Book #78: The Lucky One

Title: The Lucky One

Author: Nicholas Sparks

Date started reading: May 30, 2012
Date finished reading:  May 31, 2012

Publish date: March 2012
ISBN: 978-1455508976
Number of pages: 416

Official summary: "When U.S. Marine Logan Thibault finds a photograph of a smiling young woman half-buried in the dirt during his third tour of duty in Iraq, his first instinct is to toss it aside. Instead, he brings it back to the base for someone to claim, but when no one does, he finds himself always carrying the photo in his pocket. Soon Thibault experiences a sudden streak of luck — winning poker games and even surviving deadly combat that kills two of his closest buddies. Only his best friend, Victor, seems to have an explanation for his good fortune: the photograph — his lucky charm. Back home in Colorado, Thibault can’t seem to get the photo — and the woman in it — out of his mind. Believing that she somehow holds the key to his destiny, he sets out on a journey across the country to find her, never expecting the strong but vulnerable woman he encounters in Hampton, North Carolina — Elizabeth, a divorced mother with a young son — to be the girl he’s been waiting his whole life to meet. Caught off guard by the attraction he feels, Thibault keeps the story of the photo, and his luck, a secret. As he and Elizabeth embark upon a passionate and all-consuming love affair, the secret he is keeping will soon threaten to tear them apart — destroying not only their love, but also their lives." (http://www.nicholassparks.com)

Movie trailer:

How I obtained the book: Got through Lista.com. (It's like eBay, but it's based on a point system instead of cash exchanges)

Pre-reading commentary: I've never been a Nicholas Sparks fan, except for the case of "A Walk to Remember." I've tried reading other books and watching other movies, and they're normally too sappy for me. I'm totally not the type that swoons over watching "The Notebook." I watched the movie based on this book for two reasons: 1) Zac Efron looked totally hot in the trailer and 2) I found a bootleg copy of it to watch for free online. I ended up really liking the movie. It didn't feel like the typical Sparks film. It was more gritty, for the lack of a better word. It felt more real than the epic romance stories that he normally does. I decided to check out the book to see if it gives me the same feelings that the movie did.

Post-reading commentary: I loved the movie... I loved the book even more. The book had the same type of feel that I got from the movie. A lot was the same, but there were some differences. The book's ending was almost the same as the movie, but Sparks put in a twist in the book that I fell totally into. I was almost in tears thinking it was ending one way, when it actually wasn't ending that way.

Memorable quotes:

• "It was strange to think of the unexpected twists a man's life could take." ~ Logan
• "Maintaining a facade of normalcy had been exhausting." ~ Logan
• "There's nothing like a drill sergeant to make a person believe that nothing in his life had really mattered to that point." ~ Logan
• "In war, unlucky is the last thing you want to be." ~ Victor
• "If relationships were hard, marriage was even harder." ~ Beth
• "If her entire life had been recorded on video, the marriage would be one of those events she would gladly record over."  ~ Beth
• "Beth could handle a lot of things, but this was beyond her. As much as she tried, she couldn't quite grasp everything (Logan had) told her. On some level, it made sense, but on the whole it just seemed off. If the guy was telling the truth, he was strange; if he was lying, he picked strange lies. Either way, it was weird." 
• "There is nothing like love. You should try it." ~ Victor to Logan
• "Most people don't know how to appreciate silence." ~ Beth
• "People liked to imagine they were free to choose their own lives, but Beth had learned that choice was sometimes illusory." 
• "Sometimes the most ordinary things could be made extraordinary simply by doing them with the right people." ~ Beth
• "You know how gossip is. It's the toxic waste of small towns." ~ Beth
• "Know this: You've never met someone like me before. You don't want me as an enemy." ~ Logan to Clayton
• "Everyone acts crazy at times." ~ Nana

Buy on Amazon.com: The Lucky One