The Notebook

The Notebook

I believe that when the story from a fictional book is taken and made into a film, that that story is stripped of its magic. Each person who reads that book will visualise something completely different from everyone else as they flick through the pages – an entire world created in their own mind for only them to see. It is for this reason that I hate to watch a film after reading the book, (though sometimes curiosity gets the best of me), and I generally don’t read a book after watching the film first. The Notebook however, was an exception to this rule of mine.

I first watched the Notebook a couple of years ago with my best friend Ria who had already read the book, watched the film and insisted I needed to watch it to. I enjoyed the film and loved the story of young romance and the happy ending! So…a couple of years on and I decided to read the book, as it was only £2 on play.com :)

The writing style is good and I was surprised as to how alike the film the book was when usually filmmakers have to cut so much important information out of the story in order to make the film! This may be because of how short the book is – an aspect I liked as it is just the right length and is a nice, easy and relaxing read. Furthermore, I think that the director of the ‘Notebook’ the film has done an excellent job in choosing the cast, as I felt comfortable imagining Allie and Noah as the film portrays them.

Generally the books I read are written in female first person however it did not make the story any less emotionally powerful as I imagined it to reading a love story from a males perspective. Rather than being able to relate to a female character and understanding her emotions, I found myself wishing to be loved by someone as much as Noah loves Allie!

Their ‘summer romance’ isn’t covered very thoroughly in the book and it seems to me more about them being reunited and Noah’s struggle as an elderly man. The ending was extremely sad and admittedly I cried! But despite the ‘Notebook’ being a sad tale it didn’t leave me feeling down, as the strongest emotion portrayed in the book is love, not sadness.