The story of The Sunflower by Richard Paul Evans begins
on Christmas Day in a Minnesota emergency room where Dr. Paul Cook is working
as an ER doctor. Sadly, Paul loses 2 patients that day. One is a heart attack
victim, the other is a small boy. Paul is absolutely devastated by these
events.
When Christine’s fiancé called off their wedding at the
last minute, her fun-loving best friend, Jessica, signs them up for a humanitarian
mission in the jungles of Peru to help her get over her broken heart. Not one
for camping expeditions, Christine has no desire to go on this trip.
However, after seeing an emotional slide presentation at
the trip’s orientation, Christine agrees to go. I think what changed her mind
is when the orientation leader said “find yourself by losing yourself in
service to others”. Maybe this is what Christine needs at the time.
Christine first meets Paul when a Peruvian boy
pickpockets her wallet. Paul catches the dodger and makes him return the
wallet. Eventually, Christine finds herself volunteering at The Sunflower – the
orphanage that Paul runs. Predictably,
Christine and Paul soon bound over the work and the children there.
The story is a little slow getting started. It seemed
like I knew exactly where it was going. It just took its good ol’ time getting
there. Maybe because the narrative – at least the first half of it - is filled
with mundane details about Christine and Paul’s lives. I also thought the character
of Jessica could be kind of silly at times in an annoying way. I guess she's supposed
to be the comic relief in this novel.
I chose this book because I thought it would have more
substance to it than a typical romance novel, and I suppose there is some
regarding the children living at The Sunflower, but I also found it to be the
usual, unsurprising contemporary romance novella as well.
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