Sonderbooks Book Review of The Wedding

Reviewed October 2, 2003.
Warner Books, New York, 2003. 263 pages.
Available at Sembach Library (F SPA).

I had stopped reading Nicholas Sparks’ books in recent years. I loved his first book, The Notebook, but in later books I started to feel like he was simply trying to manipulate my emotions, always putting in the most emotional situations possible.

When I saw that his latest book was a sequel to The Notebook, I couldn’t resist being the first person to check it out (before people know we have it). It was wonderful.

After he completely forgets their 29th wedding anniversary, Wilson realizes that his wife Jane no longer loves him like she did before. He spends the next year trying to win back her love, culminating in a special two weeks around their 30th wedding anniversary.

Then, a week before the anniversary, their daughter tells them she wants to get married that day. At first, she only wanted a simple wedding, but Jane convinces her to have something special, since Jane and Wilson were only married in front of a Justice of the Peace. They spend the next week frantically planning the wedding.

The author takes us through the week of preparations, interweaving the stories of how Wilson and Jane met and fell in love. Wilson also spends time with Noah, Jane’s elderly father, who was the hero of The Notebook and is wise in the ways of romance.

This is a beautiful, warm and wonderful book. It walks close to the line of being overly sentimental, but for me it didn’t cross it. It’s a lovely story of someone working to make his marriage last out the years despite mistakes he’s made in the past.

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Book Reviews by Sondra Eklund

*****The Wedding*

by Nicholas Sparks