The Longest Ride is a contrapuntal narrative told in chapters that alternate between two plotlines. The effect can be jarring. For instance, the novel leaves a stranded Ira bleeding by the side of the road, turns to an off-campus mixer at Wake Forest. The stories unfold simultaneously, separated in time by four months, until the trajectory of the novel brings them together. Serendipity connects the novel’s three living people late in the novel, when Luke happens to see Ira’s truck stuck by the side of the road.

By juxtaposing the two love stories, the novel wants to build single narrative about love itself. The contrapuntal structure suggests the universality of love. The couples have many things common: Both are long-shot romances between evident opposites, both involve emotional commitments made against the reality of death, and both involve lovers defined by their families. The novel suggests such elements are not unique to these characters or their particular situations, but rather exemplify the challenges and rewards of love itself. 

Shooting stars have a reputation for being rare astronomical events (though in reality, they occur about one or two times an hour each night). Because of their perceived specialness, shooting stars are a traditionally romantic and hopeful sight—and this novel relies on that commonplace