Three Weeks with My Brother by Nicholas Sparks & Micah Sparks
2004, Time Warner Book Group
Reviewed by Linda Fugate
[e-book
version]
What would you think if you received a brochure offering a three week
whirlwind trip around the world? If it was affordable to you would you
consider it? And who would you take with you?
Nicholas Sparks, author of several very popular works, received such a
mailing and did just that. When a brochure came offering the trip of a
lifetime Nicholas mentioned it to his wife. The parents of five young
children, one with a disability, briefly considered it knowing it would
be impossible for them as a couple. Sparks, however, kept the brochure
for a few days. He later approached his wife with the idea to make the
trip with his elder brother, Micah. She agreed it was a good idea.
Micah’s wife was equally agreeable.
Three Weeks with My Brother offers you a glimpse of their trip to such
faraway places as Malta, Easter Island, Cambodia, Peru, India, Australia
and others in the itinerary. It illuminates some of the antics of their
youth as well as those performed on the trip. As the tour guide so aptly
put it, they were going to be trouble. But it also offers more.
Insight into the psyche of this famous author reveals the fact that he
had almost backed out of not only the trip but many other events in his
past, naming numerous reasons that others would consider insignificant.
The book further explores the development and rivalries of the brother’s
relationships and their positions in the family unit. Much is said about
the adored younger sister, Dana.
Micah and Nicholas, the sole survivors of the Sparks family, have a lot
to offer to the reader about their childhoods. Being the oldest (Micah)
and middle (Nicholas) children, they perceived their respective worlds
differently. Growing up in near poverty, these two men set a goal to
make their first million dollars by the age of 30…with no idea how. Both
had achieved their respective goal before this book, but neither has
forgotten what has molded them and what life was like for them as children.
If you are a Nicholas Sparks fan, or just a reader interested in the
background of a successful author, this is a good book for you. It is a
quick read, has the elements of comedy, tragedy and a biography all
rolled into its pages.
[e-book version]