Review: Three Weeks with My Brother

I have to post a review of this book that I just read. Now, I will start by saying that I read the book - from cover to cover - in six days. When I was younger and read all of the time, that would have been no big feat. But for me to read a book so quickly nowadays means that it must really be a page turner.

I usually relegate my "reading time" to when I get in bed for the night. This usually equates to about 3 minutes of me chuckling through "Life in These United States" or pondering the "Quotable Quotes" in my latest issue of Reader's Digest...then Chad finding me two hours later in a deep sleep, clutching my Reader's Digest with my glasses askew.

However, Three Weeks With My Brother was a different story - both literally and figuratively. Three Weeks With My Brother is a memoir by Nicholas Sparks, and he seamlessly weaves together the stories of his childhood and the stories of a three week excursion around the world with his brother in 356 pages. This book is clever and heart-wrenching - like most of his works. I haven't been able to read one of his books with being racked by sobs at some point. Come on, The Notebook? A Walk to Remember? Message in a Bottle? Now you can't tell me that you were able to make it through those books (or those movies) without having to take a moment to regroup.

Reading about his childhood, and how he learned to become who he is today through his family, resounded within me. More so now than it might have at another time. Reading about his constant trips back and forth from the East coast to the West coast really hit home for me- my twin sister is moving to California at the end of July. We have never been this far apart geographically, and it was kind of surreal reading about how Spark's handled his relationships with his siblings from across the country.

He also discusses the death of two dogs, which I wasn't expecting. This really had me in a heap of tears as I was reading on our back porch. Now, I just can't handle reading sad stories about dogs. I have always wanted to read Marley and Me, but I just can't do it. If I am feeling brave in a bookstore, I might read a few pages - but then my eyes well up with tears and I have to put it down before I am unable to regain composure. Reading about his experience with the death of their 12 year old Doberman brought me back to a few years ago when my parents made the tough, but necessary, decision to have our 15 year old Australian Shepherd/Border Collie mix , Scout, put to sleep. Grieving with my sisters made the experience easier, because they understood exactly what I was feeling.

I don't know how or when, but I hope that I am able to take a vacation with my sisters at some point in my life. Just the three of us - someplace fun and exotic, where we can put the cares of our worlds behind us for a few days. And I might just write a memoir about it.

...But for now, I will have to live vicariously through Sparks and his brother!