[smccaleb06]

So I am posting this just in case anyone on here is a fan of Nicholas Sparks I have read all his books and seen all but 1 of his movies... I just got home from seeing his new one the Last Song. It was amazing, it was a good movie, but it did hit very close to home and I cried my eyes out. I just thought I would share my opinion on the movie in case anyone is a fan like I am. It was very similar to the book which I liked, they didn't change much....

[utgirl09]

I plan on going to see it next week. I am always reluctant to watch a movie of a book I read and loved because sometimes they change too much. Did you watch Dear John? I thought they changed too much of the story. I am glad to hear that this is close to the book.

[Lehua]

I read Dear John and cried my eyes out. But I agree they changed too much of it for the movie. I really want to see the Last Song. But I wanna read the book first. I have it, but I'm so busy with school work it conflicts.

[Skinnybride]

I love all his books by far my favorite author. I though they changed dear john toomuch but liked the ending of the movie and kinda left it open for a sequel. I havent seen last song yet but want to we usually do a girls night out and watch movies like this.

[Everlasting]

I loved the book Dear John but I haven't seen the movie yet! Actually I didn't know it was a movie! I've read quite a few of his books but I think the only movies I've seen are A Walk to Remember and The Notebook.

[smccaleb06]

I have not seen Dear John yet, its been a long time since I read the book so I want to read the book again before I see the movie.

[Lehua]

To be honest I saw Dear John MAINLY because of Channing Tatum (but also because it's my favorite book). He is very attractive, and was by far the best thing about the movie. Hehe.

[Glory87]

Hee I met Nicholas Sparks at a book signing way back in the 90s when I worked at a B. Dalton bookstore. He was a first class douche! He does know how to write a book that makes you cry, I'll give him that. Probably all his experience being a supreme drama llama and making minimum wage sales clerks cry regularly.

[mandalinn82]

Honestly, I'm not a fan. I can totally understand HIS fans...why people like and read his books...but I really, really hate his attitude about himself as a writer.

I read an interview with him once:

SheKnows: First of all, the fifteenth novel! Can you believe it's been 15?

Nicholas Sparks: No. I mean I remember after writing The Notebook, they said you gotta write another one. I said, "That's it! That's the only idea I had!" I only had one. It still pretty much feels like that after every novel -- "That's all I have. That's all I got, washed up after this! On to retirement!"

And I feel like that was accurate. He only had one - Boy meets girl, obstacle is overcome for love, huge random tragedy, everyone cries...usually mixing up one of only a few plot elements (cancer, war, letters that are never read, and reconciling with parents). And he just keeps tweaking those same elements and making new stories. Which is fine, lots of people like them. Not every idea has to be new and original to be enjoyable! What's more, even if I had all the basic elements, I wouldn't be able to write as well and descriptively as he does to be as popular, so kudos to him, I guess.

What bothers me is that he seems to think he is God's gift to writing. Most recently, in interviews, he has berated Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and Ernest Hemingway for writing the same story over and over again. He described that as:

Romances are all essentially the same story: You've got a woman, she's down on her luck, she meets the handsome stranger who falls desperately in love with her, but he's got these quirks, she must change him, and they have their conflicts, and then they end up happily ever after."

First off, I disagree with that (yep, Romeo and Juliet definitely ended up happily ever after!). But second, replace "he has quirks, she must change him" with "Something is keeping them apart" and "they end up happily ever after" with "somebody dies", and HE writes all the same books.

His arrogance really turned me off from wanting to read his books, ever.

[Alicia87]

I really enjoy his books myself. Well, most of them. Except for Message in a Bottle and Nights in Rodanthe. I really hated those.

I don't really know anything about him as a person however.