Book 3: The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks Date: February 1, 2013
Part 1:
The Last Song is the story of Ronnie Miller and the summer that she spends with her father at Wrightsville Beach. At the start of the summer, she is a rebellious 17 year old who resents her parents for their messy divorce; she is particularly annoyed that she is being forced to spend the summer with her estranged father, to whom she has not spoken in three years. She is so angry that she has abandoned the one thing that she and her father used to share in common — playing the piano. She has no desire to spend the summer in North Carolina; she has no desire to get to know Will Blakelee, the good-looking beach volleyball player who literally bumps into her during her first day in the South; and she has no desire to reconnect with the father who walked away from her, her mother, and her brother. However, a run-in with the wrong crowd combined with a nest of endangered loggerhead turtle eggs results in Ronnie's unexpected maturation. The summer she initially dreaded ends up being an opportunity for her to learn about faith, family, and love.
Last Song opens with Ronnie staring out of her window, remembering the installation of a stained-glass window over a month ago. She wonders if Pastor Harris is already at the church and thinks of how the beach had fascinated her younger brother Jonah during the summer. As she ponders these things, her silence is interrupted by her mother. Ronnie's mother encourages her to talk about what is on her mind, commenting that Ronnie has been mostly silent for the past couple of days.
Bits and pieces of information about the past summer are mentioned — a betrayal, an arrest, falling in love, turtles — and then Ronnie shares a newspaper clipping with her mother. The newspaper article tells the story of a church that was destroyed, presumably through the careless use of illegal fireworks. The aforementioned Pastor Harris was the man injured in the blaze.
In addition to providing background information, Ronnie's conversation with her mother builds suspense — one of the primary purposes of the Prologue. Ronnie admits that she was wrong, not only about her father but also about everything, but readers do not know what "everything" is, nor do they know what happened to her father. Although many things are mentioned, readers actually learn very little about Ronnie — they know that she is 18 years old, but know nothing of her love, her arrest, or even her father.
Last Song opens with Ronnie staring out of her window, remembering the installation of a stained-glass window over a month ago. She wonders if Pastor Harris is already at the church and thinks of how the beach had fascinated her younger brother Jonah during the summer. As she ponders these things, her silence is interrupted by her mother. Ronnie's mother encourages her to talk about what is on her mind, commenting that Ronnie has been mostly silent for the past couple of days.
Bits and pieces of information about the past summer are mentioned — a betrayal, an arrest, falling in love, turtles — and then Ronnie shares a newspaper clipping with her mother. The newspaper article tells the story of a church that was destroyed, presumably through the careless use of illegal fireworks. The aforementioned Pastor Harris was the man injured in the blaze.
In addition to providing background information, Ronnie's conversation with her mother builds suspense — one of the primary purposes of the Prologue. Ronnie admits that she was wrong, not only about her father but also about everything, but readers do not know what "everything" is, nor do they know what happened to her father. Although many things are mentioned, readers actually learn very little about Ronnie — they know that she is 18 years old, but know nothing of her love, her arrest, or even her father.