An angry rebel, John dropped out of school and enlisted in the Army, not knowing what else to do with his life--until he meets the girl of his dreams, Savannah. Their mutual attraction quickly grows into the kind of love that leaves Savannah waiting for John to finish his tour of duty, and John wanting to settle down with the woman who captured his heart.
But 9/11 changes everything.
John feels it is his duty to re-enlist. And sadly, the long separation finds Savannah falling in love with someone else. "Dear John," the letter read...and with those two words, a heart was broken and two lives were changed forever. Returning home, John must come to grips with the fact that Savannah, now married, is still his true love--and face the hardest decision of his life.
Genre:contemporary romance
Publication date: October 2006
Mature content: yes
Review: This is an older book, but one I had yet to read. A re-run of the film made want to give the book a try, and I'm glad I did.
Dear John is, however, a book you need to read until the end to grasp its full message. On those first few pages I was on the fence, and there were one or two times I wondered if I would be able to actually finish it. I did, and right there at the end I felt I finally understood what the author had been trying to tell me all along: that love is really about making someone else happy, and that happily ever afters are not always what you expect them to be.
John is a better man than I gave him credit for at first. I didn't like Savannah's character all that much. I do understand John loves her - there's a point where he actually tells her she's the best part of them. But there I think he was wrong. To me she comes across as selfish, someone who wants the best of both worlds but is not willing to make sacrifices to have it: she wants John to marry her but she's not willing to wait for him to come home; and when she marries someone else and life deals her a rotten hand, she then wants John back. Let's just say I'm glad he was man enough to put her in her place and ultimately give her what she should be fighting for all along.
Dear John made it to the big screen in 2010 and while the film more or less follows the book closely, there's one major difference: the ending is completely different. Since the final pages of the book are exactly its best part, in my opinion, the book is still very much worth to read even if you've already seen the film.
Happy readings!
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