Safe Haven by Nicholas Spark - Essay Example

Safe Haven by Nicholas Spark- A Review of the of the Concerned February 16, Safe Haven by Nicholas Spark- A Review There is no denying the fact that Safe Haven by Nicolas Spark tends to be a somewhat predictable love story in more than one way. However, setting aside the fact that most of the love stories tend to be alike, Spark amply manages to project one’s craftsmanship, by making this love story immensely interesting and engrossing, with a fair play of the essential literary stratagems and devices, making this book worth reading and admiring.

At a superficial level, Safe Haven has all the quintessential ingredients of a typical love story, a woebegone lady Katie ending up in a small North Carolina town, a grief stricken hero in his thirties, leading a dedicated and restrained life until he is bewitched by a cute damsel, a series of miss happenings amply interspersed with love and romance, a mature confidant bent on making the two lovers cherish each other and strike a romantic bond. However, the good thing about Safe Haven is that these similarities end up only here.

Over all Spark has managed to contrive an interesting plot, dexterously placing the events and actions in a tactical way, to yield the expected, yet, engaging emotional and artistic effects. The character of Katie initiates a line of action that depends for its fulfillment on the ignorance of the characters, with whom she is designed to interact during the course of the narrative, leading to imaginable yet ingratiating happenings. In that sense the book does manage to grasp the reader interest and attention.

One other thing that makes the book a must read is the element of surprise and risk introduced into it by the writer. In that context, the characterization of Kevin, Katie’s husband is indeed praise worthy and complex. It is only when Kevin enters the plot that it makes the readers’ expectations and apprehensions augment to a peak level, leaving them engaged and interested in knowing about the future course of events, and as to how the two central characters that are Katie and Alex will respond to them.

In that sense, Spark does manages to build up a sense of uncertainty amongst the readers, making them establish a kind of bond and commitment with Katie and Alex. This ploy gives way to a sense of suspense and apprehension in the novel, irrespective of the readers being able to decipher as to how the story will or should end. Spark does succeed in giving way to a structure that is predictable, yet, replete with a paradoxical tension, ensuing from diverse situations and possibilities, thereby allowing the writer to play with a willing suspension of disbelief on the part of the readers.

Though, pragmatically speaking there exist only a handful of original love stories in literature, still, Nicholas Spark does manage to exhibit a marked craftsmanship by wrapping an old story in a form and content that makes it appear new, interesting and engaging.