Book Review: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

Hardcover, 236 pages

Published January 2nd 2012 by Poppy

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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. She's stuck at JFK, late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon to be step-mother that 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 in seat 18C. Hadley's in 18A. 

Twists of fate and quirks of timing play out in this thoughtful novel about family connections, second chances and first loves. Set over a 24-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it.

My Thoughts:

“Love isn’t supposed to make sense. It’s completely illogical"

   You really know how much you love a book by how fast and eager you were to read it, to turn it’s pages and devouring each things that happen, and how much you grew on the characters and at the end of the last page, you want more, moRE, MORE!. I absolutely had the same feeling about this one. I started late last night, and less than twenty-four hours later, I’m done, and I’m famished for more.

   24 hours. Many things could really happen within 24 hours. I’ve been on a roller coaster of emotions while reading the book: crying and euphoric. Literally. I was so psyched into finally getting a copy and finally being able to read this after months of waiting. And I’m not disappointed. The story’s basically about two people meeting on an airport, sharing a 7-hour flight, and ended up having sharing what seem like a lifetime with each other. Just like how the old lady who sat with them said “Just like when you’re young and in love, a seven-hour plane ride can seem like a lifetime”, more like a premonition of some sort. There were lots of “butterflies in my stomach” and “toe-dip” moments in reading the conversations between Oliver and Hadley. I know many of us are not fans of “love at first sight”, and I myself don’t believe in them. But it doesn’t mean that first sight can’t lead to something more. Total strangers as they may be, but there was just this undeniable sense of coziness and “comfortability” between Oliver and Hadley. I can’t explain it, but I can totally see it in them. Even if they just met each other, they understand one another more than anyone else.

    I also liked the parts that the story not solely revolved around the feelings they’re developing, but also with the issues each of them carry in their hearts. The family connections, yes. However, I can empathize more with Hadley. She’s actually attending his dad’s wedding to a woman she never even met. There’s this overwhelming sadness that burned into me whenever this thing is brought up. First, it’s the small stories of how close she and her dad was. Then the whole problem slowly unravels. His dad never returned home after a semester of teaching in Oxford-yup! because of a girl. It brought lots of stuffs out of me. (I was seriously concerned with myself too). Questions like “What’s the sense of falling in love and marrying him/her and being happily married for many years only to find out that later on you’ll fall in love again, with a different person, with a more kind of intensity of love? What’s the point?” So many divorces going on right now and it just saddens me because marriage is something that holds great value. It’s not just making a family of your own, but there’s just something pure in it. Anyway, I conclude to myself that the point is having to experience love. To experience love and loss and dealing with it..picking up the pieces and the part where we encourage or delude ourselves to thinking this is probably better this way. And for Hadley’s part, in the end, with the help of something the presence of Oliver in her life kind of encouraged her, she let go. She loved her dad, and she chose to let him go. The good thing? He came back, because Hadley’s still the most important thing in his life. (but he still messed up). However the fact that he’s trying to fix things is one thing admirable..and it turns out the stepmum was nice and all.(okay i’m babbling). On the other side, Oliver’s covered what I can say is an unhealed wound, only to be opened again when his dad died. His dad’s a jerk, and all those years of not speaking up worn out on them when he died. He regrets not having s brought it up. but there was this time when his dad did something sweet to him, and I conclude that they could’ve patched their relationship, they would have come around, only if there were more time given to them. But the point is, meeting each other: Oliver and Hadley, seemed to be an unwished gift they both received. Sweet!

The ending was a real teaser though, but I kind of guessed the author wanted us to fill out the lines. She did, however, guided us to where the ending is. Since Oliver’s studying near Hadley’s...and he said “Did you know that people who meet at least three different times within a twenty-four hour period are ninety-eight percent more likely to meet again?” :). I guess love may be illogical, but it’s all about timing. It all falls down to the right timing. What are the odds right? :)

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