The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks

 

Title: The Longest Ride

Author:  Nicholas Sparks

Narrated by:  Ron McLarty and January LaVoy

Publisher: Random House Audio

Length: Approximately 13 hours and 11 minutes

Source: Checked out from the Kewaunee Public Library through Overdrive.  Thank-you

 Audiobook or ebook?  Do you use your library to access ebooks or audiobooks?

 The Longest Ride was the November selection for the Page-turner’s Book Club at the Kewaunee Public Library.  I listened to this book via audiobook.  I like to check out audiobooks from the library.  I have been using the Overdrive App, but will be switching to Libby soon.

 The Longest Ride is a dual narrative story.  In one story, an elderly man, Ira Levinson has crashed his car.  As he waits for help to arrive, he thinks back over his life with his beloved wife Ruth.  To Ira, the longest ride was his life with Ruth.  In the other timeline, Sophia is a senior at Wake Forest College when she attends a rodeo with her friends.  There she meets handsome cowboy Luke.  Luke has a secret of his own as he tries to work his way back into being a rodeo winner.  Will Luke and Sophia find a way to be together? More importantly, will someone please rescue Ira from his crashed car?

 This was an engaging audiobook.  Ron McLarty was a great narrator, voicing the Ira chapters while January LaVoy narrated the Sophia/Luke timeline.  I enjoyed both stories, but I found myself more intrigued with the Ira and Ruth timeline.  I love stories that tell a love story through an entire lifetime and don’t just end at a wedding.  It was a good story that I think everyone in book club enjoyed, although I think we need all wanted more depth to the conclusion.  I also realized once I started listening that I had watched the movie awhile ago, but had never read the book. I couldn’t remember how it ended!  I also liked the look at how you impact others.  There was a touching story about Ruth and her special student Daniel that she helped out.  After he disappears one summer, I kept waiting to figure out what happened to him.  I’m glad that storyline was tied up and it really showed the impact that Ruth had on his life.

 Favorite Quote:  “If we'd never met, I think I would have known my life wasn't complete. And I would have wandered the world in search of you, even if I didn't know who I was looking for.”