| The Notebook | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Nicholas Sparks |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Notebook & The Wedding |
| Genre(s) | Romance novel |
| Publisher | Warner Books |
| Publication date | October 1, 1996 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover, paperback) |
| Pages | 224 |
| ISBN | 0446520802 |
| OCLC Number | 34321554 |
| Dewey Decimal | 813/.54 20 |
| LC Classification | PS3569.P363 N68 1996 |
| Followed by | Message in a Bottle |
The Notebook is a 1996 romantic novel by American novelist Nicholas Sparks, based on a true story. The novel was later adapted into a popular romance film of the same name, The Notebook (film), in 2004.
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The novel was Nicholas Sparks' first published novel, and the third written after The Passing and The Royal Murders, which he did not publish. He wrote it over a period of six months in 1994. Literary agent Theresa Park discovered Sparks after picking the book out of her agency's slush pile. Park offered to represent him. In October 1995, Park secured a $1 million advance for the book from the Time Warner Book Group, and the novel was published in October 1996. It was on the New York Times best-seller list in its first week of release. The Notebook was a hardcover best seller for more than a year.[1]
In interviews, Sparks said he was inspired to write the novel by the grandparents of his wife, who had been married for more than 60 years when he met them. In The Notebook, he tried to express the long love of that couple.[2]
The story begins with Noah, an 80-year-old man, reading to a woman in a nursing home. He tells her the following story:
The man stops reading the story at this point, and tells the reader that he is reading to his wife, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease and does not recognize him. He explains that 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 famous 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 says that she thinks Allie chose Noah. Recognizing her husband, she tells him that she loves him. They embrace and talk, but after almost four hours, Allie fades and begins to panic and hallucinate. She forgets who he is again.
A few days later, Noah has a stroke and is hospitalized. He is released and, on the night of their 49th anniversary, he reads the letter Allie wrote to him when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Deciding to visit her, he finds that Allie finally recognizes him again.
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