The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
Synopsis from Amazon:
Set amid the austere beauty of the North Carolina coast, The Notebook begins with the story of Noah Calhoun, a rural Southerner recently returned form 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. 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. It is a story of miracles and emotions that will stay with you forever.
This is a story of love, illness and heartbreak. I would categorize it as chick-literature I think.
We follow the story of Noah, who fell in love with Allie and never got over her. She returns and we see how love develops and how their life unfolds. This book is so touching, the love is so strong and moving. It is beautiful.
I think my favourite character was in fact Allie’s Mum, as she comes through for her daughter, there is a different sort of love there, and that too is wonderful. The bond between a mother and daughter is often strong, and that definitely came through in this book.
Complaints? Not many 🙂 The story of their relationship as young lovers ended quite abruptly and then we went from a detailed story to glimpses of the past through letters, I would have liked the story to have continued in the detail it had been in. Although a lovely story, I did feel Noah was maybe a little bit too obsessed with Allie, by the end it was a little too much. And the ending, well that too was abrupt, and I was surprised the story finished, I was expecting more. However, all that aside, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
8/10
And as a note on the side, this has been made into a film, and I would recommend that too. Slightly different from the book but heartbreaking and lovely anyway.