The notebook- review

Independent reading - Book review The notebook is a romantic novel by novelist Nicholas Sparks, which is based in a true story. It is considered a fiction book and has 224 pages. The novel opens in a nursing home when 80-year-old Noah Calhoun, "a common man with common thoughts," reads a love story from a notebook; it is his own story. Noah, newly returned from the war, is restoring a plantation home to its former glory, and he is haunted by images of the beautiful girl he met 14 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 more. Allie Nelson, 29, is now engaged to another man, but realizes that the original passion she felt for Noah has not dimmed with the passage of time. Still, the obstacles that once ended their previous relationship remain, and the gulf between their worlds is too vast to ignore, but their love for each other is even bigger. They exceed the obstacles and spent a life time together, sharing moments of happiness and also, of sadness, as when almost in the end of their lives Noah read his notebook to Allie in an attempt to jog her memory, severely impaired by Alzheimer's disease, and, miraculously, he succeeds, much to the amazement of the hospital staff, showing that love is stronger than everything. Although I loved this book since I began to read it, I can say it has some weaknesses. For example it dragged on and took a long time to get to the point. In some cases, I felt the temptation of reading the next pages to know what happen. Also, it does not refer of what happened after they got married, and what was the reaction of Allie's family and friends. The book present various flashbacks, which sometimes can confuse the audience. Despite