The Last Song
My expectations and first reaction
I chose to read this book, because my sister recommended it when I was looking for a new English
book. My expectations were very high, because I saw the film a few years ago and I know some other
very good books from Nicholas Sparks such as ‘The Notebook.’ I expected ‘The Last Song’ is a realistic
book with a romantic storyline, because the cover of the book looks very romantic.
My first reaction of the book after reading a few pages was very positive, because I really liked the
way the story is written and the book begins in the future, so it makes me very curious about the rest
of this book.
Summary
The story starts with Ronnie in a car. She, her little brother Jonah and her mother are on their way to
Wrightsville Beach in North Carolina, where Ronnie’s father lives. She hasn’t seen him in the past
three years, because she is very angry at him. Her parents divorced a couple of years ago and Ronnie
thinks it is because her father had an affair. For this reason, Ronnie doesn’t want to spend the
summer with her father and Jonah, which her mother forces her to do.
When they arrive, Ronnie immediately ignores her father and walks away from his house to the
beach. She discovers a beach volleyball match and meets a girl named Blaze. Blaze introduces her to
Marcus, her boyfriend, who has a little bit too much attention for Ronnie. Ronnie and Blaze get into a
fight, because Blaze thinks Ronnie wants to date her boyfriend, which is not true. In a store, Blaze put
something in Ronnie’s bag, so she is accused of shoplifting by the shop owner. Ronnie shoplifted a
couple of times in the past, which Blaze knew. Ronnie is very scared of her parents reaction, but
surprisingly, her father believes she didn’t do it and promises he wouldn’t tell her mother about it.
This makes Ronnie a little bit less angry at her father.
At the same time, there is a nest of turtle eggs at the beach near their house. When Ronnie discovers
it and hears from her father about raccoons who tries to eat the eggs, she decides she is going to
protect the eggs. At night, she sleeps at the beach and she informs the aquarium. Will, a volunteer
from the aquarium, comes to put a cage over the eggs to protect them. From this moment, Ronnie
and Will are hanging out a lot together and they are starting to fall in love with each other.
A few weeks later, the eggs break open, which is a very special moment for Ronnie. She, Will, her
father and Jonah are looking together to this special moment. However, Ronnie’s father starts
coughing blood. He tells Ronnie and Jonah he is very sick for over the last couple of months. He
didn’t want to tell them this, because he wanted to enjoy the time he could spend with his children.
Ronnie’s father has to go to the hospital, because he feels very bad. In the hospital, Ronnie’s mother
shows up to bring Jonah and Ronnie back home. Ronnie doesn’t want to go with her, because she
feels very guilty about her bad behavior towards her father. She spends all the time together with
him and breaks up with Will. When he is almost dead, Ronnie decides she wants to do something
special to him. She writes a song on the piano, which she didn’t do over the last three years, because
it remembered her to her dad. Shortly after Ronnie plays the song, her father dies. Ronnie goes back
to New York. One day, she meets Will again. He says he is going to stay in New York with her.
, Facts
- Title: ‘The Last Song’
- Author: Nicholas Sparks
- Editor: Grand Central Publishing
- Year of publication: 2009
- Total number of pages: 390
Biography of the writer
Nicholas Sparks is a well-known American author. Until now, he published 21 very successful books,
such as ‘The Notebook’, ‘Message in a Bottle’ and ‘The Last Song’.
Nicholas Sparks was born in Omaha on New Year’s Day in 1965. He grew up with his older brother
and his younger sister, who died at the age of 33 from a brain tumor. His father, Patrick Michal
Sparks, was a professor and his mother, Jill Emma Marie Sparks, was a homemaker.
Since a young age, Nicholas moved from town to town until 1974. In this year, his family settled in
Fair Oaks. He graduated from high school and decides to study Business Finance. During his study, he
wrote his first Novel ‘The Passing’, which was never published. After graduating, Nicholas worked in
home restauration, food services and real estate appraisal. He also met his wife Cathy. Over the years
they got five children: Sons Miles, Ryan, Landon and twin daughters Lexie and Savannah. In January
2015, Sparks announced that he and his wife had separated.
After his several jobs, he settled a career on the manufacturing of orthopedic goods and continued
writing. Although, he wasn’t very successful with his writing. He almost wanted to give up his dream,
but with his book ‘The Notebook’ he accomplished his first success and continued writing. He wrote
books such as ‘Message in a Bottle’, ‘The Last Song’ and ‘The Lucky One.’ On top of that, a lot of his
books are made into a movie.
Biography of the main works of the writer
- The Notebook (1996)
- Message in a Bottle (1998)
- A Walk to Remember (1999)
- The Rescue (2000)
- A Bend in the Road (2001)
- Nights in Rodanthe (2002)
- The Guardian (2003
- The Wedding (2003)
- True Believer (2005)
- His sequel ‘At First Sight’ (2005)
- Dear John (2006)
- The Choice (2007)
- The Lucky One (2008)
- The Last Song (2009)
- Safe Haven (2010)