“She turned to face him. ‘What were we thinking?’ ‘We weren’t,’ he said. ‘We were in love.” In the spring of 1984, high school students Dawson Cole and Amanda Collier fell passionately in love. Never in a million years would anyone have thought that their paths would have crossed. Due to Dawson Cole’s family, everyone had the impression that he was mean and heartless, and Amanda’s parents didn’t want her anywhere near him. Series of events cause Dawson to leave Amanda, for he felt that he would only hurt her. 25 years later Amanda and Dawson returned to Oriental for the funeral of Tuck Hostetler. Unforeseen events caused the high school sweethearts to remember everything they had and still wanted. I enjoyed both reading the book and watching the movie but if I had to choose my favorite it would have to be the movie.
There are many reasons why I fancied the movie over the book. One main reason is that  the movie brought the characters to life more than the book did. During the movie I could feel the pain of Dawson as he fought to protect Amanda from the evil in his life. I could feel just how much Amanda loved him, as she tried to hold on to the only thing that kept her happy. It made me crave a love as deep as theirs. I was very please with the actors they decided to use in the movie. Secondly the book describes how Dawson got into an accident and killed a local doctor which resulted in four years in prison. In the movie he got into a fight with his dad and the gun shifted and hit Dawson’s cousin, a teen father to be, square in his forehead. Dawson was sentenced to eight years in prison. This was a great change I believe because throughout the whole movie Dawson was trying to protect the people he loved, and to loose his cousin greatly affected his life. This is an important event because this caused Dawson to break up with Amanda because he didn't want her to wait for him for eight long years. Lastly in the book Tuck talked a lot about how he could see and talk to his dead wife Clara. Tuck took Dawson in after he ran away from his father. In the movie they rarely ever talked about Clara and her and Tuck?s relationship. I think was smart because Clara didn't really affect any events in the story or any choices made in the story. She also wasn't a main character, so she was only mentioned in Tuck?s letter to Amanda after he passed. Overall I felt that the movie moved me more than the book did, and Nicholas Spark?s tone for the story came across better in the movie.
Even though I enjoyed the movie more than the book, the book was still one of the most heartbreaking, passionate, and  marvelous books I have ever read. The outstanding performances delivered by Michelle Monaghan and James Marsden is what, I believe, made the film so amazing. I can?t wait to read other books from Nicholas Sparks! “ I don?t have much to offer, but I promise you can have the best of me.” Hopefully you too will read and watch The Best of Me and experience how it is possible to laugh, cry, and crave true love all at the same time.