Audio Book Review: The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks

Published: October 18th 2008 By: Books On Tape

Genres: Adult-Fiction, Romance, Contemporary, Drama

Format: Audio (10 hrs. 24 mins.) Source: Library

My Rating: 4 Stars Find It: Goodreads || Amazon 

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–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.

Filled with tender romance and terrific suspense, THE LUCKY ONE is Nicholas Sparks at his best–an unforgettable story about the surprising paths our lives often take and the power of fate to guide us to true and everlasting love.

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REVIEW

Having watched this movie a million times, it’s not often that I enjoy a movie more than a book. This book is more different than the movie, and at times, get’s a little long winded. The characters are quite different, especially.

Keith is more of a jerk and a bad father, in my opinion. Even at the end, I wasn’t impressed with his character. It’s obvious that he’s a spoiled, simple minded person, that thinks it’s all about him. He’s actually a little perverted here, which I think should have been added to the movie. He used his Sheriff status, his family’s prominence too much, and bent the law to suit his needs at every turn. Not my favorite character. I hate that he repeatedly referred to Logan as “thigh-bolt”. He was just an angry person and he hated the day that Logan walked into town. His obsession with getting Logan out of Beth’s and Ben’s lives was his downfall. He was damned scared of Zeus, Logan’s dog. I found that quite funny.

I like Logan’s character, which pretty much is the same in the movie. Aside from his time spent doing his duty to his country, I respected his kindness also. At times, he seemed to be intimidated by Keith and I didn’t like those moments. I love marines, so that well sculpted body and hard working obstinacy was expected from him. I love his relationship with Ben and the way he let him know that there’s nothing wrong with him. He was a better father figure than Keith, and I love that part of the story.

Beth’s character is slightly different from the movie. She’s a great mom and I loved her demeanor towards Logan in the beginning; especially when it came to her son spending time with him. She took too much junk from Keith for my liking, but I’m glad that she stood up for what she wanted. As with all Sparks’ books (or movies in my case since I haven’t read them yet), the romance is always met with some kind of barrier. In this case, it was Logan’s secret about the photo he had of Beth. I understand how it all seemed fishy, since Beth’s brother was killed in action and there seemed to be hardly any answers about his death. She freaked out when Keith dropped that bomb, but I loved how she listened to Logan when he explained about her photo being his good luck charm when he was over seas, and about seeing his dead friend Victor. When she realized he gave the picture to Ben to keep him safe, she finally understood.

My problem with this is the narrator. I think that there should have been a male and female narrating this audio version, because the way that Beth’s and Nana’s voices were narrated is irritating. Not to mention, the girl’s voice in the beginning. I did, however, like the narrator’s voice for Victor. It reminds me of Antonio Banderas’ voice for Puss In Boots. Overall, I really enjoyed this one, but I much rather like the movie better. Recommended!