The Notebook

by Nicholas Sparks

2004

Status

Checked out

Publication

Warner Books (2004), Edition: Reissue, 239 pages

Description

Classic Literature. Fiction. Historical Fiction. HTML:Experience the unforgettable, heartbreaking love story set in post-World War II North Carolina about a young socialite and the boy who once stole her heart �?? one of PBS's "Great American Reads". Every so often a love story so captures our hearts that it becomes more than a story �?? it becomes an experience to remember forever. The Notebook is such a book. It is a celebration of how passion can be ageless and timeless, a tale that moves us to laughter and tears and makes us believe in true love all over again . . . At thirty-one, Noah Calhoun, back in coastal North Carolina after World War II, is haunted by images of the girl he lost more than a decade earlier. At twenty-nine, socialite Allie Nelson is about to marry a wealthy lawyer, but she cannot stop thinking about the boy who long ago stole her heart. Thus begins the story of a love so enduring and deep it can turn tragedy into triumph, and may even have the power to create a miracle . .… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member madamejeanie

To paraphrase an old TV commercial, "I can't believe I read the whole
thing." Ugh.

My 18 year old daughter dearly loves this book and the movie they made
from it. She's been after me to read this and watch the DVD with her
for quite a while, and I decided I'd give the book a try. If it hadn't
been

for her rapt attention to my reading it, I would have chucked it.
It's that bad.

For one thing, I kept feeling like I'd read it before, though I know I
haven't. I haven't ever read any of Sparks' stuff before (and won't
again!) but it seemed familiar for some reason. It was bland and had no
substance to it whatsoever, IMO. I kept thinking to myself as I read
that *I* could write a better book than this, for pete's sake! I do not
know what the hell the attraction to this book is or why it's a
bestseller, but it was just poor. Fully half the book is taken up with
the events of a single weekend.

For those of you who have managed to avoid this book, and for any of you
who have it on Mt. TBR, this is a pablum filled love story about a
couple who met and fell in love one glorious summer in the Depression
when they were teenagers. Rich girl, poor boy, disapproving parents,
yada yada. Rich girl moves back to wherever the hell she came from,
poor boy writes letters for several years, girl's mother keeps them
hidden away. War. College. Time passes. 15 years later the Rich girl
is engaged to marry a high power, neglectful lawyer when she stumbles
across a newspaper article about the poor boy. So she makes a visit and
the earth moves. Yada, yada, yada. Fast forward fifty years for what's
supposed to be a tear-jerking ending. Ho hum.

You know, I've read fluff fiction before that had characters that felt
real and you could give a damn about, but this one missed the mark
completely. I realized about 50 pages into it that Sparks wasn't
writing much more than an outline of what was going on and depending on
the reader to fill in all the blanks. If you get in the mood for a love
story, pick up Nora Roberts or Jude Deveraux or ANYBODY but Nicholas Sparks!
This book gets a 1.

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LibraryThing member kathysoper

I picked this up after watching the movie, which I enjoyed despite its utter lack of innovation and artistry, and its abundance of treacly sentimentality. Let's just say I'm a sucker for stories about lost love found. Anyway, I figured the book would be at least as enjoyable as the movie, if not

more so (as books tend to be).

I was wrong. The book sucks. Don't read it, even if you liked the movie.

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LibraryThing member SqueakyChu

Such an unsatisfying book! I don't see why the author wrote the book the way he did, but my husband liked this book so there must be a book to account for everyone's taste.

I was very disappointed in the story. The first third of the book was useless. It simply had no depth and was written in a way

that seemed to mirror fantasy rather than reality. It's not that I don't believe in romantic love, but even romantic love has more substance than what was portrayed in this story.

I then proceeded into the second part...the nursing home. I thought the book would take a turn for the better when it became a heavy tear jerker. Is this the appeal of the book?

Then the novel suddenly ended with a fantasy ending as well.

My suggestion: For two excellent novels, one about Alzheimer's Disease and the second about stroke, do yourself a favor and read [Still Alice] and [Left Neglect] both by [[Lisa Genova]]. She knows how to put together a thoughtful, in-depth story about both conditions.

I was looking for a sense of place about New Bern, North Carolina, as I vacation in North Carolina every year. I did not find that.

I was looking for a character to like. I did not find that.

SPOILERS:
Why could the mom not make her mind up about her daughter's choice? Why did it take Allie years to return to New Bern? Where was Allie's "passion" and "intelligence"? I saw no proof of either. How did Allie become a famous artist? Why was an elderly man wandering halls alone in a nursing home at night? Okay, I'll stop.

Truthfully, I only chose this book because it was the June selection of "Better Than the Movie Book Club", my great niece's book club.

I will not recommend this book simply because it's too shallow. I could summarize it in one sentence. I really hoped that the nursing home interlude would have turned turn into more of an in-depth story. It did not.

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LibraryThing member shequiltz

Apparently I'm just not a fan of this author. This is the second book I've read of his (3 Weeks with my Brother) and he's just too sappy, mushy, sickeningly romantic for me. This is a touching story of the enduring love of two people, but I guess my life experience just screams "totally

unrealistic".

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LibraryThing member bachaney

Couldn't finish this overly sappy romance. Picked it up as an easy listen for a trip and it was just too much.

LibraryThing member elliepotten

A simple but beautiful novel about true love and what it means to find your soulmate.

An old man in a nursing home reads to an old woman who no longer recognises him. He tells her the story of Noah and Allie, a young couple who fall in love and spend one beautiful summer together before Allie's

family leave town again. Fourteen years later, Allie is engaged, but is drawn back to Noah in an attempt to find out whether this was true love or whether he has forgotten her. Although he is older and wiser, he is everything she remembered and they fall in love all over again. But will she choose her new life with her new man, a high-flying lawyer, or will she stay with her soulmate, the gentle and hard-working country boy?

The book only took a day to read, but more than once I found myself waking up from the novel's thrall with tears rolling down my cheeks. Though the language is simple, even clumsy, it does allow the emotion and the love between the characters to shine out with a radiance that transcends the words on the page, making it more moving and electrifying than ever. It reminds the reader of the important things in life, and the everlasting nature of true love.

In short, it's absolutely beautiful and should be read by any woman longing for love, and any man who doesn't understand that even in the modern world, romance, gentleness and humility often mean so much more than shows of money and machismo.

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LibraryThing member susanbevans

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks, is a beautifully simple story of the love two people share. In the days before the "Great Depression," two teenagers in New Bern North Carolina meet. Noah Calhoun and Allie Nelson catch a little southern summer magic and fall in love. Unfortunately, they are doomed

to be parted, and at the end of the summer, Allie's disapproving parents take her away from Noah. For the next 14 years, Noah and Allie lead their separate lives, never forgetting the enchantment of that summer, and the passion they had for each other.

Noah moves to New Jersey to find work, and eventually enlists in the U.S. Army during WWII. When the war is over, having inherited a small fortune from his old boss, Noah returns to New Bern, buys the house he has always wanted, and gets to work restoring it. Meanwhile Allie, forced by her parents to marry a man with status within society, has become engaged to influential lawyer Lon Hammond. When she comes upon a chance newspaper story about Noah and the restoration of the old house, something stirs inside her. She doesn't fully understand the reasons, but Allie knows she must go to New Bern and see Noah.

Allie shows up at the house in New Bern to get some answers, and ends up spending the next two days getting to know Noah again. During their time together, something happens between them, and soon they are questioning their choices in life and their futures.

The Notebook is an intensely romantic story of the power of true love across time, across social conventions, and ultimately conquering all. The story is very simple and easy to read, but it captivates and touches the reader in a profound way. The setting of small town North Carolina is breathtaking, and only adds to the intoxicating feeling of the story. The love between Noah and Allie, from the time they are teenagers to the days they spend in the nursing home, is overwhelming.

I highly recommend this book as a quick read for any hopeless romantic. The story may be sweet and simplistic, but it is also dynamic and poignant - a beautiful story of the strength of true love.

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LibraryThing member ldrumm16

Okay, okay, I get it now. All the hype surrounding this book and Nicholas Sparks in general totally makes sense to me now. Typically, I buck the trends and don't read the "popular" books (I still refuse to read Twilight and I've only read one book by Jodi Picoult) - I like to find the gem hidden in

a pile of rocks. When it comes to Nicholas Sparks, I will now make an exception.This was probably one of the most beautiful, genuine, heartbreaking love stories I have ever read. I'm afraid to see the movie as I'm convinced it can't possibly be as good as the book (is it ever?). I felt every emotion between Noah and Allie - the longing, the sadness, the fear, the exhilaration, the ultimate love - I actually shuddered when they kissed for the first time when Allie returned to New Bern. I screamed when she left Noah to go meet Lon. I cried when Allie didn't remember who Noah was.This was a light read and I finished it in one day. I can't wait to read more books by Nicholas Sparks.

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LibraryThing member Anietzerck

I loved this book. Not many books can make me cry but this was definitely one of them. I will need to read more books by Nicholas Sparks. Hopefully that doesn't ruin The Notebook for me though.

LibraryThing member doha

I like this story , it is a romantic story
it is talk about a poor man and a rich woman
the poor man falls in love with the rich woman.

but her parents want her to marriage from a rich man.however, she can't marriage from the rich man because she love Noah.

LibraryThing member ohdani

I liked it. I'm not the overly romantic type, so a book that's nothing but a romance will generally never make my all-time favorites list. But it was a quick, sweet read (I finished it the same day I started) and I enjoyed it for what it was. If you love romances, or you just want a change from

another genre, then it's a story that will make you go 'aw' from time to time and possibly even tear up a little bit.

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LibraryThing member TBRetc

I read this before I saw the movie. I have never cried so much during a book. For me, this is one of the greatest love stories of all time, and I can only hope that I have a love like this in my life.

LibraryThing member michelle.mount

It’s phenomenal when a book can make millions of people cry but no one dies. Sparks has a knack for simple heartstrings writing and whether or not you like the subject matter you can’t deny his unique successful style.

If the book was more complex or verbose it wouldn’t of rang true with the

simple characters who lead lives in a decade without Microsoft Outlook or even cell phones. Just like the story the writing also shows that a simple true style can be incredibly rewarding.

I put this as the primo of primo romance novels – a standout at 28,000 words.

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LibraryThing member Katie_H

Mr. Sparks did it again - he made me cry! This is a powerful love story that appeals to the romantic in each of us. It's a classic theme that has been written on by many authors, but somehow this is the one to experience and treasure. Allie and Noah meet when they are teenagers and fall in love.

They are parted by external factors and never see each other again until many years later, when destiny brings them together. Allie is engaged to another man, but her feelings and those of Noah have only deepened over time. Their touching story continues into the sunset years of these two lovers, and their wonderful, inspiring, and satisfying tale ends with a heartbreaking (and heartwarming) finale. This is short, only 200 pages, and it can easily be finished in one sitting. Curl up on a comfortable couch and prepare to sob.

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LibraryThing member tulip_367

I was very disappointed by this book. I found the first two thirds of the book very hollow and deseperately missing originality. I am usually easily moved by a book but it's not until the last third that it happened with this story. The flawless characters and the situations were insipid and the

style boring and repetitive. Too many insignificant details and not enough on what made the chemistry. I only saw the movie trailer but it looks like for once the movie has much more substance.

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LibraryThing member kjarcand

Told from the point of view of Noah many years later, this book is a re-telling of the courting of Allie and Noah. Allie has Alzheimer’s and lives in assisted living with Noah, who she no longer recognizes. Every day, he reads to her their story which resides in a notebook in hopes of helping her

remember him and their love.

Allie and Noah are destined lovers, meeting by chance in their small community of New Bern over a romantic summer. They fall in love quickly and become inseparable. The inevitable struggle between well-to-do parents and headstrong young girls occurs when Allie’s parents express their dislike of Noah, leading to Noah and Allie’s break-up near the end of summer.

Determined to stay together, Allie and Noah promise to keep in touch by mail and too meet again somehow, someday. As the story goes, Noah writes everyday, only to hear nothing from Allie which leads him to assume her heart has changed.

Fourteen years later Allie is getting married. On no particular day right before the wedding, she decides to visit Noah in New Bern after seeing a picture of his old him that he rebuilt in a local paper. Naturally, she is confused by her emotions and drawn to an old lover. Keep in mind, Allie doesn’t know Noah ever wrote her – Her mother intercepted all the mail.

The two meet awkwardly, each assuming the other was the one who fell out of love and broke their connection. When Allie announces she is engaged to Noah, he is disheartened, yet still makes her dinner and takes her for a romantic boat ride. The two encounter a storm, and (as I’m sure everyone does) ravish each other after being caught in the rain. Allie must make a decision. Her fiancé is looking for her and her parents, as well.

While Allie’s choice is apparent, the ending is very touching and somewhat not expected. I enjoyed the movement of this book and how Sparks moved seamlessly back and forth from the notebook to Noah and Allie at the senior home.

Favorite Passages/Quotes

“The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds, and that's what you've given me. That's what I hope to give to you forever.”

“So it's not gonna be easy. It's gonna be really hard. We're gonna have to work at this every day, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, you and me, every day. Will you do something for me, please? Just picture your life for me? 30 years from now, 40 years from now? What's it look like? If it's with him, go. Go! I lost you once; I think I can do it again. If I thought that's what you really wanted. But don't you take the easy way out.”

Opinion

It may surprise some, but even though I am a girl, I was not particularly enthralled with this novel. Poetic prose tends to make me gag a little, and Sparks have a very descriptive and poetic pen about him. If it’s poetry, make it poetry. If it’s prose, make it prose. I have that in-between.

I love a good romance novel, though. I’m a sucker for chick lit. I feel that too much is held back about Noah’s character in the beginning, yet too much is revealed at the same time about the small parts of his life. It is so rare for any man to truly feel and act this way, that I felt so much disbelief while reading this book. I think there are a lot of us women who rolled our eyes and thought ‘yeah right’ while reading this, but I’m sure there are many who swoon gleefully, page after page.

Beside the writing style, I felt that Allie was quite ambiguous. We never get to know her on the same level that we know Noah and it bothered me that assumptions had to be made so often about her reaction to situations and whether or not they were true to character. The book portrayed her as always ambiguous and almost aloof to the drama of her and Noah’s situation. I think more could have been done to develop her, as well as her parents, whose opinions and relationship to Allie affected the lives of Noah and her so dramatically.

Rating: On a scale of 1-5 stars, this book is a 3.5. For Sparks’ first novel this was good. It kept me entertained for most of the book and tugged on my heartstrings pretty well. I felt it was a little predictable in places, but a decent story nonetheless.As far as voice and character development though, I really would have liked more.

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LibraryThing member kimbee

I read the book then saw the movie then read the book again. I thought the book was missing something the movie had. I like the movie better because the beginning of their relationship was actually told

LibraryThing member TexasTam

This is one of my favorite books to give as a gift. Truly a wonderful love story that we all wish we had. It definately was a tear-jerker.

LibraryThing member shirl888

A really lovely book, it was so beautifly written, the ending brought tears to my eyes.

LibraryThing member WanitaCoy

This book will make you yearn for a love so pure and so lasting.....

LibraryThing member tjsjohanna

Sparks is not my favorite author - the emotion his stories attempt to evoke always feels contrived. I keep trying his books and being disappointed. Interesting story ideas but too much emotional manipulation of the reader.

LibraryThing member hollster74

I'm not usually big on romance, but I have to admit this book brought me to tears.

LibraryThing member fiveforsilver

I picked this up for a buck at Goodwill and I'm glad I didn't pay any more for it. What is the big deal about this book? The plot is an uninspired love story and the writing is boring and bland. Seriously, every little thing does not need to be described and explained. It reads like something I

wrote in high school, when I thought I had to include adjectives in every sentence in a story. I had trouble finishing it, because I just didn't care.

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LibraryThing member jochen27

normally I am not the 'love story' guy - but this book changed my world...

LibraryThing member wendywh

A very simple love story. Although it is moving, I doubt whether such love can be true in the real life.

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