Bruce and I have both recently listened to a book on tape while driving to and from  work that we found very interesting and gave us some interesting topics for discussion.  Nicholas Sparks, Three Weeks With My Brother, is written about a trip around the world that he takes with his brother.  Each place they visit brings to mind memories of their growing up years and the relationships he and his two siblings developed as they lived through experiences together. 

Two things especially stood out in this book for me.  The first was a practice that Nicholas's mother started when the two boys had their first major falling out when they were approximately 8 and 9 years old.  They had, had a serious fight and were not speaking to each other.  Their mother laid down on the bed with each of them that night and insisted that before they went to sleep they had to think of three nice things the other brother had done that day.  That first time it came down to things like,"well he didn't hit me as hard as he could have!"  She continued that practice every night and the result was a relationship between all three siblings, the two brothers and a sister, that was extremely close.  The second was the honor that Nicholas Sparks gave his parents.  As I read the book and then listened to it on tape I was not especially impressed with what good parents his mother and father were.  His father actually demonstrated a great deal of mistreatment in his relationship with Nicholas.  However, the last statements in the book are about what good parents both mother and father were.  Although Nicholas didn't speak of it as such, what he demonstrated was a real spirit of forgiveness for all of the hurt that he had experienced especially from his father.

The book was funny and sad and very well written.  I recommend it.

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Posted by Anonymous

So this is a non-fiction work from Sparks? Doesn't he normally write mushy novels?

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