Summary of The Notebook
The Notebook is a love story about a man named Noah Calhoun, a veteran from World War II, and his relationship with a woman called Allie Nelson. The story starts off with Noah reading to a woman in his nursing home. He tells her about his love life after his return from the war. The story goes like this:
Noah fell in love with a woman named Allie, but hadn't seen her in 14 years. He decides to rebuild his house, and Allie comes over to visit him at New Bern after reading about it in the newspaper. During the years in which they were apart, Noah had written many letters to Allie, but Allie hadn't responded to any of them, so Noah had assumed that their friendship was over. Allie finds out about Noah's letters, although she had received none of them. Allie decides that her mother must have hidden them away from her, hoping to break off their relationship because of social class differences; Noah was from the working class while Allie was from a wealthy family. She informs Noah that she now has a fiance, called Lon Hammond, whom she is engaged to. Allie's mother shows up at his house and hands over Noah's letters to Allie. Allie is caught in a hard decision and can either choose to stay with Noah, who was her first true love, or with Lon, whom she does not want to hurt. Allie returns to the hotel, where Lon is waiting for her, and tells him that she had made her decision to stay with Noah.
Here, Noah stops reading to the woman, who is actually his wife, Allie. Now, Allie has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and cannot remember who she is, or who Noah is. Noah also has to deal with his own health problems. As Noah continues reading the story to Allie, he tells us about Allie's successful career as an artist. Later on, Allie says she thinks Noah and Allie in the story chose to be with each other. She suddenly remembers Noah and they talk for four hours before she slides back into her hallucination mode. Noah experiences a stroke just a few days later and is taken to the hospital. After he is released, he goes to visit Allie on the day of their 49th anniversary, reading the letter Allie had written to him the day she had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. She wakes up from her sleep and recognizes him again. Together, they embrace each other for one last time before dying in each other's arms.
Noah fell in love with a woman named Allie, but hadn't seen her in 14 years. He decides to rebuild his house, and Allie comes over to visit him at New Bern after reading about it in the newspaper. During the years in which they were apart, Noah had written many letters to Allie, but Allie hadn't responded to any of them, so Noah had assumed that their friendship was over. Allie finds out about Noah's letters, although she had received none of them. Allie decides that her mother must have hidden them away from her, hoping to break off their relationship because of social class differences; Noah was from the working class while Allie was from a wealthy family. She informs Noah that she now has a fiance, called Lon Hammond, whom she is engaged to. Allie's mother shows up at his house and hands over Noah's letters to Allie. Allie is caught in a hard decision and can either choose to stay with Noah, who was her first true love, or with Lon, whom she does not want to hurt. Allie returns to the hotel, where Lon is waiting for her, and tells him that she had made her decision to stay with Noah.
Here, Noah stops reading to the woman, who is actually his wife, Allie. Now, Allie has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and cannot remember who she is, or who Noah is. Noah also has to deal with his own health problems. As Noah continues reading the story to Allie, he tells us about Allie's successful career as an artist. Later on, Allie says she thinks Noah and Allie in the story chose to be with each other. She suddenly remembers Noah and they talk for four hours before she slides back into her hallucination mode. Noah experiences a stroke just a few days later and is taken to the hospital. After he is released, he goes to visit Allie on the day of their 49th anniversary, reading the letter Allie had written to him the day she had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. She wakes up from her sleep and recognizes him again. Together, they embrace each other for one last time before dying in each other's arms.
My Review
I've never been to New Bern, but writer Nicholas Sparks made me feel as if I had gone there before during a long summer just after World War II, when a poor but hard working man named Noah Calhoun fell in love with the beautiful and rich woman Allie Nelson. The story about how Allie chose Noah over her fiance Lon is told by Noah as an old man living at a nursing home, reading to his wife Allie from the notebook of love letters he wrote to her in the years before.
Noah is one of the reasons why I loved reading this book, because he didn't just give up on life when he came back from the war and never received any replies to his letters from Allie. He rebuilt his house and never lost hope that Allie would remember him some day. I find that a really important life lesson that everyone should learn: don't give up. Also, he describes the setting in an incredibly detailed manner so I could picture what it was like in my mind: a nature-filled, woody area with creeks and teeming with life in the countryside of New Bern.
Allie gets a fiance called Lon, a man whom she is engaged to, while Noah was away at war. When they reunite, Allie is torn between choosing to stay with Noah in a relationship or Lon. This is one of the reasons why I kept turning the pages to see if she chose her first true love or the man that her parents support.
You get to feel how much Allie meant to Noah when she comes over to his house. Noah doesn't only say "I love you," but he also uses his poetry to convey his feelings for her. Noah's words to her were pretty deep and it just shows how joyful he is to have her back again.
Allie is a great artist and Noah has one of her paintings in his bedroom. But when she comes back to visit him, she tells him that she stopped painting a while ago because her parents didn't approve of her having a career as an artist. Noah explains to her that she always had the talent to be an artist, and says, “You can't live your life for other people. You've got to do what's right for you, even if it hurts some people you love.” It was really inspiring to read this because what Noah says is true, and people should learn to make decisions for themselves, not because other people want them to do it.
One of the main themes in The Notebook is that love is powerful and never dies. Noah never actually says how he is so drawn into Allie, and how much she impacts his life, but by the way Noah describes his love for her, you can see that love had completely taken over. Even after 14 years of separation, Noah still thinks about Allie, and as old people, they live together in a nursing home. Noah continues to love and care for her, reading to her every day. Allie shows how love has affected her by keeping all the letters Noah had wrote to her and making it into a notebook. From the day they met each other, their love for one another never went away and stayed with them as they continued to age.
Throughout the story, another major theme that popped up was to follow your heart. When Noah tells Allie to continue painting, she wasn't sure what to do because she didn't want to disobey her parents, who had told her that painting was a bad idea. Yet she also wanted to follow Noah's advice, to continue on as an artist, and in the end, she did what she thought was right. Her paintings made it to the museums and became famous worldwide.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book and I recommend that you should read it too. In the real world, love conquers all and nothing can stop it. If you want to find out about what happened to Noah and Allie in the end, you should read The Notebook!
Noah is one of the reasons why I loved reading this book, because he didn't just give up on life when he came back from the war and never received any replies to his letters from Allie. He rebuilt his house and never lost hope that Allie would remember him some day. I find that a really important life lesson that everyone should learn: don't give up. Also, he describes the setting in an incredibly detailed manner so I could picture what it was like in my mind: a nature-filled, woody area with creeks and teeming with life in the countryside of New Bern.
Allie gets a fiance called Lon, a man whom she is engaged to, while Noah was away at war. When they reunite, Allie is torn between choosing to stay with Noah in a relationship or Lon. This is one of the reasons why I kept turning the pages to see if she chose her first true love or the man that her parents support.
You get to feel how much Allie meant to Noah when she comes over to his house. Noah doesn't only say "I love you," but he also uses his poetry to convey his feelings for her. Noah's words to her were pretty deep and it just shows how joyful he is to have her back again.
Allie is a great artist and Noah has one of her paintings in his bedroom. But when she comes back to visit him, she tells him that she stopped painting a while ago because her parents didn't approve of her having a career as an artist. Noah explains to her that she always had the talent to be an artist, and says, “You can't live your life for other people. You've got to do what's right for you, even if it hurts some people you love.” It was really inspiring to read this because what Noah says is true, and people should learn to make decisions for themselves, not because other people want them to do it.
One of the main themes in The Notebook is that love is powerful and never dies. Noah never actually says how he is so drawn into Allie, and how much she impacts his life, but by the way Noah describes his love for her, you can see that love had completely taken over. Even after 14 years of separation, Noah still thinks about Allie, and as old people, they live together in a nursing home. Noah continues to love and care for her, reading to her every day. Allie shows how love has affected her by keeping all the letters Noah had wrote to her and making it into a notebook. From the day they met each other, their love for one another never went away and stayed with them as they continued to age.
Throughout the story, another major theme that popped up was to follow your heart. When Noah tells Allie to continue painting, she wasn't sure what to do because she didn't want to disobey her parents, who had told her that painting was a bad idea. Yet she also wanted to follow Noah's advice, to continue on as an artist, and in the end, she did what she thought was right. Her paintings made it to the museums and became famous worldwide.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book and I recommend that you should read it too. In the real world, love conquers all and nothing can stop it. If you want to find out about what happened to Noah and Allie in the end, you should read The Notebook!