Book Review: "Message in a Bottle" by Nicholas Sparks

Nov 28, 2011
Darcy Nelson

Message in a Bottle - Darcy Nelson

This love story is short and sweet, full of love and grief.

You've heard of people throwing messages sealed in bottles into the ocean, but what if the one you found lead you to fall in love deeper than ever before? That is the scenario for Theresa and Garrett.

Content:

Language: The story was told in third person omniscient perspective. Also. Sparks incorporated letters into the story which an original and nice touch. These letters also played a huge part in the story which is great. I love when author's use something like a letter to bring together something much larger in their stories. I give language a rating of 7 out of 10.

Character Development: The characters were all easy to understand and sympathize with. Although I personally have never been a part of a long distance relationship I feel like I have now that I have read this book. I understand the hardships that it puts on both sides of the couple. Because of this I give character development a rating of 8 out of 10.

Plot: The plot fo thsi story was well done. Everything from characters to situations was explained very well and at the end of the story I felt satisfied that the story had been told and there was nothing left to tell. To me unless the author is writing a series that is very important. Sparks did a wonderful job and earned a rating of 9 out of 10 for plot.

Easy to Read: This book was incredibly easy to read. I was able to get through it in a couple days. However, I was not able to be drawn into this book and feel apart of Theresa and Garrett's world. While reading the book I could easily put it down and walk away from it because I did not care that much. If you wanted to take this book on vacation you could, but I would recommend using it as a book to read a little bit every night before bed. This book receives a rating of 7 out of 10 for being easy to read.

Should you read this book?

Overall, yes you should read this book. However, don't run down to the library or bookstore right away. This book is an okay read, but I wouldn't pick it over a large number of other books that I have read and reviewed. The story is an average love story and you can find some of much better quality very easily. I gave this book a rating of 7.75 out of 10 by combining and averaging the ratings for language, character development, plot, and easy to read.