Aurorina

I am reading this novel. Actually I saw the adapted movie first, and it inspired me to read the original book.

Basically, it’s a love story.  Like all the romance, there always is something unusual happening, like car accident, like severe illness, like war, like death…… With all the variaties of unusual things, there is still a different, unique, you’ve never heard of element, Time Travel.

Yes, Henry time travels. There is no specific pattern of when or where he is gonna travel. He travels when he is under much stress, or excitement, or anxiety, or anything that makes his heart race fast, his blood pressure raise high. But he travels as well when he is sipping a tea, sitting at the balcony and reading Sunday newspaper. He travels to places he knew. He also travels to somewhere that he’s never been to, sometimes with total strangers all around him. The only pattern of his travel seems to be that he travels a lot to the place or people or event which is important, unforgettable to him. It’s like gravity which attracts him to it.  It is fun, if you could think it positively. But most of the time, it’s troublesome, or even dangerous. And it’s really embarrassing, because he couldn’t take anything with him when he travels, that means, he travels naked.

Clare met Henry for the first time when she was 5 years old. Henry was in his early thirties. He traveled. You could say that Clare didn’t have a happy childhood. She was lonely. She was worried about her mother and her dad and their relationship. She often spent time after school in the open lawn area  invisible from the house  behind a ridge. Henry was like her spiritual friend who showed up every now and then, helped her solving all kinds of problems, mostly academic, and also personal. Clare wrote down every date when she met Henry. There were 152 different dates, from the first time till the last time when she was18 years old. And Henry traveled from his early 30s to early 40s. Then there was a 2 year gap when she didn’t see Henry at all. Henry told her they were married in her unseen future.

God knows how much Clare loves Henry, not just in the future, but also present.  Clare misses Henry so much when she couldn’t see him. She believes that she is gonna see Henry again, but she doesn’t know when and where.

One day when Clare is 20 years old, she steps into the Newbery Library to look up information required by the professor for the homework of her art class. There, unexpectedly, she meets Henry, younger than she’s ever seen him. She won’t blame Henry for not recognizing her, because she knows this young Henry doesn’t even know her at all. Clare is very well prepared to ask Henry out for a dinner and a long nice talk. She knows he won’t turn her down, not because she is pretty and sincere, but she will be his beloved wife. Finally, the life together with Henry she has always been longing for is waiting ahead of her.

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Not bad.

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A suspens.

The President’s kids, Ethan and Zoe, were kidnapped, yet no one claimed responsible, except a note received days later, which said there is no ransom, and there will be no demand. Terrifying, frightening, the kids were no where to find, live or dead. Alex Cross, a detective of NYPD, received a call from the First Lady, the mother of the missing kids. Alex was requested to find the kids, guaranteed he would get all the resources he could.

At the same time, DC got a series of severe attacks from an unknown group. Dr Hala and her husband arrived at Dulles Airport from Saudi Arab. Of course they were not on a sightseeing tour, they were on a mission. They were trained by The Family. It had an very delicate organization which prevented the disfunction in case someone one the branch was caught or killed.(By the way, it reminded me of the CCP undercover intelligence connections played on TV back in China.) They were trained to defeat the arrogant American. Hala hated America, which is full of junk food and nothing decent to eat. The streets here were dirty, greasy. The weather was unpleasant either, not like Saudi, where at least it was cool in the night. Hala believed America was just an arid wasteland that ought to be destroyed, soon.

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A Sherlock Holmes style detective story. There is a series of Reacher novels. It’s quite good. I think I am gonna explore more.

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The second book I read which is written by Nicholas Sparks. To be honest, I don’t think it’s as good as The Lucky One.

First of all, there are too many ghost things in his book. Well, there is something spiritual in The Lucky One, but when I first read it, I assumed it was acceptable considering what Logan had been through during the war; it could be post-trauma symptom. Meanwhile it was the first book I’d ever read by Sparks. I didn’t recognize the ghost or spiritual thing was kind of his style back then. But then when you read another one and the same thing kept popping out, you would think that was two much to take. I mean, unbelievable. I just don’t buy it.

Second, the love story told in this book, I don’t buy it either. It’ unrealistic, unconvincing.

Third, there is too much violence in this book. It’s not a detective series.

All in all, it’s just not my type. If you need something to kill time, it could be a choice. But for me, nothing more than that.

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A good one except disappointed me  a little bit at the end.  A well-told story. Good writing.

All these characters, Logan Thighbault, Elizabeth, Ben, Nana, Kieth, are as live as it could be with very unique personalities. Through the descriptions you could just see them stand right before you, quiet but self-confident, good-looking and smiling , smart with a  pair of glasses yet looks like cute, witty in her eyes, and a bulky guy.

Logan, an ex-marine, was sent to Iraq three times during the war. He’d survived 11 bombs, a record no one would like to break or challenge. His best friend, Victor, said that he was safe because he kept the lucky charm with him. It was a photograph he’d picked before he was drifted to the frontier. There was a pretty woman in her early twenties in the picture. He kept the picture in his pocket since the first day that he had put it in. Even after he came back home. Victor said he needed to find her. It was his destiny, although he didn’t really believed it. Seeing victor died right before him made him scare, maybe, and he couldn’t sleep well and kept seeing victor’s ghost. He didn’t know what his destiny was, but maybe, he felt, he could go find that girl and see what it was all about.

Logan started his journey. Walking all the way across Colorado to North Carolina. With his dog Zeus, the shepherd.  He arrived at Hampton, found a job at a kennel, and the woman in the picture. Most importantly, he found peace, and security, and company, and destiny, if it’s what they called it.

Elizabeth lived with Nana, her grandma, and her son, Ben. She had been divorced since Ben was 5 weeks old. Just married to a wrong guy and realized it early. She had some dates, not much, but all ended up nowhere. She thought she was not good at relationships.   The stranger, now hired by Nana, looked strange, she had to admit. But bit by bit, she also found him smart, kind, attractive. Nana and Ben liked him, a lot. She?liked him too. loved him.

Kieth, Beth’s ex-husband, the deputy of the county, member of a powerful family in this county, didn’t want Beth to go see other men. For his son’s sake, he’d say. He would have a little talk with anyone who went out with Beth. It worked almost every time, except the recent one. But he would not give up.

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