that has nothing to do with the love story that begins but I won't spoil the heart wrenching storyline. Just know that along with the love you get to see develop between Ronnie and (the complete opposite of her) Will, but you also get to see a broken bond between Father and Daughter mended! This book is a light fluffy read that I'd recommend for summer. Maybe if you read it out in the sun while at the beach, the pool, or just out camping you may not cry so much! Laying in bed while the weather is clouded over didn't help me much! HAHA!

Now onto the movie. I will never understand why Nicholas Sparks lets these damn movie people change his story so much! Yes most of the big parts were the but this movie does not do the book any justice at all. It reminded me A LOT of A Walk to Remember. The book is 200% better than the movie and I would never recommend that you watch the movie first for this one. The book has to be read first and then if you really want to I'd say watch the movie, honestly I'd skip the movie altogether!

First - ALL of the acting was pretty horrible. I understand it's not meant to be as dramatic as the book and it's appeal was really to the younger crowd of teenage girls but seriously the acting was HORRIBLE! I was let down by ALL of the actors! I don't think they cast the roles very well either, Miley Cyrus definitely was not the best Ronnie I could chose, they needed someone a little les Smiley :-) and a little more sullen! The father role was totally off balance, I mean come on! If you read the book you picture him completely different than Greg Kinnear, but I will give props to Greg Kinnear, at times he was able to pull of the clueless Dad who gives you a chuckle once in awhile. The character from Will wasn't too bad, essentially throw any good-looking teenage actor in there and you've got what you're looking for, but again the acting was pretty craptastic. The only person I felt was cast correctly was the little brother Jonah. The actor they got for him (he was also the kid in Martian Child) was pretty good, not quite as the book described, but the playfulness and cleverness was there!

I understand why Nicholas Sparks let them turn his books into movies, I really do, but I will never understand why the movies can never do the book justice. I mean seriously his books are so emotional and so heartfelt that you'd think they'd be able to pull it off a little more in his books. BTW I'm excluding The Notebook from this opinion as I felt that movie was phenomal!

I'd give the book a solid A and the movie a B. Don't get me wrong I didn't care for the movie that much but I can gurantee that teenages ate it up! I know if I was 16 or 17 I wouldn't have loved it!

Next up I am going to start a book called Julia's Chocolates, a great friend recommended it! And I'm also reading Diary of a Mad Bride right now! It's a library book so I can only read it on my lunch break or at home since it's impossible to read paperback at the gym!

Anyone else read The Last Song and/or saw the movie? I'd love feedback about what YOU thought!