Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Jun 04, 2010

Arlene rated it:

Dear John by Nicholas Sparks is one of those books I've developed a love/hate relationship with. I love, love, love the first part of the book, and I immediately fell for the main character, John Tyree. But when he gets his Dear John letter, it was all down hill from there, and I have to say I was left in angst. The ending is to some extent depressing, but I do have to give it to Sparks because he paints a realistic picture. However, someone needs to let the man know that he's writing fiction More...

34 comments like (68 people liked it)

Feb 10, 2012

Cara rated it:

This book needs to have a different title like maybe The Rehash or The Tragic Tragedy . Seriously how many times do we have to hear about the same scenes?!?!

Ok so I didn't hate it, but really it was a bit of an overload. I had it coming though, I mean what did I expect by picking up a Nicholas Sparks novel? Sparks is a popular author for a reason. His writing draws you in but not forcefully. The words gently tug you along and before you know it you have to finish the book. I will More...

9 comments like (16 people liked it)

Mar 28, 2011

TheBookVixen rated it:

Let me start off by saying that I am not a re-reader. My philosophy is why re-read when you can read something new, right? But when I saw the re-release of Dear John by Nicholas Sparks (with Channing Tatum on the cover!!) and the fact that a movie was made based on the novel, I wanted to revisit John and Savannah.

I think it goes without saying that Nicholas Sparks is one of my favorite authors. If Sparks writes it, I will read it. His books are on my auto-buy list. It all started wit More...

6 comments like (19 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Melanie rated it:

This was a great book! I'm a huge Nicolas Sparks fan & have read all of his books now:) This is one of my favorites! Great story, easy to read, & it really sucks you in!
Ok, I loved it!!! When is Nicolas coming out with a new book!?!?!?

5 comments like (18 people liked it)

Jun 22, 2011

Buggy rated it:

Opening Line:My name is John Tyree. I was born in 1977, and I grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina..."

You can always tell you're reading a great book when you find yourself skipping ahead into the final chapters to see how things will be resolved, even though you've vowed you wouldn't. Love doesn't always have a happy ending (especially when it comes to a Nicholas Sparks novel) and this is a wonderful, albeit quick tear-jerking romance.

Our hero John grew up with a More...

6 comments like (10 people liked it)

Mar 03, 2010

Katia rated it:

OK, so...I finally finished. Like a lot of other people, I read this simply because I saw the preview for the movie and I HAVE to read a book before I see the film adaptation. In this case, I really wish I wasn't so anal retentive.

Anyhoo, the book. Typical Sparks fare - star-crossed lovers, torn apart by fate, life, what have you. I really enjoyed the interaction between John and his father a lot more than I did his relationship with Savannah, maybe because it seemed far more rea More...

7 comments like (22 people liked it)

May 29, 2011

Ummu Auni rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Kristy rated it:

Mom recommended this one- I hate Nick Sparks' writing. It's too simplistic and yet too formal. In my opinion, no one in this day and age is allowed to use "for" when they mean "because." Too plot driven and he spells everything out. I might have loved this in 7th grade...

7 comments like (28 people liked it)

Sep 25, 2007

Erin rated it:

Spoiler Alert - Though it started out really well, I hated the ending! In typical Sparks fashion, your not left with a happy ending. Though I have been a fan of his (The Notebook is one of my favorites), I am growing weary of these endings. I just don't like to invest my time and the roller coaster of emotions he sends you through only to be left unsatisfied. (If you've seen the movie Cold Mountain, you may get what I mean. I felt the same way at the end of it, "Hello...I spent 3 hours More...

17 comments like (40 people liked it)

Jan 17, 2008

Caroline rated it:

I was looking for a book to read for the El trip home but didn't have time to really search. This was in the discard section of the library and I grabbed it thinking that it couldn't be that bad. After all, the Notebook was a good guilty pleasure. Could not have been more wrong. Ugh. I wanted to tear my eyes out and stomp on them after reading this. I felt dirty and compromised as if I had too much to drink one night and woke up next to a naked Mike Huckabee. This book was beyond preachy More...

6 comments like (12 people liked it)

Aug 08, 2010

Tatiana rated it:

This was my first Nicholas Sparks novel and given what I expected, I wasn't disappointed, but I wasn't blown away by it, either. The characters weren't complex and the plot was predictable. However, I appreciated that Sparks didn't dish up your standard, run-of-the-mill love story. It was a growing up story more than anything else; we went on a journey, following main character and narrator, John Tyree, as he learned, among other things, how to love, how to forgive, and how to accept the people More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 16, 2011

Danielle rated it:

John Tyree is a soldier first, and then a man. So he thinks, until he meets Savannah Lynn Curtis. While on leave he falls desperately in love with Savannah, the proverbial girls of his dreams. Savannah is sweet, intelligent, and giving. But it doesn't take long before Johns military career and own personal struggles interfere with the promises made to his new found love.

I think it goes without saying that Nicholas Sparks is a master storyteller, and there is a reason he is so success More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 09, 2009

Christina rated it:

***Spoilers***
I really loved this book but the ending just killed me, I hated the ending. After everything John goes through he doesn't get to be with the person he loves. Of course in the beginning of the book it states that they don't end up together but I still had hope and I thought they weren't gonna end up together for different reasons, but Savannah leaves John! She doesn't wait for him! She said she truly loved him and then she falls in love him someone else while John is away, whi More...

5 comments like (26 people liked it)

Jul 24, 2008

Amy (amyb2332) rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (9 people liked it)

Feb 02, 2010

Heather rated it:

I loved this book! Which I was not expecting. It got to me, but I loved it. I just felt like I had to find out why (loved the way Sparks started it). Took a turn or two I was not expecting and it showed a few relationships I was not expecting, which I loved too. Not just a love story but about a man truly finding himself.

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Mar 23, 2010

Samir is currently reading it

this book is about how john was a good student at school but one day when he found out his dad doesn't care about his grades all his dad cares about is coins so then john's grades dropped and he dropped out of school to find a job because they were poor.one day john thought about joining the marines because he didn't find a job.the character that changed a lot was john because before he went to the marines he smoked and drank but after he came back for a visit he was done with all of that

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jan 06, 2009

Katie rated it:

What can I say, I had NOTHING to read. I am not the biggest fan of Nicholas Sparks and this made me even less of one. Don't waste your time unless you are up for a sad book with poor writing.

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Mar 19, 2009

Shirelle rated it:

Another one of my favorites of his.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Mar 24, 2009

Sarah rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

1 comment like (14 people liked it)

May 14, 2010

Sylvia added it

When i first began to read Dear John, by Nicholas Sparks, i had a typical idea of what the book might be like. A love story, just like all: boy loves girl- girl loves boy, something happens, someone dies, the end. I never thought that it would amount to such a intriguing book, not only discussing a love story but tying in other things, such as autism, and fate as well.
As a romance novelist, it is cliche to say that Nicholas Sparks is an emotional writer--one who writes with compassio More...

1 comment like

Apr 05, 2010

Suhang1 added it

Even the bittersweet love story between John and savannah is very touched me, the change John shows during the book is really impressed me. At the beginning of the book, he was a typical teenage boy, who would cause trouble in school, make wrong decisions, and hand out with wrong friends. when he dropped out of high school, he would like to go to the bar every single night. Finally when John realizes that he doesn't want to be doing this his whole life, he enlist in the army. The boot camp and More...

0 comments like

Jan 25, 2012

Jessica added it

Nicholas Sparks’ novel, Dear John, is a story about a man names John Tyree who enlisted in the army after high school. While on leave, visiting his home on the beach in North Carolina he falls in love with a woman named Savannah who is working on the same beach as Tyree, 6oing work for a humanity group. They meet when Tyree retrieves her purse from the water and soon fall in love. When Tyree returns back to Germany they continue their romance through letters. John’s father and him do not have an More...

0 comments like

Jan 24, 2012

Tiffany rated it:

The novel Dear John by Nicholas Sparks is the second novel that I have read by him and I was most defiantly not disappointed. Never wanting to set my book down flipping through pages and pages. Sparks illustrates the tale of two people falling in love, but one leaves the other for another.

Sparks introduces the main characters John and Savannah. John is returning home to his father for just two weeks from fighting in the war. Floating on his board in the water, gazing at the sun Joh More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 23, 2012

Jordan rated it:

When I was at the library getting books to read, I saw this book next to the book I was there to buy and decided to try it out too. Dear John is a love story, just like a lot of books! The plot of this book is a guy named John Tyree who decides to join the army but before he goes into it he meets a wonderful girl who he falls in love with named Savannah. John and Savannah write as much as they can to each other while he's in the war, but Savannah falls in love with another man while he's gone. J More...

0 comments like

Jan 20, 2012

Lauren rated it:

First and foremost, I want to say that this book is very touching, and it felt very real to me. With that said, I shall begin my review.

Although on some level I understand why some people give this, and most, books written by Nicholas Sparks bad reviews - most of which include complaints that the books are all alike - I have to ask the question of...Why read them if you don't like the similar styles or writing and plot line? I find that very ignorant. Nicholas Sparks writes in his ow More...

0 comments like

Jan 19, 2012

Haley is currently reading it

Dear John by Nicholas Sparks in my opinion was one of my favorite romance book that i have ever read. Sparks was able to paint a very sharp picture in my head through every chapter. I thought it was very intriguing and worth reading. The story was mostly a summer love more than anything.John, the main character, dropped out of school and enlisted in the Army, not knowing anything else to do with his life; until he meets the girl of his dreams, Savannah. They fall in love deeper than you can imag More...

0 comments like

Jan 06, 2012

Misty rated it:

If you have ever read a “Nicholas Sparks” novel (or even watched a movie adaptation of one) you should be well versed in certain aspects of his writing by now.

1 – Someone always dies… you may not know who, and you may not know when but it is inevitable, and

2 – He’s not all that big into “happily every afters.”

These 2 reasons are more than enough for me to normally steer clear of Mr. Sparks, but as usual, my OCD took precedence over my need for self preservation and More...

0 comments like

Jan 03, 2012

Taylor rated it:

Dear John is about a boy, John, that lives in North Carolina. After high school John enlistes in the army. While home on a leave, John meets Savannah who is in North Carolina doing mission work. Their attraction is mutual and they quickly fall in love.
John has to leave two weeks after they met to go back to the army. Savannah agreed that she would wait for him to finish his tour of duty. They write letters to eachother and picked up where they left off when he comes back on another lea More...

0 comments like

Jan 03, 2012

Alexis rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Jan 01, 2012

Rebecca rated it:

I have this really stupid habit. Sometimes when I watch a really bad movie, I'll check out the book just to see what the original source material is like. 90% of the time this does not end well and "Dear John" has given me one of the worst experiences of this stupid practice.

John Tyree joined the Army in hopes of straightening himself out. It worked but one summer, home on leave with his emotionally distant father, he falls in love with Savannah, a beautiful and civic minded More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)