The Longest Ride: A Review

One would think that an English teacher would read a ton over her spring break.  And I had high hopes to do just that.  But three small children kind of got in the way.  I normally get a decent amount of independent reading done at school while my students are reading and I lost that time over the break.  My kids also wore. me. out.  Literally.  So by the end of each day, I was lucky to read for five minutes before falling asleep each night.

Regardless, I finally finished The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks.  It was a nice, easy read.   It would have been a perfect beach read…had I been at the beach :)

Here is a short summary: It follows two parallel plots that intertwine at the end.  One plot line involves a couple, Ira and Ruth who were married for many years.  Ira is in a car accident when he goes off the side of a hill in the middle of a snowstorm and his entire plot line is memories of his lifetime with Ruth, starting from when they first met, to his time fighting in the war, to their time as career people, and their lifelong journey of collecting artwork.  The second parallel plot involves a young couple, Luke, a bullridin' cowboy from North Carolina, and Sophia, a senior student studying art history at Wake Forest.  They meet at a country bar and quickly fall in love.  I won't spoil the ending as to how it ends, so I'll stop here.

Though each of these parallel plots was somewhat predictable as a basic story line, I was surprised by how the stories connected at the very end.  Nicholas Sparks had set up the connection so well so I wasn't shocked with the connection; in fact, it made perfect sense.  I kind of have a love-hate relationship with Nicholas Sparks books.  They are somewhat unrealistic and predictable, and not really like normal relationships.  But that's probably why most girls like them.  We want the unexpected, the romance, that love of a lifetime.  And he certainly captures that.

It actually reminded me of last week's proposal on Suburgatory.  I seriously got teary eyed when watching this with my husband, who responded, "No guy really does this."  Probably true, but it was sweet all the same!

Seriously…watch this video.  It is so cute!