Saint Michael School of Argao

S.Y. 2013-2014

Name of Student: Lianne Paz E. Villanueva Date:

March 14, 2014

A Reading Report on Message in a Bottle

This reading report is an output required for our fourth quarter

performance task, to be passed to our English teacher Ms. Teresita Salomeri.

The book is entitled: Message in a Bottle by New York Time’s bestselling

author, Nicholas Sparks. He is 48 years of age and is currently living in New

Bern, North Carolina. His book was published by Warner Books in year 1998.

I got interested in this book because I like the author and most of his books

are praised all over the world. Not only this but also because the story has a

great twist in it and was recommended by my teacher, Bro. Marco Dela Pena.

The main characters of this book are Theresa Osborne who is 36 years

old and Garett Blake who is also in his mid-thirties (not specified). Both of

them are significant in the book because they serve as the framework of the

story and are the aspiring protagonists.

The genre of this book, perhaps if you ask me is both romance and

tragedy. The setting was held in Wilmington, North Carolina and set in the

mid-late 1990’s. Some of the events happened in Boston (home of Theresa),

Wrightsville (town of Garett), the Island Diving (a shop owned by Garett for

diving classes) and mostly in Garett’s sailboat called ‘Happenstance’ where

they would sail for hours. The story was quite touching and you can really tell

that it’s detailed in every scene because you can imagine yourself inside the

book. It feels like the circumstances are happening right before your eyes.

The emotions that are put in the book is completely overwhelming and after

reading it, you can feel like your heart is breaking and you just want to cry

and cry. There was this one moment where I actually regretted reading it

because it was so depressing and you can’t just get enough of it. The story of

the book is slowly creeping through your heart until you’re completely

hooked to it. This book is truly a master piece. Nicholas Sparks’ writing

technique is just so amazingly crazy.

To tell you honestly, there’s not a single time that I had let the story of

this book slip out of my mind. In every waking moment of my life, I have

thought about it over and over again, especially all the learnings that I’ve

learned. Message in a bottle taught me that not all love stories ends in a

happy-ever-after way. True love is rare, and it’s the only thing in this world

that gives life its true meaning, but it doesn’t mean it’ll last forever. As the

saying says; ‘Some people come as blessings, others come as life lessons.’ In

the case of the story of this book, it was both a blessing and a lesson for the

characters. Bluntly speaking, the ending was so devastating but all the tears

that I’ve shed were completely and were utterly worth it. I have discovered

and learned all these things right now, but most importantly, I’ve learned

that you should not close your heart to those people who loves you deeply

just because the past had hurt you. You’ll never know, maybe that very

same someone could have given you a greater love story than the one

you’ve been mourning for, and when you suddenly realize it, you were just a

little too late. Well, isn’t that heartbreaking?

MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE SYPNOSIS:

Divorced and disillusioned about relationships. Theresa Osborne is

jogging when she finds a bottle on the beach. Inside is a letter of love and

longing to “Catherine”, signed simply “Garett.” Challenged by the mystery

and pulled by emotions she doesn’t fully understand, Theresa begins a

search for this man that will change her life. What happens to her is

unexpected, perhaps a miraculous encounter that embraces all our hopes of

finding someone special, for having a love that is timeless and everlasting.

My dearest Catherine, I miss you my darling, as I always do, but today is

especially hard because the ocean has been singing to me, and the song is

that of our life together.

And so the story begins, about a woman who no longer believed in

love, and a man who thought he could never love again- until they found

each other.