I’m Kora, and I have a lovely family, a bunch of warm-hearted friends, and the cutest pet parrot whose name is Pubi in the world. I’m also a seventeen-year-old girl who loves to read, eat, and observe the world. I have a habit of typing everything I feel during my observation in my phone memorandum so that I can remember every little piece of life. It seems that I love everything in the world, but I have to say that I hate running on a rainy day and exercising, the most unpleasant thing for me to do.

”My entire existence was built on those moments. I didn’t deserve a future.” May is a survivor from a school shooting. However, she didn’t feel that she was lucky, since she lost most of her friends and her loving brother. She even considered her constant breakdown the payment for surviving. She immersed herself in the pain that it was all her fault to be the survivor instead of dying with them. Stuck in the circle of self-criticism, she couldn’t live a normal life anymore. No matter what she was doing, a sense of guilt would suddenly strike her barbarically. Wandering on the edge of breakdown was her daily routine. Gradually, she decided to close the windows to her wounded heart. It seemed that there was nothing she could do to turn anything back; similarly, no one would come to her rescue.

“I don’t care if she thinks she is broken, I know she’s not.” A boy, Zach, tenderly walked into her life as well as her tightly closed mind. Unlike those who kept telling May that she should cherish her life and live positively to remember her brother, the boy tried to tell her that she was not the one to blame when it felt like the whole world was fighting against her brutally. When there was no shining light on her, she didn’t have to pretend she was literally fine or impeccable, since Zach would embrace every aspect of her unconditionally. However, the good days had gone and May’s life became desperately dim again when she found it was Zach’s mom that defended the shooter, the one who pushed her into the midst of chaos.

May was undoubtedly broken into pieces, but Zach was, too. After his mom took the case, he started to be teased and mentally crucified at school. He even took on the responsibility to protect his little sister from those malevolence since his mom was too busy to come home to take care of them. To some degree, I’m convinced that they had equal amounts of excruciation, and apparently Zach didn’t have to pay for her mom’s decision. When May knew his identity, she released her aggression and a strong hostility toward him. Here’s the only part that I think May was wrong and she was one of the reasons for her damaged psyche. Despite the coldness, Zach didn’t give up opening May's heart. Even if he was also traumatized and haunted by the massive pain, he finally made it.

This book is not simply about love and romance; instead, all I can see is how the two broken hearts heal each other. It seemed that they were just trying to be reconciled with themselves, but actually this couldn't be done without fusing the two souls together. By the time Zach went into May’s heart, he was saved by her simultaneously. The salvation was undoubtedly mutual. By sharing the affliction and showing the real them to each other, they found they weren’t alone.

There is a quote from the book seared into my mind. When I read it, I hyperventilated, and then my sight suddenly blurred with tears. “You know it’s not your fault right?” I guess it is exactly the spirit that the author wants to convey to readers. It’s okay to collapse; it’s okay to feel like leaving the world behind. But we shouldn’t indulge ourselves in depression too long, and self criticism will never be the only way to remember the thing we want to carve in our heart.

At the end of the story, May recited those who she would never forget to the gentle, summer breeze to move on, with Zach holding her hand. Together they let go of the traumatic past as well as their wounded soul, and they finally felt mentally free again.

There will always be apricity after a desperately severe winter-like state of mind. Corresponding to the book title, The Lucky Ones, as long as they have each other, as long as their conviction still exists, and as long as they get a flicker of hope in mind, they would figure out they’re both the luckiest ones eventually.