You know when you have read all
the works of a particular author and have loved every single one of them; you
look forward to the upcoming book with an excitement and nervousness which isn’t
quite expressible. But of course, if you have been in such a situation, I don’t
need to explain it. In my case the excitement was so deep that it made me have
a sleepless night before the day when the latest book of Nicholas Sparks, The
Longest Ride, was to be released. 17th September. Though the day
ended with disappointment for it did not release in India but I still waited
for it, in fact longed to have it in my hands, smell the fresh new pages and
get lost in the world of Sparks, his romance.
On 5th November 2013
at 5.40 PM I received a call from the delivery boy waiting outside my place for
me to pick up a parcel which contained The Longest Ride. I ran down the stairs,
took my parcel from the ground floor and was back in my room on the fourth
floor in a jiffy. Yes, I was that mad about having another Nicholas Sparks love
story in my hand again. With my exams ahead I decided to read it once I am done
with my papers. But I couldn’t resist. I decided one page per day. Again I
couldn’t resist and ended up reading the whole book in a couple of days which
is a really long time compared to the time I took to read the previous books. I
read it and that’s what mattered.
When I ripped off the packet
carrying my book, I knew that probably this was the last Sparks book I am
excited about. And I really wished for this thought to be wrong. If I dedicated
a whole blog post to my madness for Sparks’ works some months ago then why
would this thought even cross my mind in the first place??
The last novel that I read of
Sparks before The Longest Ride was almost more than 1.5years ago. At that time
I totally lived in depression, and these love stories were what I would now
call escape from reality. I do not believe in these fictions to come alive but I strongly believe love on a fictional level. They make me wonder.
And with the curiosity that I have for real life love and relationships make me
want to read about the same in fictions because then, a lot of things start to
fall in place.
 |
| My copy of The Longest Ride |
For the most part I lived in a
fiction. I had my escape from a reality that I hated. Why? It’s another story. I
fell in love with the idea of love in world that barely existed. And Nicholas
Sparks became my favorite love story writer. I never liked Eric Segal’s Love
Story because now I guess, it was something which could happen in reality in a
way where as stories of Sparks are perfect, for most of the readers at least. They
won’t happen in reality. I mean c’mon, you don’t just meet someone co
incidentally, feel a connection in the first meet, after a few dates which may
be in just one week in a small town, you just know you’re in love and can’t
think of not spending the life with that someone. And suddenly something tragic
happens, twist of a kind which separates the two, but eventually they get
together and no matter if it has a happy or a tragic ending, one usually ends
up crying. I haven’t though some stories have made me emotional. All the
stories are more or less the same. And I predicted the same story line for The
Longest Ride too. I was of course right. Sparks follows one single pattern,
changes it here and there, but it still is just the same story with the guy and
girl having some exceptionally beautiful feature, usually the eyes! It is the
ending that I always was excited about; it always has been a surprise. This time
it wasn’t.
When I read the first page of The
Longest Ride, I seriously wished I weren’t a Literature student. From the very
first page I unconsciously started analyzing every single word eventually not
being carried away by the romance. To be honest, I was sad. I couldn’t connect
myself to the story for the first time. I wasn’t unaware of the world around
me. Of all things, my belief in romance on a fictional level just vanished. I never
expected any of these utopian stories to happen in reality, but I adored them
in my escape world. It always was beautiful.
Had I read this story a year ago,
I would have loved it just like the other novels. A lot has changed since then and instead
of escaping the reality I started living in the real world. Yes, I moved on
from my past. I started reading literature. I would also like to add that I
guess I grew up because everyone around me calls me a kid. You know! [:-P] Even
though I got over Nicholas Sparks’ charm, I realized that I am now brave enough
to face the reality instead of searching an escape. I can face my emotional
issues now and I do not need any Jack Finney’s Third Level for getting out of
such issues. Not anymore.
No matter how sad it is, the
romance is gone, the charm is lost and it all ends but still it seems like a
beginning for something new. And that’s enough to keep me going. I wonder what’s
going to bring back such an excitement and nervousness at the same time,
again! J
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