Kirsten Fields The Last Song

The Last Song

Nicholas Sparks

463 Pages

Rating: 9

The Last Song features a 17 year old girl named Veronica (aka Ronnie) as she is sent off to spend the summer with her father with whom she has not spoken with in three years. She spends the summer learning life’s largest lessons such as the importance of family, love, and the consequences of falling into the wrong crowd. Growing up she was an amazing piano player and her father taught her everything he knew. He gave up being a professor at Julliard to pursue his own musical aspirations, however his dreams hit bottom and he gave up. After her father left the family she refused to even look at a piano and turned into the teenager that every parent dreads. At the end of the summer she finally learns of why her father wanted her and her brother to come stay with him. He had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and was given less than a year to live. When Ronnie learns of this she focuses intently upon healing the wounded relationship between her and her father, something her father had been trying to do all summer as she stubbornly resisted. She starts playing the piano again and finishes the song her father had begun to write. She learns to forgive before it is too late. And she finally opens herself up to love.

I was able to connect with this book because I know how it feels to refuse to do something you love because of a person or event. I’ve learned that by depriving oneself of the things you love you become a different person, but not necessarily a better version of yourself. I admired how the character changed throughout the story. She grew as a person and she experienced first hand the challenges of adulthood. Most importantly she mended the relationship with her father before it was too late. It just goes to show that a little love can go a long way.