Book and Movie Review of The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks
The Longest Ride is a dual story following two seemingly unlinked couples.
Ira is 92 years old and stuck in his car after slipping off a country highway in a snowstorm. With his car being buried by snow and his life in danger, he is visited by his wife. Ruth has been dead for nine years and appears to him to keep him awake and alive by helping him to relive their marriage, both the good times and the bad, as he waits for help he's not sure will arrive.
Sophia is an art history student at a university in North Carolina who goes to her first bull riding tournament and meets Luke, a bull rider who competed that day. As she is recovering from a messy breakup with a cheating ex who follows her around, then her best friend beginning a relationship with him, she and Luke slowly fall in love. Despite being polar opposites, they fall deeper and deeper in love. That is, until Sophia learns that a serious head injury makes each time Luke gets on a bull a possible end to his life.
I loved this book, and the way the two couples' stories were woven together was wonderful. I loved reading Ira's memories of his wife and how much they went through together. Sophia and Luke's story was more dramatic and while it was wonderful, I enjoyed Ira and Ruth's story more because it was just the story of someone's life. A happy life doesn't have to be spectacular, dramatic, or exciting to be happy. Sometimes the quiet complacency of day-to-day life is happier than a life filled with excitement. Their marriage was full of the natural ups and downs that happen in life, and it made the story more real and touching.
The movie came out in 2015, starring Scott Eastwood, Britt Robertson, and Alan Alda.
As always, there were some changes. I only really had issues with two changes, which were the most major ones. A more minor change was the removal of Sophia's ex-boyfriend from the story, which I agreed with. It added depth to the book but would have been distracting in the movie.
Due to the way Ira's story was told in the book, changes were made for the movie. It would have felt very disjointed and confusing as to why both stories were there in the first place. However, I didn't like how they chose to do that. The way the letters were written and how they told the story didn't make a lot of sense. I think it would have been better if Sophia had just gotten him talking about his life and the story was told in that manner.
Another change they made was significantly shortening the length of Sophia and Luke's relationship. In the book they meet in the Fall of Sophia's senior year, while in the movie it's the Spring. It makes the level of commitment Sophia is expecting seem a little extreme.
Other than those two changes, I found the movie to be wonderful.
Ira is 92 years old and stuck in his car after slipping off a country highway in a snowstorm. With his car being buried by snow and his life in danger, he is visited by his wife. Ruth has been dead for nine years and appears to him to keep him awake and alive by helping him to relive their marriage, both the good times and the bad, as he waits for help he's not sure will arrive.
Sophia is an art history student at a university in North Carolina who goes to her first bull riding tournament and meets Luke, a bull rider who competed that day. As she is recovering from a messy breakup with a cheating ex who follows her around, then her best friend beginning a relationship with him, she and Luke slowly fall in love. Despite being polar opposites, they fall deeper and deeper in love. That is, until Sophia learns that a serious head injury makes each time Luke gets on a bull a possible end to his life.
I loved this book, and the way the two couples' stories were woven together was wonderful. I loved reading Ira's memories of his wife and how much they went through together. Sophia and Luke's story was more dramatic and while it was wonderful, I enjoyed Ira and Ruth's story more because it was just the story of someone's life. A happy life doesn't have to be spectacular, dramatic, or exciting to be happy. Sometimes the quiet complacency of day-to-day life is happier than a life filled with excitement. Their marriage was full of the natural ups and downs that happen in life, and it made the story more real and touching.
The movie came out in 2015, starring Scott Eastwood, Britt Robertson, and Alan Alda.
As always, there were some changes. I only really had issues with two changes, which were the most major ones. A more minor change was the removal of Sophia's ex-boyfriend from the story, which I agreed with. It added depth to the book but would have been distracting in the movie.
Due to the way Ira's story was told in the book, changes were made for the movie. It would have felt very disjointed and confusing as to why both stories were there in the first place. However, I didn't like how they chose to do that. The way the letters were written and how they told the story didn't make a lot of sense. I think it would have been better if Sophia had just gotten him talking about his life and the story was told in that manner.
Another change they made was significantly shortening the length of Sophia and Luke's relationship. In the book they meet in the Fall of Sophia's senior year, while in the movie it's the Spring. It makes the level of commitment Sophia is expecting seem a little extreme.
Other than those two changes, I found the movie to be wonderful.
Photo Credit: Katherine Elizabeth
Stars Image Credit: lovethenerddesigns
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