Sparks, Nicholas - The Notebook

I am amused, I found this review on Amazon it speaks rather a lot of truth. I have not yet seen the movie, and I really only read the book as a friend of mine (a non-reader) said she liked it - yet the movie was better. I had a bit of laugh reading it anyway, the description was 'try-hardish' and pathetically 'soppy' in some ways. It was an 'easy read'. It's not entirely terrible, but haha, mmm. yes. I think I've had worse.

I bought this novel for an easy, no-brainer, enjoyable read-on-the-beach book. So far as being easy and a no-brainer, The Notebook followed through. When it came to enjoyable, however, it fell terribly short.

I think the premise of the book is wonderful. An Alzheimer's patient being read the ultimate love story -their own- by her husband in hopes of rekindling old memories, if only for a moment. Very nice and the story is sweet.

BUT... the characters. Good lord. They were, without doubt, some of the most two-dimensional protagonists I have ever seen. They were undeveloped, their dialog was rigid, and some of the scenes that could have potentially been fabulous (like the scene on the lake) were murdered by characters I could care less about. If I can't empathize with them, I won't care what happens to them, and this is what happened in The Notebook. I was extremely disappointed. This could have been something great, but instead made me feel like I had wasted my time.

For once, I will have to say that the movie was better. I saw it several days after finishing the novel and was pleasantly surprised by how they added new scenes and the cast breathed life into otherwise stale characters. Not to mention that the movie completely changed the original ending... the original ending being an entendre that was not only 110% unbelievable and unlikely, but also made me want to vomit. If you read the book, you'll understand why... but I suggest renting the movie, instead.