Author: Nicholas Sparks
Release Date: September 17, 2013
Genre: Romance
Pages: 449
ISBN No:978-07515-4997-3
Publisher: Hachette

Synopsis

Ira Levinson is in trouble.  At ninety-one years old, in poor health and alone in the world, he finds himself stranded on an isolated embankment after a car crash.  Suffering multiple injuries, he struggles to retain consciousness until a blurry image materializes and comes into focus beside him: his beloved wife Ruth, who passed away nine years ago.  Urging him to hang on, she forces him to remain alert by recounting the stories of their lifetime together – how they met, the precious paintings they collected together, the dark days of WWII and its effect on them and their families.  Ira knows that Ruth can’t possibly be in the car with him, but he clings to her words and his memories, reliving the sorrows and everyday joys that defined their marriage.

A few miles away, at a local bull-riding event, a Wake Forest College senior’s life is about to change.  Recovering from a recent break-up, Sophia Danko meets a young cowboy named Luke, who bears little resemblance to the privileged frat boys she has encountered at school.  Through Luke, Sophia is introduced to a world in which the stakes of survival and success, ruin and reward — even life and death – loom large in everyday life.  As she and Luke fall in love, Sophia finds herself imagining a future far removed from her plans —  a future that Luke has the power to rewrite . . . if the secret he’s keeping doesn’t destroy it first.

Ira and Ruth.  Sophia and Luke. Two couples who have little in common, and who are separated by years and experience. Yet their lives will converge with unexpected poignancy, reminding us all that even the most difficult decisions can yield extraordinary journeys: beyond despair, beyond death, to the farthest reaches of the human heart.

Review

I absolutely fell in love with this book since I issued it. Right from the cover of the book to the last page, it will keep you engrossed. It really didn’t let me sleep peacefully as the entire time I was concerned about what’s going to happen to Ira.

The letters that Ira wrote for Ruth were so emotional that despite my efforts of controlling my emotions, but I gave in when I read the last letter that Sophia reads out to him. The way its written will surely make you feel the undying love that Ira felt for Ruth. Also the letter that Ruth wrote to Ira before she died was very emotional. I loved both the stories equally and also the end. It was a happy ending in true sense.

The Longest Ride has a a lot of meanings in respect to the book, but for me The Longest Ride for Ira was his life as he happens to mention and for Luke it was riding Big Ugly Critter.

I especially love this book because it really made me wonder that after living such a happy life together with your spouse, in the end when one out of the two of you remains, how painful it would be and trust me even after dying, I guess, you really can’t be at peace seeing your other half struggle!

Read this review on Goodreads here.

Other Stuff

Opening Line: “I sometime think to myself that I’m the last of  my kind.”

Highlights: Ira’s undying and ageless love for his wife.

Low-lights: None.

Memorable Paragraph:

“Sophia, after all, was the real treasure he’d found this year, worth more to him than all the art in the world. With a smile, Luke whispered into the dark, “I understand, Ira.” And when a shooting star passed overhead, he had the strange sense that Ira had not only heard him, but was smiling down on him in approval.”

Final Thoughts: Excellent! A must read!