Taking a vacation with Nicholas Sparks

February and early March were a little Callie’s shadowy past. He continues to seek rough on your reviewer. We got romance with the elusive Natalie, cares for slammed with some bad weather — his grandfather’s beehives, and studies in snow I like, but long, gray winter days wear preparation for an upcoming psychiatric reson me — and I suffered some health prob- idency in Baltimore. To say much more than lems, one of which put me in a dismal emergency room cubicle for five hours. A week of fighting a severe chest cold has also taken its toll.

So I decided to take a vacation and head for New Bern, North Carolina.

I required no car or rental house for this getaway. No, instead I opened Nicholas Sparks’ latest novel, The Return (Grand Central Publishing, 2020, 355 pages), poured Jeff Minick Writer myself a cup of hot tea replete with honey and a slice of lemon, kicked back in my beloved La-Z-Boy recliner, and read myself away from my troubles.

Trevor Benson, who narrates this story, is a Navy doctor wounded in a mortar attack in Afghanistan. After months of surgeries and physical therapy, followed by many more months of psychiatric treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, Trevor travels to the coast of North Carolina to tend to his deceased grandfather’s house and property, which includes several beehives. Having spent his summers there as a boy, Trevor finds his stay in his beloved grandfather’s home brings him comfort and healing. He also ruminates on his grandfather’s death, trying to figure out why the 91-year-old had died hours from home in Easley, South that about the plot would spoil the story for Carolina. readers.

While living in his grandfather’s house, Doubtless some critics view Sparks as a Trevor meets Callie, a teenager with a trou- lightweight novelist, a guy who writes bled history who now works as a clerk at romantic stories whose characters and plots Slow Jim’s Trading Post. Though shy at first, are formulaic, varying little from book to and unwilling to share any details about her book. past, Callie does recollect Carl, Trevor’s Perhaps. grandfather, for his kindnesses to her, and But here are some reasons why so many eventually Trevor begins to suspect she readers, including myself, enjoy these stories. holds the key to the mystery of his where- First up is the author’s talent. Sparks’s abouts at his death. writing is crisp and clear, and delivered with

Trevor also meets and befriends Natalie a simplicity that undoubtedly is the product Masterson, a strikingly beautiful deputy of great effort. Here, for example, he sheriff who, like Callie, keeps secrets from describes one of his early meetings with her personal life locked in her heart. Trevor Natalie while both of them are shopping at quickly falls in love with her, but though she the farmers’ market: obviously has feelings for him as well, some barrier that Trevor can’t identify and which she refuses to discuss keeps them apart.

Throughout the rest of The Return, Trevor plays amateur detective as he looks into the circumstances of his grandfather’s death and tries to discover more about “She turned her attention to the table, chewing on her lip as she studied the produce. Moving closer, I stole a peek at her profile, thinking that her unguarded expression revealed a surprising innocence, as though she still puzzled over why bad things happened in the world. I wondered if it had something to do with her job, or whether I was simply imagining it. Or whether, God forbid, it had something to do with me.”

Like Natalie Masterson, Sparks’s prose is easy on the eyes. Moreover, many of us can identify with Sparks’s characters. They resemble people we meet in our daily lives, acquaintances and strangers, folks we see in the grocery store or the coffee shop. Many novelists paint portraits of the extreme in human nature — serial killers, drug addicts, figures of fantasy — but The Return features average people dealing with problems large and small just the way most of us do. Trevor’s struggle with PTSD, for instance, which so many veterans suffer, gives readers insight into this disorder along with hope that the afflicted can battle against it. Finally, The Return is entertaining. It’s an easy read, the plots keep our attention, we learn a little along the way about beekeeping and medicine, and for the most part the people we meet on our excursion to the coast are likeable. I polished off the book in two days and enjoyed every minute of it.

Contrast this experience with my reading of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Devils, which I began two weeks ago, having vowed to read at least six classics this year that were new to me. (Note to self: Do NOT select another 700-page book.) The Russian names and the convoluted relationships make for tough going on this one, and I have only just passed page 200. I’m glad I’m reading Dostoevsky — years ago, I read Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov — but I wouldn’t call my visit to Russia a vacation.

At any rate, if you’re looking for entertainment, a good story with interesting characters, and some time away from your routine, try The Return. (Jeff Minick reviews books and has written four of his own: two novels, Amanda Bell and Dust

On Their Wings, and two works of nonfiction,

Learning As I Go and Movies Make the Man. minick0301@gmail.com)

SPECIAL $38 Gel Full Set with coupon

Walk-ins Welcome Appointment Available

OPEN Tues-Sat:10AM-6PM Sun-Mon: CLOSED

• Acrylic Nails • Fills • Gel Nails • Ombre • Solar Nails • Gelish • Pedicure • Manicure • Dipping • Waxing 828-246-9386

302 N. Haywood St WAYNESVILLE

Author Meet & Greet Bob Plott & Jacob Morgan Plott

SATURDAY, MARCH 27TH • 2PM don't forget those pesky masks & social distancing.

They will be here to answer all your questions pertaining to the history of the railroad coming to the Smokies and the effects on commerce and tourism, etc.

You'll want your own copy signed by both

and a gift for someone else!

Magazines - Newspapers 428 HAZELWOOD Ave.

Waynesville • 456-6000 MON-FRI 9-5:30 | SAT 9-3