“Three weeks with my brother” Nicholas Sparks

I love Nicholas Sparks’ books, some more than others, but he’s pretty much a sure read for me when a new book comes out.  I love that, as a man, he writes romance/fiction/real-life in a way that touches me. 

Romance novelists tend to get a bad rap; they’re called “bodice rippers” or whatever other negative stereotypical nick-names the genre frequently is labeled with.  I love a good story, and yes, I like to have the male character and the female character find their happily ever after.  I CAN do without the descriptive pages of intimacy, sex, fore-play, etc. that some of the writers indulge in.  I know some readers like that part of the books, I usually skim over it.  I mean, I get the whole scene.  I don’t really want to read about it.

Most of Sparks’ books dispense with the physical trappings of sexual love and deal more with real life situations and people that I find so relatable that I’m usually crying by about mid-point in any of his books.   My angst as a hopeful writer myself is that I find my characters boring and not very real.

I’ve been on a memoir kick lately, and as some people will tell you I hate memoirs.  They’re usually boring and fluffy or filled with name-dropping and gossip which is mildly interesting, but usually put in print for the shock value.  Few people have a life I’d like to read about; even famous people like Barbara Eden or Susan Lucci or Meredith Baxter (all three of whose memoirs I’ve read lately). 

So, I ordered this eBook on “Three Weeks with my Brother” by Nicholas Sparks in the hopes that it was another Sparks’ book that I would love.  Which I did.  But it is NOT just another Sparks’ book; it’s not even fiction.

The book revolves around a three-week, around-the-world trip Nick takes with his brother Micah.  Although the travel destinations are fascinating, and the tour descriptions are sometimes laughable, the real story here is that he intertwines his growing up, parents, siblings and family inside the three week trip.  The roller-coaster of his childhood and adulthood and all the struggles in-between.   And, it made me cry; tears streaming down my face, sniveling, blow-my-nose crying.

The story was so fascinating I think because not only is he a fantastic writer, but he is just a regular guy.  He’s a real person, with a real family and real pressures like all the rest of us.  He struggled with grades, athletics, parents, jobs, money, children and the ups and downs of life just like we all do.  He doesn’t come across as self-confident or arrogant or entitled or even expecting of what he’s lived through; he’s grateful and self-reflective and connected to his family.

It’s not your typical Nicholas Spark novel where the guy gets the girl; but he does get the girl and the family and the whole nine yards.