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j1nxc 's review for:
Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas
by James Patterson
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
suzanne's diary for nicholas is split up between two different stories- suzanne, who is writing a diary for her son nicholas detailing many aspects of her life, and katie, who has received the diary from her (ex)boyfriend matt and is reading it in order to get an understanding of his life with suzanne and nicholas. it turns out that suzanne and nicholas both died in a tragic accident and matt moved to new york shortly afterwards where he met katie and fell in love. they get married and start a family in the end.
so i know in my last review that james patterson is lowkey a freak and all his books suck in some way but... this was so good and so sad and i can't believe he wrote this. there was no weird uncomfortable stuff like usual (there was a moment where suzanne briefly details the first time she has sex with matt which is kind of weird to write about to your infant son but it was like 2 sentences so idk) and it was genuinely a heartbreaking story. i read this maybe six or seven years ago and remembered that it crushed my entire soul but it was absolutely much worse than i remembered.
the end was honestly predictable though it didn't hurt any less. suzanne knew she had heart problems yet she still tried to have another baby after almost losing nicholas and herself the first time. she was also diagnosed with two weak valves with a history of heart attacks yet she didn't push for the surgery to help. it also was just extremely apparent that katie and matt would end up together given the way her pieces of the book were about how she was pregnant with his baby and loved him so much. if there had been a better lead-up to the loss of suzanne and nicholas, i think it would have changed the story entirely.
it was also suuuuper short, just above 250 pages, so i breezed through it in just two hours. it read easy and i think the usual short chapter style that james patterson has worked SO well here given the diary entry format, which also helped to keep me hooked the whole time. there was not a single second where i wanted to put this down because i just had to know how it was going to end. i was praying for a happy ending, especially for nicholas, but it never happened. :(
overall probably one of his best books. i am not letting it get my hopes up for some of his other books though because i'm sure they will all be ruined in some way.
so i know in my last review that james patterson is lowkey a freak and all his books suck in some way but... this was so good and so sad and i can't believe he wrote this. there was no weird uncomfortable stuff like usual (there was a moment where suzanne briefly details the first time she has sex with matt which is kind of weird to write about to your infant son but it was like 2 sentences so idk) and it was genuinely a heartbreaking story. i read this maybe six or seven years ago and remembered that it crushed my entire soul but it was absolutely much worse than i remembered.
the end was honestly predictable though it didn't hurt any less. suzanne knew she had heart problems yet she still tried to have another baby after almost losing nicholas and herself the first time. she was also diagnosed with two weak valves with a history of heart attacks yet she didn't push for the surgery to help. it also was just extremely apparent that katie and matt would end up together given the way her pieces of the book were about how she was pregnant with his baby and loved him so much. if there had been a better lead-up to the loss of suzanne and nicholas, i think it would have changed the story entirely.
it was also suuuuper short, just above 250 pages, so i breezed through it in just two hours. it read easy and i think the usual short chapter style that james patterson has worked SO well here given the diary entry format, which also helped to keep me hooked the whole time. there was not a single second where i wanted to put this down because i just had to know how it was going to end. i was praying for a happy ending, especially for nicholas, but it never happened. :(
overall probably one of his best books. i am not letting it get my hopes up for some of his other books though because i'm sure they will all be ruined in some way.