a review by Rebecca Muir
The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight is the story of Hadley, a teenage girl from who is reluctantly flying to London for her father’s wedding to a woman she has never met. In the airport she meets Oliver, who offers to carry her suitcase. He is flying back home to London, also reluctantly. They discover that they are sitting together on the plane; the book follows their relationship over 24 hours, in the air and in London.
The book is written in the simple present tense, which gives it an interesting feel of immediacy. It matches quite well with the drama going on in Hadley and Oliver’s lives, the sense that these 24 hours are set apart, out of the ordinary.
It is quite a short book – most people would probably get through it easily in a weekend. This is good, because there is an intensity to the book, again from the notion that this is an important 24 hour period, where some big things are happening. It works well as a fairly short story – the intensity is able to be maintained for most of the book.
It’s a book about love – about the hurt when it goes wrong, and yet the hope and joy it brings as well.
It is not a science fiction or fantasy book so I’m not sure about its place being reviewed here, but it is a fun book and I enjoyed reading it. It is a charming young adult story, but worth a look for an older audience too.
Publisher: Headline Publishing Group
Release date: January 2012
