"The Wedding," by Nicholas Sparks

I don’t think I have ever before read a novel by Nicholas Sparks, although I did see the very sweet (with all the good and not so good connotations of that word) 2004 film “The Notebook,” based on Sparks’ 1997 novel. But when I was at the library looking at books-on-CD, and saw that Sparks’ “The Wedding” (Recorded Books, 2003) was a sort of sequel to “The Notebook,” I decided to listen to it. Sparks is a bestselling author known for his romantic novels with compelling stories. “The Notebook” was the enduring love story of a couple whose love was, as they got old, threatened but not extinguished by the wife’s dementia. In “The Wedding,” the wife, Allie, has died, but the husband, Noah, still loves her deeply and comes to believe that a swan he feeds every day is Allie come back to him. Meanwhile, their son-in-law Wilson realizes that he has not paid enough attention to his wife, Jane, and to their marriage, and he fears they are drifting apart. With Noah’s wise advice, and the help of others, Wilson makes a plan to win his wife back and heal his marriage. All of this is lovely, if rather sentimental. The story keeps the reader’s attention, and the characters are interesting and likeable; the problem is the clunkiness of the prose, the too-long-drawn-out scenes and conversations, and a tendency to repetitiveness. I found my mind wandering at times, and by the end just wanted the story to rush to its conclusion. I have to say, however, that the surprise twist at the end was impressive. Overall, it was a reasonably satisfying way to pass a few commuting hours in my car, but I don’t think I will be seeking out more of Sparks’ fiction.