The Guardian
by Nicholas Sparks
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Book Summary Information
Author: Nicholas SparksEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-03
ISBN: 0446613436
Number of pages: 494
Publisher: Warner Books
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780446613439
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of The Guardian
Book Review: Not bad, just predictable
Summary: 3 Stars
This is only the second Nicholas Sparks book I have read, with the other one being The Notebook, which I strongly did not like. However, a friend of mine recently lent this one to me, and I thought I'd give it a go, as so many of my friends are nuts over Sparks. I didn't like the schmaltziness of The Notebook, so I was hesitant about this one. But then I noticed that this was a love story with a thriller component, and that drove me to read this one.
Many of the other reviews have already gone over the basic plot: girl meets guy, girl chooses another guy, first guy goes nuts. Julie and Mike are very likeable characters, and Sparks makes sure that you never really like Richard. He always comes across creepy, but at first, you're not really sure why. I thought the first third of the book drug on, as I kept wondering when the thrill would begin. Once it started, I couldn't put the book down, but it really should have started sooner.
I do agree with some other reviewers who said that they wish some of the characters had been developed more. Although Pete Gandy is indeed characterized as a backwoods ignorant police officer, there is a reason for sterotypes. I grew up in small town NC, and these characters are indeed real. However, it did not escape me that the smart officer was Jennifer Romanelli, a woman from New York. The thought did cross my mind as to why this Southern writer writing about a small town down east would have the intelligence come from NYC. Another minor character, Andrea, works with Julie at the salon. Sparks gives the reader enough to know that she attracts the wrong kinds of guys, and the reader also knows immediately that she is also attracted to Richard. It would have been nice if her character was developed a bit more as well.
I did find that one of the major events at the end of the book was very predictable. Granted, my friend told me that she didn't like how the book ended, and that helped me guess what happened. But even without that knowledge, I still would have been able to guess this one particular part of the ending. That knowledge did cast a shadow over reading the book, and I think it kept me from attaching to a particular character enough to feel the same emotions as many have felt when reading the ending.
Even though I predicted one item from the ending, that was the only thing I figured out for most of the book. The reader knows a showdown is coming, you just don't know when, where or how. When the book ends, Sparks gives an update on only two characters, and it would have been nice to have a small picture (maybe just a paragraph) of some of the other characters who were involved at the end of the book. The reader is left wondering how the lives of some characters turn out after the thrill is over.
I'm glad I read this book, and I'm now considering reading some of other works of Sparks.
Summary of The Guardian
Julie Barenson's young husband left her two unexpected gifts before he died-a Great Dane puppy named Singer and the promise that he would always be watching over her. Now, four years have passed. Still living in the small town of Swansboro, North Carolina, twenty-nine-year-old Julie is emotionally ready to make a commitment to someone again. But who? Should it be Richard Franklin, the handsome, sophisticated engineer who treats her like a queen? Or Mike Harris, the down-to-earth nice guy who was her husband's best friend? Choosing one of them should bring her more happiness than she's had in years. Instead, Julie is soon fighting for her life in a nightmare spawned by a chilling deception and jealousy so poisonous that it has become a murderous desire...Literature & Fiction Books
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