The Last Song

The Last Song written by Nicholas Sparks is a story of a teenager named Ronnie whose life completely changed one summer that she spent with her estranged father. Ronnie was consumed by anger and rebellion when her parents divorced three years ago. She blamed her father for leaving them and so she has not spoken to him in three years.

But as Ronnie and her brother Jonah stays with their dad that summer, everything in her life has changed. During her first days she shouted a lot at her father. But she started to stay calmer after meeting Will, a nice and handsome guy whom she had a row with at first.

Ronnie and Will seemed to click on immediately but their relationship was tarnished by a gang of unruly kids led by Marcus who seemed to be interested in her but who was Blaze's boyfriend, a girl she met and considered a friend.

As she spent more time with Will, she had also learned a lot of things about her father. She learned that he was a very good person and that he never wanted to leave them. As the summer drew to an end, Will will be going to college in Vanderbilt while she and Jonah will return to New York to their mom, she discovered that her dad has a terminal illness, a stomach cancer.

Ronnie's world turned upside down. Just when she was starting to know her father again, he was dying. While their father stayed in the hospital, Jonah wanted to finish the church's stained glass window his father and him were doing all summer and Ronnie and Will tried to help.

Eventually, Will told Ronnie his big secret. A secret which made her so angry the day before his departure for college and they haven't talked since then. She stayed with her father to care for him during his sufferings. As her father steadily grew weaker, she felt a nagging feeling that she must do something special for him just as Pastor Harris felt that he must install the stained glass window for his father to see. The day she thought she was losing him, she finished the song her father had been composing. She played the piano again to play their last song in front of him.

When her father died, there was a small funeral and her brother and mother were there. She saw the sunlight streaked through the stained glass window and she and Jonah remembered their father. As she was about to leave the church, she noticed Will's parents, Tom and Susan, and thanked them for the donation that enabled rebuilding the church. She didn't expect it but Susan who did not like her seemed okay already and offered her condolences.

Then Will was there and they talked briefly, just a promise that he'll call her when he gets back from his trip abroad.

Ronnie tried to move on with her life without her father. She auditioned in Julliard and practice there everyday all the while spending more quality time with Jonah. She has also become in better terms with her mother. She no longer was a rebellious teenager. She has matured in a lot of ways during the past months.

Then Will called her one day while she was practicing at Julliard. She was surprised to know that he was there, just behind her. He told her that he'll be studying in New York and she felt happy that they will be together again.
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Though I felt the story is quite predictable, I liked it. I liked the drama and the ordinary way the story goes. When I searched for the book, I found out that Nicholas Sparks wrote it after he co-wrote the screenplay of the movie. It was usually the other way around. Though I don't like Miley Cyrus much, I would like to watch this movie.