"A Tender Love Story"

Nicholas Sparks has written an exceptionally tender novel MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE that is sure to capture your interest and touch your heart. Garrett Blake mourns the death of his wife, Catherine. To assuage his grief, he writes messages to Catherine, puts each in a bottle, and sets it adrift in the ocean. As the novel starts, Garrett Blake has already placed at least three messages in the ocean. Theresa Osborne, a syndicated columnist for the Boston Times, finds a bottle on the beach at Cape Cod. Seeing that the bottle contains an envelop, she reads the message and is touched by it.

Not knowing who sent it or how old it is, she decides to publish it in her column. A reader informs her that her husband, a Navy sailor, found another message to "My dearest Catherine." She faxed Theresa a copy. A third one, discovered on the internet, had been published in a magazine. Intrigued by the tenderness of the messages, Theresa decides to find Garrett. She discovers where he lives and travels to meet him. She only planned to see what this tender-hearted man is like, but once meeting him, she finds herself attracted to him. Theresa, a divorced woman and lonely herself, and Garrett, already lonely and filled with kindness and compassion, start a relationship that is real and promises happiness. Sparks then deepens his story by superb characterization of Theresa and Garrett. Garrett has a sailboat, the Happenstance, which he and Catherine built before her tragic death. Whenever his sorrow overcomes him, he takes the boat to sea nd leaves a message. Theresa doesn't want to offend Garrett by revealing that she didn't just happen to run into him. What follows is a very tender love story as Garrett and Theresa draw closer to each other.

Theresa knows that, eventually, she must tell Garret why she met him. Garrett is troubled because he feels his affection for Theresa is betraying the memory of Catherine. Sparks shows considerable skill in characterization and in understanding the human heart. He brings Theresa and Garrett (and the reader) to a closer understanding of what love is all about. The book ends differently than you would expect, but the ending makes the portrayal of love deeper and clearer.

Reviewed by Maurice A. Williams
Posted October 26, 2003

Summary

The author of the runaway "New York Times" bestseller "The Notebook" pens a tale of self-discovery, renewal, and the courage it takes to love again. When a 36-year-old single mother finds a love letter in a half-buried bottle while jogging along the shores of Cape Cod, she decides to take a dramatic leap that will forever change her life.