The Notebook

The Notebook
Nicholas Sparks
214 pages

It is 1946, World War II has ended, and Noah Calhoun has come home to New Bern, North Carolina. After being deployed overseas to Europe, his life has returned to normal. He works from dawn till dusk, only stopping to read poetry. Everything is normal, until Allie Nelson shows up in his driveway. Like a drive back into the past, Noah is soon caught up in feelings and questions he had felt and thought once before. And the most important question is, What is true love?

On a normal trip to the library, I would not have checked out The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks. But at a recent get together with friends, I got the whole "You've never seen The Notebook? Oh my gosh, that is like the best movie ever! And Ryan Gosling's in it!"

Before they could persuade me into watching it right then and there, I stated my philosophy of "book before movie".  And so, I went to the library last week to check it out.

Honestly, I don't really understand what all of the hype is about Sparks' books. Yes, they are short, very chick-lit, and well told, but they are all so tragic. Both A Walk to Remember and The Notebook had me tearing up. What happened to the prince and princess living happily ever after?

For me, this book was like a puzzle with a few missing pieces. I had questions that were never really answered, and things were mentioned, but never were they elaborated. I found myself a bit bored at times, and a 214 page book can't really afford that.

On a more positive note, the story itself touched my heart, in a way no one who reads this book can deny. The reader will feel the pain Noah and Allie feel, that is a fact, it is just a matter of whether you've felt you've been told the whole story.


To watch the trailer of the movie my friends think is "the best ever" click here.