The Notebook Critique

The Notebook

By Nicholas Sparks

“I am nothing special, of this I am sure. I am a common man with common thoughts and I've led a common life... but I've loved another with all my heart and soul, and to me, this has always been enough. -Noah Calhoun

When we were assinged to do a book critique, I knew right away I was going to do a Nicholas Sparks novel. I have read all of his books, cried many tears and felt many emotions as I pictured the people falling in love, people doing heroic events and people living their normal life. I wasn’t sure which one I wanted to do, but I had to go with the book that affected me the most, The Notebook. The Notebook was the first novel written by Sparks and personally it is my favorite. He is a wonderful author who possesses the ability to have that deep heart felt emotion and love that many women search for in life. He wrote the book in such a way, that I as a female related to. I have felt the emotions Allie felt, I have been through the heart break, so relating and picturing events from The Notebook was never an issue for me, or maybe any other woman either.

The Notebook is a book written about a forbidden love from the south in the 1940's. The main characters, Noah Calhoun and Allie Hamilton come from two very different backgrounds. Noah is a poor boy who works hard for everything he has, and Allie is a rich girl who is determined to go to a great college and is to marry a rich boy. They meet during the summer of 1940 in a small southern town called Sea brook. During the summer, they fall in love, deep heartfelt love. Unfortunately, Allie’s parents do not agree with their daughter’s love for Noah, and returns the family home to the city shortly after. Noah writes Allie every day for a year, and without knowing, Allie’s mother is secretly hiding the letters from Allie... so she slowly moves on, thinking Noah no longer felt the way she did for him. She meets someone new, and is about to be married when she sees Noah in the paper and decided to return to Sea brook to “See how Noah is doing” She goes to see him and they realize their love has never died. The story goes on to explain how Allie faces her challenge of being with the man she is in love with or the man she is supposed to marry. She picks Noah and together they build a home and family. Later on Allie is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and writes her and Noah’s story of true love in a notebook that she gives to Noah to read to her, she promises him that if he reads their story to her, she will come back to him.

The first time I read this,