I was already familiar with this story because of the movie. This may have either helped or hurt my experience with the book...I'm not sure which. Admittedly, the writing is a little too sappy for me and I found myself mentally preferring the movie as the story moved along. Had I not known the story, I may have been more invested and emotionally involved in it, thus enjoying it more in the end. The writing is decent and the story is a good one, it just wasn't in the wheelhouse for my current reading tastes.