It's a Beautiful Life

Like many of his readers, I fell in love with his words, his stories and characters; that is why I decided to read another one of his novels. Nicholas Sparks gets me every time; I enjoy every word of his books. So far, Safe Heaven is not the exception. 

In a small town like South Port (North Carolina) everything is always the same, and nothing exciting ever happens. Everyone knows each other, there is always the same gossip and everybody eats at Ivan’s. Ivan’s is a beautiful restaurant, very close to the Atlantic Ocean.  It’s a Local Institution, on business for almost 30 years, and one early March afternoon, it welcomed a new employee, Katie. Katie is different; she is on her late twenties and is very, very mysterious. She came here for a fresh new start, her past was terrible: both of her parents were alcoholics, she did not go to college, and she was married to an abusive man. Everyone has a past baggage.  No one knows about her past, here in Southport, except for her only friend, Jo. Jo is her neighbor; they live in the most isolate road in the whole town. For Katie, that location is perfect, for Jo, not so much. Ever since her arrival, Katie has tried to keep a low profile, but according to Alex, the local store manager, she is too pretty to go unnoticed. He has a crush on Katie, the first one after his wife died; he was left with two very young kids and beautiful but painful memories. That is Alex’s baggage. His family has grown very close to Katie, his little girl, Kristen, calls her Miss Katie. 

Sometimes, people underestimate and take for granted, simple things like a normal day. One moment you could be watching Netflix, or reading a book and the next thing you know you could be in an ER. Alex understood the how meaning full each second is. His oldest son, Josh loves to fish and he always goes fishing on a small port behind his father`s store, until, once, he fell into the water and began to drown. Alex saw the begging of that horrible scene on a security camera monitor. He ran and was just in time to safe his boy`s life. 

“As he perused the shelves, he wondered idly what he was going to do with his kids in the afternoon and decided to take them for a bike ride.” (Sparks 24)

As simple as that thought seemed, Alex would have never imagined that just a few minutes later, he would be trying desperately, to save his kid’s life. It was just a day. But, Alex forgot a lot can happen in a day. Every second is very valuable. What happened to Alex could have happened to anyone.

 

Lying is a sin, but everyone forgets. Sometimes lying is better than assuming the terrifying reality. It is wrong, but it is still a part of society.

“(…) “Be honest.” Katie blinked, trying to keep Jo in focus. “Why would you think I wouldn’t be honest?” “Because everybody lies. It’s part of living in society. (…) The last thing anyone wants is to live in a society where total honesty prevails” (Sparks 63)

 

Humans lie, they lie on a daily basis. People lie because society wants us to lie. Why do you think the government has super secrets documents? Basically, people`s lives are made of lies.

 

Both, Alex and Katie have a story. Both aren’t pleasant and they have each other now. Alex can help Katie unpack his past baggage and vice versa. They are going to fall in love and finally, after a lot of suffering, find a Safe Haven in each other’s arms.