"Counting Miracles" by Nicholas Sparks Review

Introduction

Yet another beautiful and emotionally charged tale by the master of romantic fiction Nicholas Sparks is available in Counting Miracles. Sparks is normally endearing and known for his mastery in the crafting of heart-touching and at the same time, thought-provoking narratives at the backdrop of which he brings out love, loss and redemption as depicted in this novel. Tracing veteran survival and revival and human contingencies, Counting Miracles is a story of the frailty of life and a string of relations.

This is because Sparks uses this method of character development and touchy-feely plot everywhere in the novel. But Counting Miracles tries to present something more—a reflection on the things people believe in, or merely are destined to, and how luck interlaces with the belief in this world. Readers can use this story to ponder our daily minutiae while still giving the audience the ‘wrap-from-the-edge, scrub-up-and-breathe sort of unexpected twist’ and ‘the soul-terrific exploration of human emotions’ that is synonymous with Sparks writing.

In this review of 2000 words, the plot of the story will be summarized and the characters developed and the themes that underlie this love story will be revealed together with how Nicholas Sparks used the various techniques in the narration of the scenes in this tragedy.

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Plot Summary

Counting Miracles revolves around two main characters: Anna Beaumont and Jack Wilson- Two main characters who get involved in each other’s lives due to some circumstances. Anna is a serious hard-working honest nurse who works in a hospice, where she assists people during their last days’ moments. While Jack is a triumphant but bitter and lost man of business, leading to his wife’s death in a car accident, Sarah is a kind and loving woman. Perhaps due to the additional resources he has and has achieved wealth, and success in his endeavours, yet, underneath it lies the fact that he feels that he has lost feeling, and cannot cope with the deep grief that comes from the emptiness he feels in his life.

Jack goes through most of the events with hesitance when he takes several days off work at the prodding of his friends and therapist. To get the freedom he needs, Jack drives to a small town in North Carolina, which was always in plans for his and his wife’s retirement. That is when Jack crosses paths with Anna: after a car failure in front of her house. Jack’s first meeting with Anna is rather short, but he is drawn to her and feels that there is a lot of good about her.

As usual, Jack is fated to extend his stay in the town, and he starts to attend the hospice in which Anna is employed. Melancholically the man is watching how delicately she treats the sick and how, helping them to endure until the last moment, she restores their human dignity; at the same time, the man has no choice but to face his fears and pain for the deceased. He is most impacted by one of his patients, a young girl under the age of 10, diagnosed with cancer that has touched only 1 in a billion. Lily has lost a leg but she is not hopeless and helpless, instead, she has a lot to say about the miracles that go unnoticed in life by Jack.

When the friendship between Jack, and Anna develops into intimacy, they also both importantly contend with their inner histories. In his encounters with the two women, Jack seems to come to terms with the death of his wife, although Lily derives comfort from another woman whose mother died of cancer years ago like her. Together, they learn that there will always be a suffering and broken time in their life but even at that time there will always be small rays of sunshine and a chance at redemption.

Character Development

Nicholas Sparks is an exceptional talent, largely due to his creating memorable characters and this is true of Counting Miracles. These two are also special characters – both of them have their problems and have emotional issues to deal with.

Hospice nurse Anna Beaumont is another timeless example; she is compassionate and caring, having chosen a career in which deadlines are, in fact, death. However, it does not seem to bother her much yet, she still blames herself for not saving her mother from her fate. This makes her a very complex character who despite being caring at times cannot spare any care to herself. From her interaction with Jack, Anna starts to embrace herself and gets a second chance at life pointing to the fact that she deserves love as well as forgiveness.

Jack Wilson on the other hand represents the stereotypical “grieving” widower, but through the rhetorical appeals made by Sparks, the reserve of Jack’s sorrow is shown. The physical behaviour reflecting the theme of the novel is evident from the life episode of Jack who fails to bury his dead wife and in fact, reluctantly goes through a process of mourning throughout the novel. In the beginning, he does not quite believe he can experience happiness again because of the tragedy and his relationship with Anna and Lily makes him understand that life still has some meaning. The character transformation of this little boy is one of the most touching ideas of the whole book, seeing him gradually open up to feelings of happiness and affection.

As in so many other productions, supporting characters in Counting Miracles are also very significant for the plot. Lily is the young girl living in hospice, who is portrayed as a positive character, someone who brings the main characters, both Anna and Jack, valuable life lessons for faith and for living in the moment. Lily’s mother Grace is another strong character in the book, who has to lust to turn fifty and lose her daughter. These are relationships that form the emotional depth that fuels the novel; hence the impact of each character’s journey.

Themes: Love, Loss, and Redemption

It is no different from most novels by Nicholas Sparks, and the book is centred on the nature of love and loss. But there are also arguments about saving the best and the last gift, the possibility of changing for the better as people and finding the will to start from scratch at the bottom and create something new. For example, Jack’s character – the man, who was emotionally closed, falling apart with grief, is transforming into a kind and loving man in the end.

The power of miracles is the main driving force of the novel, however, this is not hit at the reader’s forehead. As opposed to depicting big miracles that relate to the sphere of the divine, the book reveals and celebrates small miracles that people can easily overlook. Whether it’s the spirit of a boy fighting cancer, the generosity of a stranger, or the moment when someone’s life is changed for the better through any given meeting, Sparks wants people to wake up and take a closer look at what’s around them – there is a lot to be amazed in this world.

Another thing that runs throughout the novel is faith by which I do not mean religion but faith in something, faith in people. Instead, it is represented as a theological conception of faith that is based on the belief in something that is not a person—an optimistic belief in love a human connection and in the world where there is a purpose for living even experiencing suffering. These are the characters that at some point of the novel doubt themselves and the chances of being happy: Anna and Jack. But by being together and experiencing their daily lives together they slowly start to rebuild that faith and hope.

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There being no strong gender roles perceive their love as being pure and chaste in Nicholas Sparks’ Narrative Techniques.

Counting Miracles was written by Sparks, who is a kind of master of the narrative moments and he proves this once again. Employing one of his most creative writing frameworks, he shares the story using both Anna’s and Jack’s points of view. This structure provides the novel with considerable personal touch because the readers can share the men’s thoughts and feelings, and thus, their subsequent union is significant.

Another advantage is the timing that Sparks decided to use in the novel, he effectively varies between explanations and the story’s actions. The narrative of the novel is not very fast, as for the development of the relations between Jack and Anna, as well as for the development of philosophical reflections in readers. Sparks also understands when to stop narrating and let Joseph’s emotions do the talking, thus establishing an incredibly rich emotional subtext leading to the climax of a very emotional conclusion.

Sparks also gives a good account of the background; and descriptions of the coastal town where most of the action occurs. The geographical environment evolves to a protagonist that plays the physical contests of the plot setting the context of Jack’s emotional transition while embodying reborn and revitalization. The sea and its rising and falling tides represent the oscillating feelings that Jack and Anna portray throughout the novel.

Emotional Appeal and the Reader Engagement

The work counted in this book will be especially touching to the readers who have lost someone or, at least, do not understand how to cope with the feelings of grief and pain. Writing about love, loss and healing touches everyone’s strings and Sparks in this novel has just that and everyone feels the pain and the hope.

Everyone who picks up this novel will follow the story of Jack and Anna, hoping they will eventually find comfort and love in each other’s company. The emotional climax of the novel might be termed the very tableau of the romance’s success and collapse at the same time, because while readers are left with the image of Lyddy’s trying to achieve a happy ending the novel also suggests that this dream is out of their reach. In conclusion of the book people come to understand that life is a special gift and even if it is surrounded by gloom, at times people manage to touch the moment of grace.

Conclusion

As in his previous novels, Nicholas Sparks presents the reader with an intense, warm and skillfully written tale that raises the eternal questions of love, sorrow and people’s solidarity. Anna and Jack Sparks show that people can get the help they need from sources they would least expect them to come from and that in life’s ordinary occurrences, people can draw on the grace that is sufficient enough to help them.

The themes which are developed in the novel are remarkable and thanks to believable characters and beautiful narration provided by Sparks Counting Miracles will influence the readers deeply. Forgetting everything you have lost, could mean, getting the chance to find everything you want in life again – love, joy, and most crucially hope.

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