The healing power of love
The first paragraph of A Bend in the Road begins in the words of the narrator of the story. The story is a first person narrative. However, the identity of the narrator is withheld till the last moment. The narrator begins with his view of the complexity of life. He writes, "Where does a story truly begin? In life there are seldom clear-cut beginnings, those moments when we can, in looking back, say that everything started. Yet there are moments when fate intersects with our daily lives, setting in motion a sequence of events whose outcome we could never have foreseen."
And thus begins the story of endless love and pain, of extraordinary events taking life into unimaginable turns. Lovers of Nicholas Spark's romances will fall head over heels for this book. There are few writers out there who can write of such enduring and gratifying love as he. In this book Miles Ryan and Missy are childhood sweethearts. Their love finds a fulfilling chapter when they marry and settle in New Bern, North Carolina. They are blessed with a son Jonah. However, happiness does not keep its door open for them and Missy's life ends with a hit-and-run accident. There are no witnesses and no answers for Miles. He finds himself a widower with a young son.
The image of Miles' struggles to put himself through the pain of losing his beloved wife is very acutely drawn. The shock and grief is strong enough to make him cry every night. He tries to hold on to the past by watching video pictures of Missy and himself in their happier times. The sad and withdrawn Jonah often wakes up in the middle of the night with nightmares. Miles, who is the deputy sheriff of New Bern, leads a hectic life outside but at home he is only aware of his loneliness. It is two years since Missy died and he is tired of being alone, of waking up in an empty bed. His life feels wrong somehowas if it is temporarily off track and will soon right itself again, so there is no reason to get too worked up about anything. His days drag on.
Motherless and alone, Jonah gets into trouble in his school. His former teachers have left him alone out of sympathy. Jonah's second grade teacher Sarah Andrews devotes her free time to helping him. In the process she meets Miles. And after a long time Miles wakes up to feelings he had thought were long dead. He feels the need to have Sarah by his side, he begins to miss her companionship. Sarah once had the perfect marriage. Yet when it was discovered that she could not bear children her husband rejected her and filed for divorce. Sarah and Miles both have been groping in the dark and are aimless in life. When they find each other it is as if two hearts have been made into one by a sudden light. They try to give each other new sparks of light. Sarah's parents and Jonah are delighted by this ray of happiness.
When things are just wonderful for Miles and Sarah the narrator of the story reveals an event in his life that threatens to put an end to the newfound happiness. The narrator, who has so long kept himself in the distance, now comes out of his shell and is like a lightning that will change the lives of Miles, Sarah and all around them. The reader is touched by the love and compassion of Miles and Sarah and does not want the narrator to destroy the love that seems to have been destined to take place. Miles and Sarah find themselves bound not only by love but a deep secret that forces them to re-examine everything they have. Miles has been totally in the dark about the killer of Missy. And yet when, through the narrator, he does find the truth he thinks that he might have been better off without solving the mystery. Yet, the narrator with his strange story throws up a harsh truth that cannot be kept a secret anymore. Here the writer comes up with a surprising climax that shakes the reader's sensibilities. The reader is compelled to sit up and to take a new look at past events. It is difficult to believe the narrator and the peculiar events that have shaped the past. Yet without those events the story itself would not have taken place. No wonder the writer begins the story saying that we often do not know exactly where a story begins. As for Miles and Sarah, life once again pushes them to the wall. They have choices; and choices are not so easy to make after coming so far.
When one reads the book, one is guaranteed a story of unconditional love that exists between two people. Here the love between Missy and Miles and then again between Miles and Sarah are heart melting and awakens the reader to the beauty of love. It is a tale of love, love that is lost and yet it shows how healing love can be. The story shows that love conquers all. It is also a tale that shows how life's darkest moments can hold rays of light with new beginnings. The story telling is at its finest epic form in sweep. It is intimate, moving and psychologically acute. It is both richly authentic in its period detail and fresh and contemporary in style. The writer has created an unforgettable cast of characters who seem to breathe around the reader even after the last page of the book has been read.
Tulip Chowdhury is a teacher, poet and short story writer.
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