I’ve never actually read a book by Nicholas Sparks, nor do I have desire to.

After all, his novels regularly find their way to the screen. So I feel as though I’m absorbing them by osmosis.

I don’t think I’m giving much away – no spoiler alert required – to say that “Dear John” is the first of the cinematic adaptations of his books I’ve encountered in which one of the two lovers at the center of the story doesn’t die. Not that true love runs smoothly – Sparks wouldn’t have an oeuvre if it did. (More…)