The Heartbreak of True Love: Every Breath by Nicholas Sparks

My Personal Rating:

Every Breath is the 21st of internationally celebrated romance novels from the world-renowned author Nicholas Sparks, which revolves around Tru, a tour guide from Zimbabwe, and Hope, a trauma nurse from North Carolina, who meets by chance and ends up with a love story that spans literally decades.

This novel is packed with riveting scenes that will leave you breathless with anticipation. There isn’t a better plot than having to read about characters taking a shower, making a salad, walking along the shore but holding hands, talking about their past, AND characters thinking about their history.

And yes, I’m being sarcastic. This novel drags.

The entire opening chapter is dedicated to a comprehensive description of African landscape and wildlife, stories of the protagonist’s experiences as a guide, and his implied passion for what he does. While the latter is vital in character building, it wasn’t sufficiently set up for me, as a reader, to care.

Why does he value his work in the bush so much? What drove him to spend his time outdoors than spend it with his son, who needs him?

It was mentioned in the latter chapters that his family conflict pushed him to find solace outdoors. But… Who influenced him to take guiding as a profession? And of all the things he could do to get away, why guiding? What does it mean to him to do what he does? These are the details a reader needs to relate to a character, to understand who he is, what motivates him, what makes him tick.

By the end of the first chapter, I’m exhausted from reading the National Geographic documentary and just about ready to put the book down.

Nicholas Sparks did a great job creating ambiance and set in his previous works, but this one feels overdone for me. And while I understand the author’s desire to explore this device, I don’t need nor want to read every literal breath (or baths) the characters take. It took the better part of the opening chapter before it was told that Tru is on his way to the airport and why. At this point, I was confused and needed to go back to the part where he explained his heritage.

Chapter two is almost like the first, except it’s a verbal vomit of Hope and her history. Chapter three is when they finally and briefly met. Followed again by a chapter of Tru’s childhood recitations, his planning what to do for the day, and then the narrative shifts back to Hope, doing the same. Somewhere along the fifth chapter mark, the two characters met by chance in a restaurant, had dinner, made love then broke up before the weekend was up.

The one encompassing fault that, for me, turned this exotic potential to 324 pages worth of snore is that, in Every Breath, everything is told. The readers are advised decades’ worth of stories without any clear goals or direction.

How about instead of the author saying the moon is bright, readers saw the sparkle of the sea as it reflects the brilliance of moonlight?

How about the readers see the gentle sway of Hope’s hair in the afternoon breeze to feel the warmth of the sun peeking through the drapes as the lovers melt in each other’s arms?

Wouldn’t it be more beautiful, almost miraculous, if the readers can lose themselves in the pages of experiences, emotions, and their curiosity?

But, if there is one redeeming scene to the novel, I’d say it’s the moment when Hope was faced with a choice when both options require a sacrifice she isn’t ready to give. This is by far the most personal, legitimately devastating scene in all the tragic stories told in the novel.

Though I will continue to be a Nicholas Sparks fan, overall, this novel is not for me. Maybe, years down the road, I’d reread this and find what my young inexperienced eyes missed the first time.