Three Weeks with My Brother
Nicholas Sparks and Micah Sparks, 2004
Time Warner Books
368 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780446694858
Summary
The day the brochure came was a typical one. With a wife and five small children, a hectic schedule, and a new book due to his publishers, Nicholas Sparks was busy with his usual routine.
The colorful mailer, however, described something very different: a tour to some of the most exotic places on Earth. Slowly, an idea took hold in Nicholas's mind and heart. In January 2003, Sparks and his brother, Micah, set off on a three-week trip around the globe. It was to mark a milestone in their lives, for at thirty-seven and thirty-eight respectively, they were now the only surviving members of their family.
As they voyaged to the lost city of Machu Picchu high in the Andes...to mysterious Easter Island...to Ayers Rock in the Australian outback...and across the vast Indian subcontinent, the ultimate story of their lives would unfold. Against the backdrop of the wonders of the world and often overtaken by their feelings, daredevil Micah and the more serious, introspective Nicholas recalled their rambunctious childhood adventures and the tragedies that tested their faith.
In the process, they discovered startling truths about loss, love and hope. Narrated with irrepressible humor and rare candor, and including personal photographs, Three Weeks with My Brother reminds us to embrace life with all its uncertainties...and most of all, to cherish the joyful times, both small and momentous, and the wonderful people who make them possible. (From Nicholas Sparks' website.)
Author Bio
• Birth—December 31. 1965
• Where—Omaha, Nebraska, USA
• Education—B.A., University of Notre Dame
• Currently—lives in New Bern, North Carolina
Nicholas Charles Sparks is an American novelist, screenwriter and producer. He has published some 20 novels, plus one non-fiction. Ten have been adapted to films, including Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember, The Notebook, Nights in Rodanthe, Dear John, The Last Song, The Lucky One, and most recently The Longest Ride.
Background
Sparks was born to Patrick Michael Sparks, a professor of business, and Jill Emma Marie Sparks (nee Thoene), a homemaker and an optometrist's assistant. He was the middle of three children, with an older brother and a younger sister, "Dana", who died at the age of 33 from a brain tumor. Sparks said that she is the inspiration for the main character in his novel A Walk to Remember.
His father was pursuing graduate studies at University of Minnesota and University of Southern California, and the family moved a great deal, so by the time Sparks was eight, he had lived in Watertown, Minnesota, Inglewood, California, Playa del Rey, California, and Grand Island, Nebraska, which was his mother's hometown during his parents' one year separation.
In 1974 his father became a professor of business at California State University, Sacramento teaching behavioral theory and management. His family settled in Fair Oaks, California, and remained there through Nicholas's high school days. He graduated in 1984 as valedictorian from Bella Vista High School, then enrolled at the University of Notre Dame under a full track and field scholarship. In his freshman year, his team set a record for the 4 x 800 relay.
Sparks majored in business finance and graduated from Notre Dame with honors in 1988. He also met his future wife that year, Cathy Cote from New Hampshire, while they were both on spring break. They married in 1989 and moved to New Bern, North Carolina.
Writing career
While still in school in 1985, Sparks penned his first (never published) novel, The Passing, while home for the summer between freshman and sophomore years at Notre Dame. He wrote another novel in 1989, also unpublished, The Royal Murders.
After college, Sparks sought work with publishers or to attend law school, but was rejected in both attempts. He then spent the next three years trying other careers, including real estate appraisal, waiting tables, selling dental products by phone and starting his own manufacturing business.
In 1990, Sparks co-wrote with Billy Mills Wokini: A Lakota Journey to Happiness and Self-Understanding. The book was published by Random House sold 50,000 copies in its first year.
In 1992, Sparks began selling pharmaceuticals and in 1993 was transferred to Washington, DC. It was there that he wrote another novel in his spare time, The Notebook. Two years later, he was discovered by literary agent Theresa Park, who picked The Notebook out of her agency's slush pile, liked it, and offered to represent him. In October 1995, Park secured a $1 million advance for The Notebook from Time Warner Book Group. The novel was published in 1996 and made the New York Times best-seller list in its first week of release.
With the success of his first novel, he and Cathy moved to New Bern, NC. After his first publishing success, he began writing his string of international bestsellers.
Personal life and philanthropy
Sparks continues to reside in North Carolina with his wife Cathy, their three sons, and twin daughters. A Roman Catholic since birth, he and his wife are raising their children in the Catholic faith.
In 2008, Entertainment Weekly reported that Sparks and his wife had donated "close to $10 million" to start a private Christian college-prep school, The Epiphany School of Global Studies, which emphasizes travel and lifelong learning.
Sparks also donated $900,000 for a new all-weather tartan track to New Bern High School. He also donates his time to help coach the New Bern High School track team and a local club track team as a volunteer head coach.
In addition to track, he funds scholarships, internships and annual fellowship to the Creative Writing Program (MFA) at the University of Notre Dame. (Adapted from Wikipedia.)
Book Reviews
A moving tale of familial solidarity. Sparks’s side story of commitment to ameliorating his son’s autism is downright inspiring.
Washington Post Book World
When bestselling author Sparks (The Notebook; Message in a Bottle; etc.) receives a brochure offering a three-week trip around the world, it's not hard for him to persuade Micah, his older brother, to join him in touring Guatemala's Mayan ruins, Peru's Incan temples, Easter Island, the killing fields in Cambodia, the Taj Mahal and Ethiopian rock cathedrals. His account of the trip is refreshingly honest and perceptive. At each stop, the brothers, both deeply committed to their families, cover the crucial moments in a life full of familial love and tragedy: Nick's role as the middle child always feeling left out; his marriage in 1989; the loss of Nick and Micah's mother two months later after a horseback riding accident; the death of Nick's first baby and the physical problems of his second son; the death of their father in a car accident; and the passing of their younger sister from a brain tumor. As the brothers travel together through these mythical sites and share candid thoughts, they find themselves stunned by fate's turns, realizing that a peaceful moment may be shattered at any time. Weaving in vignettes of tenderness and loss with travelogue-like observations, Sparks's account shows how he and his brother both evolved on this voyage. "Somehow there was a chance we could help each other, and in that way, I began to think of the trip less as a journey around the world than a journey to rediscover who I was and how I'd developed the way I did."
Publishers Weekly
This is a rare opportunity for readers to get to know a favorite author as Nicholas reveals the inspirations for his fiction. A must-read for Sparks fans as well as a treat for those who want to find out what makes a family strong.
Booklist
Sparks, the best-selling author of several novels (The Notebook; Message in a Bottle), turns his hand to nonfiction in a hybrid that mixes personal memoir with travel narrative. Chapters alternate between descriptions of the exotic locales visited on an around-the-world excursion with his brother and incidents from their shared childhood and Nicholas's adult life. The greater part of the book is devoted to memoirs that read like Sparks's novels; indeed, it would appear that he has drawn much of the inspiration for his fiction from personal experience. The travel chapters are disappointing at best. Sparks drones on about the minutiae of the trip while offering little description of the famous landmarks he visits (Machu Picchu, Taj Mahal, Easter Island) beyond the usual postcard writer's platitudes. In fact, the entire book is clich -ridden, with short, choppy sentences, unexciting dialog, and a dearth of modifiers. However, Sparks's legion of readers will undoubtedly find the details of his personal life appealing, and there is certain to be strong interest in this title. Public libraries should purchase it strictly to meet demand. —Rita Simmons, Sterling Heights P.L., MI
Library Journal
Discussion Questions
1. The authorship of Three Weeks with My Brother, at least as far as the cover is concerned, is split equally between Nicholas and Micah. Yet the book, for the most part, is written in first-person by Nicholas. Why? In your opinion, would it have been better to have split the authorial voice, and if so, why?
2. Which sections seem most likely to have come from Nicholas’s memories? Which from Micah’s? Why?
3. Jill, their mother, is largely canonized in the novel, and both brothers claim a profound love and respect for her, and further describe her as an ideal mother. Did she strike you as ideal? In what way? Has the memory of Jill been romanticized over the years by both Micah and Nicholas?
4. At the same time, however, Jill seems to be almost neglectful as a parent, allowing the boys too much freedom at too young an age and forcing a maturity upon them that is far beyond their years. Is this inconsistency adequately explained? Would you allow this as a parent? In what ways did this freedom to roam as children—complete with injuries, brushes with the law, and wrong choices—seem to affect Micah now? How does it seem to affect Nicholas now?
5. Mike, their father, is perhaps least understood by both Micah and Nicholas of all their family members. Why? What were Mike’s strongest attributes as a father in your opinion? His weakest?
6. As Micah and Nicholas grew older, their thoughts about their mother remained largely unchanged, while their view of their father changed over time, from one of simple awe to one of sympathy and worry. Was this because their mother died first, when the boys were still relatively young, and before Micah and Nicholas faced the realities of adulthood? Or was it a reaction to the struggles that Mike faced in the aftermath of Jill’s death? Is Micah still angry with Mike? Is Nicholas?
7. Dana, like Jill, is described almost reverently by both Micah and Nicholas. Is this view realistic? Describe the ways in which Dana seems similar to Micah. Describe the ways in which she seems similar to Nicholas. How is she different?
8. Dana, both brothers profess, was treated differently than her brothers. Was she? Does this explain the apparent differences?
9. Nicholas claims that in the novel A Walk to Remember, the character of Jamie was inspired by his sister. How is Jamie similar to Dana? How is she different? Did the characters strike you as similar?
10. The book was structured around a trip around the world the brothers took in 2003. Did the travel add anything to the book? Or could the book have been written without it? Why do you think the authors choose to do it this way?
11. A memoir is always based on memories and perception. At the same time, it attempts to describe events as they truly happened. Is it possible to do both, or are these goals contradictory? How does the extended family feel about the story?
12. Nicholas’s writing career is discussed in much abbreviated form, only a few sentences here and there. There is little description of any struggles or how the success has affected him. Why was this area of his life largely omitted? Should it have been? Would the book have had more or less impact had he included this information?
13. Memoirs provide glimpses into character, but only those glimpses that the authors are willing to reveal. It’s as if a window is opened, but only so far. After finishing the novel, do you feel as if you know Micah? Do you feel as if you know Nicholas?
14. The structure of the novel is circular, in that it largely ends in the same place where it begins: with the brochure arriving in the mail. Did you realize this? Can you think of another book that has been written in this way? What is the symbolism of this ending?
(Questions from Nicholas Sparks' website.)