The Rescue Book Review

I’m so happy to somehow feel the extra perks of paying high tuition in DLSU. I can borrow books and novels from its library as much as I want! In fact, the previous books I’ve reviewed here in my blog are mostly taken from our university’s learning commons. And I’m delighted to have my latest victim. The Rescue is a novel written by Nicholas Sparks and just like most of his books, it reached top one in New York Times Best Sellers list. Well, what do you expect with Nicholas Sparks?

The Rescue began strong. It begins miserable as it tells the hardships of a single mother, Denise Holton, in taking care of her son with a Central Auditory Processing Disorder and her struggles when he got missing in the swamps. I was as lonely and worried as Denise was. I started reading the book at midnight and even though I was sleepy, I told myself I was not going to sleep until they found her son, Kyle. Little did she know, it was in this rescue operation when she will find the man that will complete her life and will accept and understand everything about her son. Volunteer fireman, Taylor McAden, on the other hand, is a man who like to rescue troubled women but inevitably leaves them as soon as they want more from him. The Rescue narrates how will Taylor dare to make the greatest commitment of love with the help of Denise.

After the incident, it continued with the typical love story of Taylor and Denise and how their relationship worked out. It was cute though as they acted like teenagers. I was smiling while reading like as if I’m chatting with my boyfriend on phone. I don’t know how but Nicholas Sparks’ love stories never made me cringe like most books do. I can’t hide my smile, too, on the friendship Taylor and Mitch have. They all seem to enjoy each other’s company, together with Melissa, Mitch’s wife. I like their humor. It was all perfect until Taylor’s treatment became cold due to his fear in committing to love. My smiles eventually turned into tears. But even though Mitch died, I’m glad that it happily ended the way I want it to be.

Other than the love story itself that seems cliche, Nicholas Sparks’ creation also features the goodness of being in a small town wherein it feels like you’re just in a neighborhood who knows and helps each other and wherein you encounter festivals, reunions and all! Oh I miss home! It also displays the sacrifices fire volunteers do. I knew that for them, it’s a choice between their life being a volunteer or their family. Moreover, it shows the sacrifices not just of a normal mother, but of a mother of a son diagnosed with CAPD. According to the book, kids with this condition can’t recognize subtle differences between sounds in words because their ears and brain don’t fully coordinate. I didn’t know that there exist a thing until I read The Rescue. I love that in the form of love stories, Nicholas Sparks was able to teach us about stuff we don’t know and open the different side of world for us.