![]() ![]() How many authors have become brands in the movie business the way Sparks has? There’s Stephen King, John Grisham… and few others, aside from authors who’ve created a franchise (like J.K. When I received the seven-disc Nicholas Sparks Limited Edition DVD Collection in the mail a couple of weeks ago, I mainly looked on it as an opportunity to understand why the big-screen adaptations of Sparks’ books have been so popular. I’m not here to knock Sparks around-nor to act as apologist. Over and over, Sparks’ books tell stories of women and men who turn their backs on potential wealth and prestige so they can lead lives of quiet dignity-often in the coastal Carolinas-with salt-of-the-earth romantic partners who like to work with their hands and be left the hell the alone. ![]() ![]() In the movie version of Sparks’ 1998 book Message In A Bottle, the late wife of shipwright Garret Blake (played by Kevin Costner) hails him as “a person rich in simple treasures, self-made and self-taught.” That kind of faint praise counts as thundering acclaim in Sparks-land, where celebrating the unexceptional is central to the overall aesthetic. That’s not a value judgment that’s how they describe themselves. ![]() The heroes of Nicholas Sparks’ novels are ordinary folk. ![]()
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