The Notebook (Calhoun Family Saga, #1)

by Nicholas Sparks

A man with a faded, well-worn notebook open in his lap. A woman experiencing a morning ritual she doesn't understand. Until he begins to read to her. THE NOTEBOOK is an achingly tender story about the enduring power of love, a story of miracles that will stay with you forever. Set amid the austere beauty of the North Carolina coast, The Notebook begins with the story of Noah Calhoun, a rural Southerner recently returned from the Second World War. Noah is restoring a plantation home to its former glory, and he is haunted by images of the beautiful girl he met fourteen years earlier, a girl he loved like no other. Unable to find her, yet unwilling to forget the summer they spent together, Noah is content to live with only memories...until she unexpectedly returns to his town to see him once again. Allie Nelson is now engaged to another man, but realizes that the original passion she felt for Noah has not dimmed with the passage of time. Yet the obstacles that once ended their previous relationship still remain, and the gulf between their worlds is too vast to ignore.
With her impending marriage only weeks away, Allie is forced to confront her hopes and dreams for the future, a future that only she can shape. Like a puzzle within a puzzle, the story of Noah and Allie is just the beginning. As it unfolds, their tale miraculously becomes something different, with much higher stakes. The result is a deeply moving portrait of love itself, the tender moments and the fundamental changes that affect us all. In the tradition of LOVE STORY and THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, THE NOTEBOOK establishes Nicholas Sparks as a classic storyteller with a unique insight into the only emotion that really matters.

• ISBN10: 0553816713
• ISBN13: 9780553816716
• Publish Date: 5 July 2004 (first published 1 October 1996)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 12 June 2014
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Transworld Publishers Ltd
• Imprint: Bantam Books (Transworld Publishers a division of the Random House Group)
• Edition: Media tie-in
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 272
• Language: English

Reviews

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

Nicholas Sparks is a very formulaic author. He designs two star-crossed lovers living on opposite sides of the tracks and despite all odds come together. Even if I had not seen the movie before hand I could have seen where the story was going.

Although, being predictable was not my biggest complaint with The Notebook. Like Gone with the Wind glamorize rape I felt Nicholas Sparks tried to justify infidelity because they were meant to be. It was not okay for John and Yoko, John and Jane Doe and certainly not for Noah and Allie. Romanizing the relationship does not change the situation and irked me to no end.

Therefore, I had a hard time buying into Noah and Allie's love story. Not only that, but like Landon and Jamie, I found the novel's couple insipid and at times found their driveling desire hard to handle.

Overall, this was not the "great love story" the Nicholas Sparks was trying to sell. Instead, I would have preferred the eye-candy that is Ryan Gosling. Next time I will reach for the remote instead of a bookmark.

This review was originally posted on First Impressions Reviews

[Baroness Book Trove]

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks is an excellent book that almost anyone could read. One that has a happy ending while in certain parts of the book it will make you cry. The tears won’t be sad instead they will happy tears. Tears that make anyone feel like they could have a love like that one day. I feel bad for Noah having to deal with seeing his wife but not really seeing her.

Mr. Sparks has this way with words that makes the reader believe in whatever he is writing about like he does with The Notebook. The thing that he wants you to believe in is that your first love is the one that you are meant to spend the rest of your life with and when they leave you feel like you are missing something that you don’t realize you’re missing until you look back at those memories. That make you realize with what you are missing. Or when you try to move on but are just wasting time searching for your first love while not finding it in the person that you are dating with at the time.

Granted I don’t know many people like this but I know of some people that are married to that wasn’t their first love. It is the look in their eyes that you can see from not even reading this book to know that they have found their true love and that they aren’t going to let that person go without a fight. I see it every day with my mom and step dad and through pictures of my cousins through Facebook. I am very happy to know that they have found their true love and that they won’t stop fighting for them if they have to. I hope that they don’t have to go through the pain that Noah does in this book.

I am giving this book a five butterfly rating because it is good and I couldn’t put the book down once I got into it. I can’t wait to read another book. I will also love to recommend it to anyone that would like to read it.

Anyways until the next time enjoy this book review brought to you by

Baroness’ Book Trove.

To read more reviews like this one please go to my site @ baronessbooktrove.com

[Bianca]

I am nothing special; of this I am sure. I am a common man with common thoughts, and I’ve led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten, but I’ve loved another with all my heart and soul, and to me, this has always been enough.

[Emma (SCR)]

This review was originally posted on Star Crossed Reviews As you may know from yesterday's post I have been reading The Notebook this week. I knew the story from the film but I loved the book even more.

Naturally I had the image of Ryan Gosling in my head throughout the book. Even when Noah was old. Noah is the perfect book boyfriend. He's caring, loving and sexy. He loves Allie from the moment he met her and he never forgot her.

The love was so powerful that it brought them back together, like he always knew it would. This is the sweetest love story. Throughout the entire book Noah never gives up on Allie and I love him for that.

This book has the perfect ending. It's just so sweet.

[boghunden]

This is one of the greatest books I've ever read! The way Sparks describes love is just magic. Laugh, cry, feel the butterflies in your stomach and your heart fall into pieces. This book has it all!

[Lorelei's Lit Lair]

I found the movie to be better than the book which is rare. Movies hardly get to depict the whole essence of a book, yet in this case, I found more feeling in the movie. Still a beautiful story...

[Jo]

The basic premise of The Notebook is so beautiful there are no words. The story of an old man who reads to his Alzeimer-suffering wife the story of how they got together every day in the hopes of bringing her back to him is so fantastically beautiful, the idea alone makes me want to cry. I have no shame telling you that when I first watched the movie several years ago, I was crying through most of the film and it have been my favourite ever since; it's just so beautiful.

Nicholas Sparks has this wonderful way of writing, where I think I would enjoy reading even if he wrote something where the plot was completely ridiculous. The way he writes is almost poetical, and the way he describes, for example, Noah just sitting on the porch in the evening playing his guitar - nothing all that spectacular - makes it sound like something so amazing. His description and imagery, I find, are just so calming, that while reading I feel like I'm in a dream-like state, with a sense of wonder over the smallest things.

The story, however, fell a little short for me. I characters didn't seem all that believable to me, the things Noah and Allie thought and said, the way they formed their sentences, it just isn't how people talk. They were structured, not automatic as they would be for normal conversation/thinking. And they kept talking about their love for each other, but I didn't really feel it. There was a lack of, well, passion.

It was a good read, a sad but strangely optimistic read, but it was fantastic. I was warned to keep the tissues near me during this book. They weren't really needed; I cried once, when a particular part of the story reminded me of what happens at a particular point in the film, whih never fails to make me sob like a child. It was the reminder of the film that brought the emotion, rather than the stroy itself. The plot didn't stir any emotion in me, it was the writing that did.

Great if you're looking for a quick read that is beautifully written, but not overly heavy on the heart.

[KitsuneBae]

Forgot to include this one. It has been soooooo long.

[ladygrey]

I saw the movie first and this is pretty much just like the movie. It was simple and straight forward and good. but I didn't love it.