Reviews
Critic Book Reviews
KIRKUS REVIEWLove means never having to say you’re dead.
Sparks (The Best of Me, 2011, etc.) fans know the drill: sweetness and light, darkness and despair, kissing and making up. And always, always, intertwining storylines. Got the template? Here, Sparks opens with a grim scene that soon turns as sappy as a maple: Old Ira Levinson (there’s a signal there) has driven off the road in black ice and snow, and now he’s feeling, as he says, “the Grim Reaper tapping my shoulder.” Now, it stands to reason that up there in the Southern highlands, a tow truck is likely to arrive less expeditiously than the nearest friendly ghost, in this case, that of Ira’s beloved wife, Ruth. If you’ve seen that Patrick Swayze/Demi Moore movie, you’ll know how this part works. But Ira isn’t just any old Southern Jew expiring in the cold: He’s had a hobby that’s morphed into a grail. Exit stage right; enter Sophia and Luke. Sophia’s a sorority sweetie with a brawler of a boyfriend whom she’s trying to ditch, and Luke is the cowboy hero who comes loping along to save the day. But let Sparks explain: “The cowboy’s words were clear and slow, as if he were addressing a dimwit.” Indeed. Well, bad boyfriend is conflict No. 1, and Luke’s nerves are conflict No. 2, especially when it comes to a session with the monster bull of his darkest dreams. All that remains to be done is to lasso these two couples together, jerk some tears: “My plea to you is this: despite your sadness, do not forget how happy you have made me; do not forget that I loved a man who loved me in return, and this was the greatest gift I could ever have hoped to receive.” To which, in cowboy-speak, the proper reply is: “Aw, shucks.”
Just the sort of thing for Sparks buffs.
Pub Date:Sept. 17th, 2013
ISBN:978-1-4555-2065-7
Page count:416pp
Publisher:Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online:Oct. 28th, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue:Nov. 15th, 2013
Book of the Week: 'The Longest Ride'
Friday, September 20, 2013
By Kate Padilla, Daily Reporter Staff
Nicholas Sparks. Grand Central, 398 pp. $27
I admit it: Nicholas Sparks is my guilty pleasure.
I read the books and I watch the movies. Every time a preview for a new one comes on TV, my face lights up like a Christmas tree and I feel Nic's eyes roll from across the room.
In my opinion, he is a Thomas Kinkade parallel to commercial fiction. His stories are always heartwarming, they tend to reflect a similar pattern, a lot of people find him kitschy, but he's made a lot (read: a lot) of money doing what he does.
I get it all. I understand that many of his books follow a similar basic plot structure. But, that being said, if I could sell millions of copies and make millions of dollars writing the same thing over and over again, I totally would.
"The Longest Ride" dips into the world of professional bull-riding. Sophia is a college student at Wake Forest University, deflecting every advance of her still-clingy ex-boyfriend as best she can. At a party one night, however, she is approached again by Brian, this time drunk. She has trouble convincing him that she is, indeed, done with the relationship. Fortunately for her, the mysterious guy she had seen staring across the meadow comes up and forcefully tells him to step down. Luke is a professional bull rider who continues to ride despite his mother's objections. Their relationship has been cold for months.
Meanwhile, Ira Levinson has run himself off the road during a snowstorm and now fights for his life amidst excruciating physical pain. His late wife, Ruth, appears to him and retells their own love story as a means of keeping him alive as long as possible.
Oddly enough, I found the male character development a little lacking. Usually, the characters of the same gender as the author are more fleshed out because the author can use his or her own experiences in their development. In "The Longest Ride," I felt more of an emotional pull from Sophia and Ruth than I did from Luke or Ira.
Like many of Sparks' books, "The Longest Ride" has already been greenlighted for a film, coming 2015. I enjoyed the book, but I'm going to venture out a little early and say the movie will probably be better. Some of his books, namely "Safe Haven" and "A Walk to Remember," carried emotional and psychological elements the movies couldn't. Others, including "The Lucky One," and "The Notebook," were enhanced by the visual interpretation.
© Copyright 2013 Spencer Daily Reporter. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
User Book Reviews
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17407748-the-longest-ride
http://books.usatoday.com/book/nicholas-sparks-the-longest-ride/l51147
Critic Book Reviews
KIRKUS REVIEWLove means never having to say you’re dead.
Sparks (The Best of Me, 2011, etc.) fans know the drill: sweetness and light, darkness and despair, kissing and making up. And always, always, intertwining storylines. Got the template? Here, Sparks opens with a grim scene that soon turns as sappy as a maple: Old Ira Levinson (there’s a signal there) has driven off the road in black ice and snow, and now he’s feeling, as he says, “the Grim Reaper tapping my shoulder.” Now, it stands to reason that up there in the Southern highlands, a tow truck is likely to arrive less expeditiously than the nearest friendly ghost, in this case, that of Ira’s beloved wife, Ruth. If you’ve seen that Patrick Swayze/Demi Moore movie, you’ll know how this part works. But Ira isn’t just any old Southern Jew expiring in the cold: He’s had a hobby that’s morphed into a grail. Exit stage right; enter Sophia and Luke. Sophia’s a sorority sweetie with a brawler of a boyfriend whom she’s trying to ditch, and Luke is the cowboy hero who comes loping along to save the day. But let Sparks explain: “The cowboy’s words were clear and slow, as if he were addressing a dimwit.” Indeed. Well, bad boyfriend is conflict No. 1, and Luke’s nerves are conflict No. 2, especially when it comes to a session with the monster bull of his darkest dreams. All that remains to be done is to lasso these two couples together, jerk some tears: “My plea to you is this: despite your sadness, do not forget how happy you have made me; do not forget that I loved a man who loved me in return, and this was the greatest gift I could ever have hoped to receive.” To which, in cowboy-speak, the proper reply is: “Aw, shucks.”
Just the sort of thing for Sparks buffs.
Pub Date:Sept. 17th, 2013
ISBN:978-1-4555-2065-7
Page count:416pp
Publisher:Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online:Oct. 28th, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue:Nov. 15th, 2013
Book of the Week: 'The Longest Ride'
Friday, September 20, 2013
By Kate Padilla, Daily Reporter Staff
Nicholas Sparks. Grand Central, 398 pp. $27
I admit it: Nicholas Sparks is my guilty pleasure.
I read the books and I watch the movies. Every time a preview for a new one comes on TV, my face lights up like a Christmas tree and I feel Nic's eyes roll from across the room.
In my opinion, he is a Thomas Kinkade parallel to commercial fiction. His stories are always heartwarming, they tend to reflect a similar pattern, a lot of people find him kitschy, but he's made a lot (read: a lot) of money doing what he does.
I get it all. I understand that many of his books follow a similar basic plot structure. But, that being said, if I could sell millions of copies and make millions of dollars writing the same thing over and over again, I totally would.
"The Longest Ride" dips into the world of professional bull-riding. Sophia is a college student at Wake Forest University, deflecting every advance of her still-clingy ex-boyfriend as best she can. At a party one night, however, she is approached again by Brian, this time drunk. She has trouble convincing him that she is, indeed, done with the relationship. Fortunately for her, the mysterious guy she had seen staring across the meadow comes up and forcefully tells him to step down. Luke is a professional bull rider who continues to ride despite his mother's objections. Their relationship has been cold for months.
Meanwhile, Ira Levinson has run himself off the road during a snowstorm and now fights for his life amidst excruciating physical pain. His late wife, Ruth, appears to him and retells their own love story as a means of keeping him alive as long as possible.
Oddly enough, I found the male character development a little lacking. Usually, the characters of the same gender as the author are more fleshed out because the author can use his or her own experiences in their development. In "The Longest Ride," I felt more of an emotional pull from Sophia and Ruth than I did from Luke or Ira.
Like many of Sparks' books, "The Longest Ride" has already been greenlighted for a film, coming 2015. I enjoyed the book, but I'm going to venture out a little early and say the movie will probably be better. Some of his books, namely "Safe Haven" and "A Walk to Remember," carried emotional and psychological elements the movies couldn't. Others, including "The Lucky One," and "The Notebook," were enhanced by the visual interpretation.
© Copyright 2013 Spencer Daily Reporter. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
User Book Reviews
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17407748-the-longest-ride
http://books.usatoday.com/book/nicholas-sparks-the-longest-ride/l51147