The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith
Synopsis (as taken from Goodreads): Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?
Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan's life. Having missed her flight, she's stuck at JFK airport and late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon-to-be stepmother Hadley's never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's sitting in her row.
A long night on the plane passes in the blink of an eye, and Hadley and Oliver lose track of each other in the airport chaos upon arrival. Can fate intervene to bring them together once more?
Quirks of timing play out in this romantic and cinematic novel about family connections, second chances, and first loves. Set over a twenty-four-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it.
D’s Rating: ❤❤❤ (out of five hearts)
S’s Rating: ❤❤❤❤1/2 (out of five hearts)
D’s Thoughts:
After reading such a dark and frightening work--Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo--last month, it almost felt necessary to throw in some easy-read chick lit this month. Right before reading TSPoLaFS, I read Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (and by read, I mean devoured). That's how badly I needed the chick lit. Coincidentally, the two books are somewhat similar: the main male protagonist is British, both girls have "bad" dads and are suddenly enlightened that the guys have much worse by comparison, there are multiple airport exchanges; the list goes on.
Now then. TSPoLaFS (what an initial-ism right?) was...how should I put it? I would have probably understood it a bit more if I myself was madly in love with someone, or had at least experienced romantic love before. I still thought some of the things Hadley and Oliver did were cute and sweet and "awwwww"-worthy, but at the same time I often found myself wondering how Hadley could be so irrational. I'm only 15, though. Maybe I'll understand eventually.
Many novels told from the perspective of a teenage girl just so happen to be about a girl who is extremely well-spoken, if only so that the author can use fancy metaphors without losing the girl's identity. This was not the case in TSPoLaFS: Hadley rarely said anything incredibly deep or inspiring because that's not who she was. She was, quite frankly, the typical moody teenager. I'll gladly accept that if it means a more authentic character. Bonus points to the author.
Finally, I have a love-hate relationship with the setting and voice of the book. I enjoyed the compact, 24-hour long plot. It was never tiring. However, the brevity of time made some of Hadley's decisions even more irrational than they already were. Additionally, the book was told in the present tense. It wasn't technically or grammatically incorrect, but it simply felt odd and less settled.
So, I give the book 3 hearts. What did you expect, a Dickens masterpiece? Read this book when you're bored with classics or tear-jerkers. That's when you'll appreciate it the most.
Standout Quotes:
"We all knew. And nobody talked about it. Somewhere along the line, someone made the decision that we'd all just be quietly miserable, and so that's what we did."
"[Big weddings] are all for show. You shouldn't need to prove anything if you really mean it. It should be a whole lot simpler than that. It should mean something.
"It does mean something. It's a promise."
"But not everyone keeps that promise...And even if you do, it doesn't matter that you once stood in front of all those people and said that you would. The important part is that you had someone to stick by you all that time. Even when everything sucked."
Album to listen to while reading this book: We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things by Jason Mraz (and what a beautiful mess Hadley and Oliver were)
S’s Thoughts:
Ah, me... this month's book hit really close to home for me. N (my husband) and I met for the first time in an airport. Sort of. And by sort of, I mean we'd been chatting online for over a year and then he flew over to see me and that's when we met for the first time... in the arrivals area of the airport in my hometown. Sweet, no? Except in my version (which is of course the truth) he looked right through me because he didn't recognise me and I had to call out to him to get his attention. Maybe not so sweet, but things have definitely improved since then. God... I feel as though I've spent my life searching for N in arrival lounges and saying goodbye to him at the security gates. I'm pretty sure the first year or so of our relationship was staged in airports.
Anyway, onto TSPoLaFS. I loved this book... really. I don't give out five stars (or hearts) much so this one got four and a half. That's pretty strong, in my world. It was lighthearted, cute and just an all around fun read which I really needed at the time. (Heck, I still do which is why I've been zoning out with serious chick-lit lately.) I thought Hadley and Oliver were just freaking adorable and I totally saw myself in Hadley's shoes when she sets off into London on her own to track down Oliver; totally something I would have done for N in a heartbeat. (Instead I settled for googling his postcode and obsessing over which house in the grainy satellite image might be his. Stalk much?)
One of my favourite things about this book is how it's staged over the course of 24 hours. That's it... all of the action (or as in on the plane, non-action) is staged in just one day. Smith does a fantastic job of keeping us from being claustrophobic and the action from being static on the plane through flashbacks and engaging dialogue.
I don't think there was anything I didn't like about the book. Yes, the plot and outcome were totally predictable but then again, why shouldn't they be? It's YA fiction blurring into the realm of chick-lit... it's not as if it's going to have some worldly Dickensian theme running throughout it (y'see what I did there?).
Standout Quotes:
"In the end, it's not the changes that will break the heart; it's that tug of familiarity."
"'When you're on the other side of it,' she says, 'fifty-two years can seem like about fifty-two minutes.'"
Album to listen to while reading this book: Sappy, yes, but my wedding playlist is what I listened to while reading TSPoLaFS.
January’s book is S’s choice and is "Before I Fall" by Lauren Oliver.
*Note from S* - I had actually chosen "Hate List" by Jennifer Brown, a book about a school shooting and the aftermath facing those left behind, two weeks ago before the devastating shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut. Given the horrible nature of Friday's events, I didn't feel right choosing this as our next book. It's just too current for something so raw. I didn't think I could emotionally deal with hearing all of the news and seeing all of the reports about the tragedy and then reading a work of fiction about another shooting. There's only so much about the dark side of human nature one can take in a short space of time. I do plan on reading "Hate List", probably as a Sister Read, in the future. Just not right now.
S will also be posting a super awesome review of the new book by Lucy Robinson, "A Passionate Love Affair With a Total Stranger", which she was lucky enough to be given an advanced copy of. Great laughs!
See you soon! S & D
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