The Notebook
The Notebook is a 1996 romantic novel by American novelist Nicholas Sparks, The novel was later
adapted into a popular film of the same name, in 2004.
PLOT:
The novel opens with Noah Calhoun, an old man, reading to a woman in a nursing home. He tells
her the following story:
Noah, 31, returns from World War II to his town of New Bern, North Carolina. He finishes restoring
an antebellum-style house, after his father's death. Meanwhile Allie, 29, sees the house in the
newspaper and decides to pay him a visit.
They are meeting, again, after a 14-year separation, which followed their brief but passionate
summer romance when her family was visiting the town. They were separated by class, as she was
the daughter of a wealthy family, and he worked as a laborer in a lumberyard. Seeing each other
brings on a flood of memories and strong emotions in both of them. They have dinner together
and talk about their lives and the past. Allie learns that Noah had written letters to her for one
year after their breakup. She realizes that her mother hid the letters so that Allie could never
receive them and would conclude that Noah had forgotten about her. They talk about what could
have happened between them without her mother's interference. At the end of the night, Noah
invites Allie to come back the next day and promises her a surprise. She decides to see him again.
During this time, her fiancé, Lon, tries to reach her at the hotel. When Allie does not respond to his
calls, he begins to worry.
The next day, Noah takes Allie on a canoe ride in a small lake where swans and geese swim. She is
enchanted. On their way back, they are caught in a storm and end up soaked. When they return to
his house, they talk again about how important they were to each other, and how their feelings
have not changed. Noah and Allie share a kiss and make love.
Allie's mother shows up the next morning and gives Allie the letters from Noah. When her mother
leaves, Allie is torn and has a decision to make. She knows she loves Noah, but she does not want
to hurt Lon. Noah begs her to stay with him, but she decides to leave. She cries all the way back to
the hotel and starts reading the letters her mother returned to her. At the hotel, her fiancé Lon is
waiting in the lobby.
The man stops reading the story at this point, and implies to the audience that he is reading to his
wife, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease and does not recognize him. Throughout the story he
explains he is also ill, battling a third cancer, and suffering heart disease, kidney failure, and severe
arthritis in his hands.
He resumes reading the story and describing their life together: her career as a noted painter,
their children, growing old together, and finally the diagnosis of Alzheimer's. He had changed the
names in the story to protect her, but he is Noah and she is Allie. They walk together and Allie,
although she does not recognize him, says she might feel something for him.
That night they have dinner together. Referring to the story, she can't quite remember who Allie
chose. Recognizing her husband, she tells him that she loves him. They embrace and talk, but after
almost four hours, Allie fades. She begins to panic and hallucinate, and forgets who Noah is again.
The nurses have to come in and they have to sedate her.
Later Noah has a stroke and cannot visit Allie. When he recovers he goes to visit Allie late at night,
as he is staying in the same care home. When Noah tries to sneak past the nurse station, the nurse
on duty states that she is going for a coffee, even though she has one on the counter. The nurse
also tells Noah she won't be back for a while and not to do anything while she is away. Noah
realises it is just a ruse to let him go see Allie, and he goes and finds Allie in bed in her room,
asleep. She wakes up, recognizes him as Noah, and tells him that she loves him. They kiss and fall
asleep next to each other, believing their love will take them away together.
COMMENT:
This book has always been my favorite, it made me know the real love and it touched my heart. I
love the character of Noah, I admire the fact that he never gave up in front of Allie's waste and in
front of the fact that she got married to another man, always allowing her to choose for her
happiness therefore putting her well-being before his. Not even his illness stopped him, he is a
brave man and lives in the hope that something magical can happen. The scene I prefer most is
when Allie finally decides to return to Noah and live a life with him forever. He is very happy, he
says it will not be simple, they didn’t agree on much, in fact they rarely agreed on anything, they
fought all the time and they challenged each other everyday, but in spite their differences they will
work on it every day, because he needs her in his life and because they were crazy about each
other. No matter what happens, they always come back for each other, one more time.
