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- General fiction - |
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The Rescue |
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 The Rescue byNicholas Sparks Warner Books 339 pages, 2000 ISBN 0446525502 Reviewed by PJ Nunn Denise Holton, a young and single mother, is on her way home from work with her son Kyle in tow, when a storm of monstrous proportions hits the small town in North Carolina. Her car skids off the road. She is roused from unconsciousness and bleeding by Taylor McAden, a volunteer fireman on his way to an emergency call. Realizing that Kyle is gone, Denise is plunged into despair. Kyle has severe learning disabilities and isn’t likely to answer, even if he hears someone call his name. Unwilling to give up the search despite the risk, Taylor continues long after Denise is dispatched to the nearest hospital. Miraculously, he finds the boy unharmed, hiding in a duck blind in the nearby swamp. Even more startling to Denise is the way Kyle responds to Taylor. Unlike so many men, Taylor seemed to see Kyle’s potential instead of his inadequacies. Denise enters the relationship, drawn to Taylor out of gratitude and loneliness. Denise soon learns that Taylor enjoys taking significant risks. A death wish, some of his friends might say. When a tragedy occurs that awakens all the demons Taylor has been holding at bay, Denise’s world is rocked again, as she becomes torn between the desire to help Taylor and the need to do what’s best for her son. Sparks has an unusual command of the written word. With a subtle interweaving of varied threads, he creates a tapestry filled with color and movement, making the difference between reading and experiencing vivid descriptions. Rather than rush toward the end of the story, the reader is compelled to savor the pages and enjoy their nuances. It’s hard to put a finger on exactly what passage captures the essence of this work, but once read it’s difficult to forget. When the last page of The Rescue is turned, there’s no false assurance of happily ever after, but rather a sense of deep appreciation for the joyful experiences that can be found even in the midst of a storm. |
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