The Notebook
My rating
5 / 5
Self-Purchased copy
Author
Nicholas Sparks
Publisher
Penguin Books
Genre
Romance
Number of Pages
185
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Summary
In the story, Noah, a poor young man, falls in love with Allie, an upper-class girl, but her parents disapprove of their relationship, which breaks the couple apart.
The Notebook begins with an eighty-year-old man describing the most remarkable part of his life. The story then moves on to Noah and Allie when happenstance brought them together one summer. Then they never met for 14 years until one afternoon, Allie decides to visit Noah to tell him she is engaged to Lon. Or was that just a reason to see her first love once more. Noah is then sure he wants her back, but can Ellie stay back?
My Review
This book highlights the power of true love and companionship. The story was not very special for me; what makes this book unique is the narrative by an old Noah. Riddled with arthritis and living in a senior home, his passion has only grown not diminished. His fierce determination for his first love makes the tale so poetic and heart-touching.
The book makes you nostalgic about two beautiful themes, poetry and letter writing. The poems are so sweet, and adorable and they agree with the context. But the letter writing is meant for a good cry. Its beauty has been captured brilliantly.
So it's not gonna be easy. It's going to be really hard; we're gonna have to work at this everyday, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, everyday. You and me... everyday."
— Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook)
Other Books by Nicholas Sparks
Another thing I liked that Nicholas Sparks considered is the length of the book. It’s a quick read. One-night read; It’s suitable for readers who have less time on their hands and yet want to get lost in a good story.
The writing is easy, straightforward and the cliff-hanger in the story pivoting back to current-times is just amazing. This makes the writing gripping. I love Noah and Allie too; the will she, won’t she suspense just had me turning pages. I was angry at Allie one time. I felt like she was using Noah but realized that I would have been more twisted than her in her place. The characters felt so real.
Didn't Like
I am unhappy only about one thing. The book I have, the story covers only 70% of it. The rest of the pages are about Nicholas Sparks, his upcoming books, chapters from his popular books, etc. I feel cheated. That’s all.
Final Verdict
I award one star each to the story, the realistic characters, the lovely poetry, the forever kind-of bitter-sweet ending, and the tale's length to make it 5 stars worthy. No doubt.
Who Should Read This and Who Shouldn't
Romance readers looking for a clean, elegant story should definitely read this. If you’re looking for steamy, sexy romance, you might not enjoy this. But otherwise, young and old alike and enjoy this light read immensely.
If you don’t get emotional during the movie or reading the book, you’ll most certainly cry at the end of the story.
Happy Reading!
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Nicholas Sparks
Nicholas Sparks is one of the world’s most beloved storytellers. All of his books have been New York Times bestsellers, with over 105 million copies sold worldwide, in more than 50 languages, including over 75 million copies in the United States alone.
Sparks wrote one of his best-known stories, The Notebook, over a period of six months at age 28. It was published in 1996 and he followed with the novels Message in a Bottle (1998), A Walk to Remember (1999), The Rescue (2000), A Bend in the Road (2001), Nights in Rodanthe (2002), The Guardian (2003), The Wedding (2003), True Believer (2005) and its sequel, At First Sight (2005), Dear John (2006), The Choice (2007), The Lucky One (2008), The Last Song (2009), Safe Haven (2010), The Best of Me (2011), The Longest Ride (2013), See Me (2015), Two by Two (2016) and Every Breath (2018) as well as the 2004 non-fiction memoir Three Weeks With My Brother, co-written with his brother Micah. His twenty-first novel, The Return, will be published on September 29, 2020.
Film adaptations of Nicholas Sparks novels, including The Choice, The Longest Ride, The Best of Me, Safe Haven (on all of which he served as a producer), The Lucky One, Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember, The Notebook, Nights in Rodanthe, Dear John and The Last Song, have had a cumulative worldwide gross of over three-quarters of a billion dollars. The Notebook is also being adapted into a musical, featuring music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson.
Sparks lives in North Carolina. He contributes to a variety of local and national charities, and is a major contributor to the Creative Writing Program (MFA) at the University of Notre Dame, where he provides scholarships, internships, and a fellowship annually. He co-founded The Epiphany School in New Bern, North Carolina in 2006. As a former full scholarship athlete (he still holds a track and field record at the University of Notre Dame) he also spent four years coaching track and field athletes at the local public high school. In 2009, the team he coached at New Bern High School set a World Junior Indoor Record in the 4x400 meter, in New York. The record still stands.
Other Books like The Notebook
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