«Message in a Bottle» by N. Sparks

«Message in a Bottle» by N. Sparks

I’ve just read the extract from the book “Message in a Bottle” was written by Nicholas Sparks. Nicholas Sparks is a modern American novelist and screenwriter. His novels include Christian faith, love, tragedy and fate.

The story tells us about strong feelings such as sadness, regret and loneliness. The action takes place in the shore of the ocean. It is winter. The plot of the story centres round one woman. Her name is Theresa Osborne. She comes alone on the beach with her thoughts and feelings. It is the place, where Theresa can commune with herself. Moreover, it is a good opportunity to run away from the rush in Boston. It is her secret trip that she doesn't want to share with anyone. There are three letters which she always reads. She keeps them in secret.

The extract is characterized by enjoyable plot and deep emotional impact. The author is focused on human feelings and actions. He concentrated the reader’s attention on the inner world of his heroine.

The extract is written in a form of narration with descriptive passages. There is 3 person in narrative. This extract is written in realistic style, and also in melodramatic and emotional in tone. Many of the events and descriptions in the extract are seen through the main character’s eyes.

This passage the author begins describing the scene of the action and the first mention of the main character. The development of the plot is about the heroine’s reason to find herself alone on the beach and her behavior with people in her life. And the climax is reading the mysterious letters.

The author makes extensive use of epithets to render the story more vivid and real, for example ‘heavy clouds, perfect excuse, a cold December wind’. There is a simile in the text as ‘the ocean, reflecting the color of the sky, looked like liquid iron’. It helps to add the imagery. The author uses the inversion to show the real state of thing like ‘She hadn’t told anyone what she carried with her, nor had she told them what she had intended to do today’ or ‘they would have understood had she told them the truth’. The enumerations show detailed actions of the main character, for example ‘she sat in the sand and opened her bag’, ‘she sat on the sand and stared at them’. An additional effect is produced by repetitions such as ‘In another place, in another time’, ‘in it were three letters, carefully folded, letters that she had read more times’. There is a great number of parallel constructions, for instance ‘ In a way, she felt as if she weren’t really here, as if the whole thing was nothing but a dream’, It had started with her alone, and that was the same way she wanted it to end’. The sentences are complex and compound. The author uses a lot of participle clauses. All this language means contribute to the expressiveness of the passage. They help to bring the idea out and to create dramatic atmosphere.

In conclusion, I would like to say that this extract has impressed me. I want to read the book “Message in a Bottle” completely and to know what will happen next in the narration.