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Book Review: The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

Author:  Nicholas Sparks

Publisher:  Grand Central Publishing

Genre: Romance Fiction

First Publication: 1996

Language:  English

Major Characters: Allie Hamilton, Noah, Jr., Lon Hammond, Anne Hamilton, Dr. Barnwell

Setting Place: North Carolina

Narration: First Person (in first and last chapters), Third Person

Theme: Love Conquers All, Fate Vs Free Will,

Book Summary: The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

Set amid the austere beauty of the North Carolina coast , The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks begins with the story of Noah Calhoun, a rural Southerner recently returned from the Second World War . Noah is restoring a plantation home to its former glory, and he is haunted by images of the beautiful girl he met fourteen 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 again.

Like a puzzle within a puzzle, the story of Noah and Allie is just the beginning. As it unfolds, their tale miraculously becomes something different, with much higher stakes. The result is a deeply moving portrait of love itself, the tender moments and the fundamental changes that affect us all. It is a story of miracles and emotions that will stay with you forever.

Allison Hamilton, now 29 years old, can’t seem to shake away her first love, Noah Calhoun. Torn between her fiancé Lon and her soul mate Noah, Allie must make a decision that won’t be easy and faces the danger of breaking one of these man’s hearts. Nicholas Sparks writes a jaw-dropping, passionate romance novel that will have you wanting more. If you aren’t a fan of romance stories, start here and read this captivating novel The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks.

It all started that summer when Allie was only 15; she met Noah- a low class 17 year old filled with life and enthusiasm- and they immediately clicked. Infatuated with love, this young couple did everything together and they were never apart. They had high hopes of being together, raising a family and growing old with each other. Even though they had their differences at times, they still were there for each other.

“I am nothing special, of this I am sure. I am a common man with common thoughts and I’ve led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten, but I’ve loved another with all my heart and soul, and to me, this has always been enough.”

Unfortunately, Allie had to go back home and leave Noah behind. Heartbroken, Allie missed Noah and thought about him all the time. Noah was sad and missed Allie terribly. He wrote letters to Allie-one each day- but all of them were left unanswered. Allie’s mother had purposely taken them, without informing Allie. She didn’t think Noah was right for Allie and referred to him as “trash.” Years passed and both of them had not heard from each other but they still had tremendous love for one another.

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks will make you fall even more in love with love stories. If you are not a fan of romance stories then The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks is definitely what you need. From the second you pick up this book to the second you put it down, it will change the way you look at love and make you desire it. Nicholas Spark paints us a beautiful picture of the obstacles and the wonderful things that loves offers.

“So it’s not gonna be easy. It’s going to be really hard; we’re gonna have to work at this everyday, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, everyday. You and me… everyday.”

Nicholas Spark’s unique writing will have you fighting back tears and wishing for a relationship just like the one that is shared between Noah and Allie. This heart warming novel had me on the edge of my seat, not wanting to put the book down. I anxiously turned each page waiting to see what became of Allie and Noah.

Buy Now: Books by Nicholas Sparks

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About the Book

The Notebook

By nicholas sparks.

An analysis of the reasons why 'The Notebook' by Nicholas Sparks has received both praise and criticism from readers and critics.

Written by Israel Njoku

Degree in M.C.M with focus on Literature from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

‘ The Notebook ‘ by Nicholas Sparks was one of the most loved romance novels in the United States in the late 1990s. However, the novel had praise-singing readers and critics as much as it had readers who were not so enthusiastic in their reviews. And each side of the divide had its reasons for its opinions.

In ‘ The Notebook ‘ by Nicholas Sparks, Noah and Allie are the two characters at the centre of the narrative. The narrative is so exhaustively theirs that the other characters appear to function as only catalysts to the plot. When the story begins, it is an octogenarian Noah that we see readying to go ‘read the notebook aloud’ to his ailing wife, who has been afflicted by a sort of senile dementia, in the hope that ‘the miracle that has come to dominate [his] life will once again prevail.’ It is not until the story draws to an end that one gets a glimpse into what this miracle was supposed to be.

One point that detracts from the characterization of ‘ The Notebook ’ is the absence of flaws in the lead character, Noah. Noah has no flaws and possesses superhuman qualities that make him an unrealistic character. This perfection in some of the characters makes it difficult for a reader to find them relatable.

‘ The Notebook ‘ is a hundred pages long with just eight chapters. This makes it a novel that can be finished by an average reader in a couple of hours. This brevity of volume is always an encouragement to read a novel, and ‘The Notebook’ by Nicholas Sparks scores full points in this regard, just like Ayn Rand ‘s ‘ Anthem ‘.

The first chapter of the novel introduces a character on a mission to read to someone from a notebook. Then, the bulk of the story covering from chapter two to chapter seven is the main character’s reading of the story of their life together to his wife. So the reader just happens to be some sort of eavesdropper merely overhearing the reading as the narrator proceeds with it.

The use of a narrative frame within the story adds layers of brightness to what might have been a gloomy novel about troubled people living in a nursing home. The narrative frame also adds variety to the setting and the timelines in the novel.

Philosophical Themes

‘ The Notebook ’ by Nicholas Sparks is a short read but is craftily laced with themes that have philosophical depths. The themes explore the nexus between memories and emotions. It begs the question of how much humans are capable of feeling in the absence of memory and evokes deep thoughts on the subject of love and endurance.

The novel also explores the theme of aging and mortality in humans and gives musings on the changes in perspective on life and priorities as people grow old and become physically frail.

A Sentimental Story

The story of Noah and Allie in ‘ The Notebook’ is a sentimental one. It begins with an old man who rues about the loss of the physical prowess of his youth as he goes to read a story to his wife. The lead character Noah flashes back to the past, where we understand his background and motivations a little more. However, his musings are exaggeratedly sentimental and sometimes border on self-pity.

The characters are overly emotional about mundane things, and this makes many parts of the novel boring to read. While the overall idea of the story is a heart-warming love story, the delivery makes it mawkishly amorous.

Is ‘ The Notebook ‘ a good read?

‘ The Notebook’ by Nicholas Sparks is a good read for lovers of romance novels and love stories. It is also a good read for readers who are skeptical about reading large volumes that consume a lot of reading time.

Why is ‘ The Notebook ‘ considered a classic?

‘ The Notebook ‘ is considered a classic because it is one of the most memorable modern romance novels in the United States and also because of its popular movie adaptation that made a cultural impact on modern romance stories.

Why is ‘ The Notebook ‘ unrealistic?

‘ The Notebook ‘ is considered unrealistic because of its flawless characters and because of its plot, which suggests that emotions are more powerful than the laws of science.

The Notebook Review

Book Title: The Notebook

Book Description: 'The Notebook' by Nicholas Sparks is a classic romance blending existential themes in a tale of love across social divides, marked by touching and inspirational moments.

Book Author: Nicholas Sparks

Book Edition: First Edition

Book Format: Hardcover

Publisher - Organization: Time Warner Book Group

Date published: October 1, 1996

ISBN: 978-0446605236

Number Of Pages: 214

• Lasting Impact on a Reader

‘ The Notebook’  is a classic romantic tale that captures existential themes as it tells a love story between a poor small-town boy and a rich socialite girl. Nicholas Sparks puts a noble and loving soul in the lead character Noah. And Noah’s musings are touching thoughts that are both heartwarming and inspirational.

However, the novel would have been a better read with a little less exaggeration of sentimentality. But overall, the novel is an enjoyable read.

• Good narrative technique
• Rich themes
• Unrealistic characters
• Overly sentimental

About Israel Njoku

Israel loves to delve into rigorous analysis of themes with broader implications. As a passionate book lover and reviewer, Israel aims to contribute meaningful insights into broader discussions.

Cite This Page

Njoku, Israel " The Notebook Review ⭐ " Book Analysis , https://bookanalysis.com/nicholas-sparks/the-notebook/review/ . Accessed 23 March 2024.

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Reviews of The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

Summary | Excerpt | Reading Guide | Reviews | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio

The Notebook

by Nicholas Sparks

Critics' Opinion:

Readers' Opinion:

• Romance/Love Stories
• N & S Carolina
• 1940s & '50s

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About this Book

• Reading Guide

Book Summary

A man with a faded, well-worn notebook open in his lap. A woman experiencing a morning ritual she doesn't understand. Until he begins to read to her. An achingly tender story about the enduring power of love.

A man with a faded, well-worn notebook open in his lap. A woman experiencing a morning ritual she doesn't understand. Until he begins to read to her. The Notebook is an achingly tender story about the enduring power of love, a story of miracles that will stay with you forever. Set amid the austere beauty of coastal North Carolina in 1946, The Notebook begins with the story of Noah Calhoun, a rural Southerner returned home from World War II. Noah, thirty-one, is restoring a plantation home to its former glory, and he is haunted by images of the beautiful girl he met fourteen 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 again. Allie Nelson, twenty-nine, 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. With her impending marriage only weeks away, Allie is forced to confront her hopes and dreams for the future, a future that only she can shape. Like a puzzle within a puzzle, the story of Noah and Allie is just the beginning. As it unfolds, their tale miraculously becomes something different, with much higher stakes. The result is a deeply moving portrait of love itself, the tender moments and the fundamental changes that affect us all. Shining with a beauty that is rarely found in current literature, The Notebook establishes Nicholas Sparks as a classic storyteller with a unique insight into the only emotion that really matters. "I am nothing special, of this I am sure. I am a common man with common thoughts and I've led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten, but I've loved another with all my heart and soul, and to me, this has always been enough." And so begins one of the most poignant and compelling love stories you will ever read...The Notebook

Chapter One: Miracles

Who am I? And how, I wonder, will this story end? The sun has come up and I am sitting by a window that is foggy with the breath of a life gone by. I'm a sight this morning: two shirts, heavy pants, a scarf wrapped twice around my neck and tucked into a thick sweater knitted by my daughter thirty birthdays ago. The thermostat in my room is set as high as it will go, and a smaller space heater sits directly behind me. It clicks and groans and spews hot air like a fairytale dragon, and still my body shivers with a cold that will never go away, a cold that has been eighty years in the making. Eighty years, I think sometimes, and despite my own acceptance of my age, it still amazes me that I haven't been warm since George Bush was president. I wonder if this is how it is for everyone my age. My life? It isn't easy to explain. It has not been the rip-roaring spectacular I fancied it would be, but neither have I burrowed around with the gophers. I suppose it...

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THE NOTEBOOK

by Nicholas Sparks ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 11, 1996

Sparks's debut is a contender in the Robert Waller book-sweeps for most shamelessly sentimental love story, with honorable mention for highest octane schmaltz throughout an extended narrative. New Bern is the Carolina town where local boy Noah Calhoun and visitor Allison Nelson fall in love, in 1932, when Noah is 17 and Allie 15 (``as he . . . met those striking emerald eyes, he knew . . . she was the one he could spend the rest of his life looking for but never find again''). Allie's socially prominent mom, however, sees their Romeo-and-Juliet affair differently, intercepting Noah's heartrendingly poetic love-letters, while Allie, sure he doesn't love her, never even sends hers. Love is forever, though, and in 1946 Allie sees a piece in the paper about Noah (he's back home after WW II, still alone, living in a 200-year-old house in the country) and drives down to see him, telling the socially prominent lawyer she's engaged to that she's gone looking for antiques (`` `And here it will end, one way or the other,' she whispered''). And together again the lovers come indeed, during a thunderstorm, before a crackling fire, leaving the poetic Noah to reflect that ``to him, the evening would be remembered as one of the most special times he had ever had.'' So, will Allie marry her lawyer? Will Noah live out his life alone, rocking on his porch, paddling up the creek, ``playing his guitar for beavers and geese and wild blue herons''? Suffice it to say that love will go on, somehow, for 140 more pages, readers will find out what the title means and may or may not agree with Allie, of Noah: ``You are the most forgiving and peaceful man I know. God is with you, He must be, for you are the closest thing to an angel that I've ever met.'' An epic of treacle, an ocean of tears, made possible by a perfect, ideal, unalloyed absence of humor. Destined, positively, for success. (First serial to Good Housekeeping; film rights to New Line Cinema; Literary Guild selection)

Pub Date: Oct. 11, 1996

ISBN: 0-446-52080-2

Page Count: 224

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1996

HISTORICAL FICTION

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by Nicholas Sparks

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SEEN & HEARD

by Roy Jacobsen ; translated by Don Bartlett & Don Shaw ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 7, 2020

A deeply satisfying novel, both sensuously vivid and remarkably poignant.

Norwegian novelist Jacobsen folds a quietly powerful coming-of-age story into a rendition of daily life on one of Norway’s rural islands a hundred years ago in a novel that was shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize.

Ingrid Barrøy, her father, Hans, mother, Maria, grandfather Martin, and slightly addled aunt Barbro are the owners and sole inhabitants of Barrøy Island, one of numerous small family-owned islands in an area of Norway barely touched by the outside world. The novel follows Ingrid from age 3 through a carefree early childhood of endless small chores, simple pleasures, and unquestioned familial love into her more ambivalent adolescence attending school off the island and becoming aware of the outside world, then finally into young womanhood when she must make difficult choices. Readers will share Ingrid’s adoration of her father, whose sense of responsibility conflicts with his romantic nature. He adores Maria, despite what he calls her “la-di-da” ways, and is devoted to Ingrid. Twice he finds work on the mainland for his sister, Barbro, but, afraid she’ll be unhappy, he brings her home both times. Rooted to the land where he farms and tied to the sea where he fishes, Hans struggles to maintain his family’s hardscrabble existence on an island where every repair is a struggle against the elements. But his efforts are Sisyphean. Life as a Barrøy on Barrøy remains precarious. Changes do occur in men’s and women’s roles, reflected in part by who gets a literal chair to sit on at meals, while world crises—a war, Sweden’s financial troubles—have unexpected impact. Yet the drama here occurs in small increments, season by season, following nature’s rhythm through deaths and births, moments of joy and deep sorrow. The translator’s decision to use roughly translated phrases in conversation—i.e., “Tha’s goen’ nohvar” for "You’re going nowhere")—slows the reading down at first but ends up drawing readers more deeply into the world of Barrøy and its prickly, intensely alive inhabitants.

Pub Date: April 7, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-77196-319-0

Page Count: 272

Publisher: Biblioasis

Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020

LITERARY FICTION | HISTORICAL FICTION | FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP

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by Roy Jacobsen ; translated by Don Bartlett & Don Shaw

by Roy Jacobsen translated by Don Bartlett & Don Shaw

by Roy Jacobsen & translated by Don Bartlett & Don Shaw

Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

New York Times Bestseller

IndieBound Bestseller

THE TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ

by Heather Morris ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 4, 2018

The writing is merely serviceable, and one can’t help but wish the author had found a way to present her material as...

An unlikely love story set amid the horrors of a Nazi death camp.

Based on real people and events, this debut novel follows Lale Sokolov, a young Slovakian Jew sent to Auschwitz in 1942. There, he assumes the heinous task of tattooing incoming Jewish prisoners with the dehumanizing numbers their SS captors use to identify them. When the Tätowierer, as he is called, meets fellow prisoner Gita Furman, 17, he is immediately smitten. Eventually, the attraction becomes mutual. Lale proves himself an operator, at once cagey and courageous: As the Tätowi erer, he is granted special privileges and manages to smuggle food to starving prisoners. Through female prisoners who catalog the belongings confiscated from fellow inmates, Lale gains access to jewels, which he trades to a pair of local villagers for chocolate, medicine, and other items. Meanwhile, despite overwhelming odds, Lale and Gita are able to meet privately from time to time and become lovers. In 1944, just ahead of the arrival of Russian troops, Lale and Gita separately leave the concentration camp and experience harrowingly close calls. Suffice it to say they both survive. To her credit, the author doesn’t flinch from describing the depravity of the SS in Auschwitz and the unimaginable suffering of their victims—no gauzy evasions here, as in Boy in the Striped Pajamas . She also manages to raise, if not really explore, some trickier issues—the guilt of those Jews, like the tattooist, who survived by doing the Nazis’ bidding, in a sense betraying their fellow Jews; and the complicity of those non-Jews, like the Slovaks in Lale’s hometown, who failed to come to the aid of their beleaguered countrymen.

Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018

ISBN: 978-0-06-279715-5

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: July 16, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018

RELIGIOUS FICTION | HISTORICAL FICTION

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by Heather Morris

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A man with a faded, well-worn notebook open in his lap. A woman experiencing a morning ritual she doesn’t understand. Until he begins to read to her.   The Notebook  is an achingly tender story about the enduring power of love, a story of miracles that will stay with you forever. Set amid the austere beauty of coastal North Carolina in 1946, The Notebook begins with the story of Noah Calhoun, a rural Southerner returned home from World War II. Noah, thirty-one, is restoring a plantation home to its former glory, and he is haunted by images of the beautiful girl he met fourteen 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 again. Allie Nelson, twenty-nine, 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. With her impending marriage only weeks away, Allie is forced to confront her hopes and dreams for the future, a future that only she can shape. Like a puzzle within a puzzle, the story of Noah and Allie is just beginning. As it unfolds, their tale miraculously becomes something different, with much higher stakes. The result is a deeply moving portrait of love itself, the tender moments, and fundamental changes that affect us all. Shining with a beauty that is rarely found in current literature,  The Notebook establishes Nicholas Sparks as a classic storyteller with a unique insight into the only emotion that really matters.

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Inspiration

It wasn’t easy to come up with the plot for my first (published) novel, but in the end, I decided to go with something that I knew I could do.

The Notebook was inspired by my wife’s grandparents, two wonderful people who spent over 60 years together. My wife was very fond of these two people—the other set of grandparents had died when she was young—and she was one of those people who loved to visit on the weekends, growing up. When she turned sixteen, as soon as she got her license, she would drive up to visit them on the weekends and even when she went off to college (about two hours away) she still went to visit them a couple of times a month just to check on them, to make sure they had groceries, and all those things a nice granddaughter would do.

Since they were so special to her, my wife was, of course, looking forward to having these two people involved in her wedding. But, unfortunately, the day before the wedding, we got a call and were told that the grandparents wouldn’t be able to attend. Even though they were only forty minutes away by car and someone else could drive them, they were in such ill health that their doctor recommended they stay at home. My wife was very sad about that, but the day was so hectic, she did her best to put it out of her mind. I guess it finally struck home for her when she was standing in the back of the church and getting ready to walk down the aisle. In the back of the church was a small table and on the table was a box that had been brought by the florist. It contained the corsages and boutonnieres for the wedding party and our parents, but as she was standing there, she couldn’t help but notice there were two flowers left untouched—those that had been meant for the grandparents.

We went through the ceremony and reception, we talked to family and danced, did all those typical things, and went back to the hotel. When I woke the next morning, my wife rolled over and met my eyes, looking just about as beautiful as I’d ever seen a woman look.

“Do you love me?” she asked. “Of course I do,” I whispered, wondering why she asked. “Well good,” she said, clapping her hands and speaking in an authoritarian tone. “Then you’re going do something for me.” “Yes ma’am,” I said.

Anyway, what she had me do was put on my tuxedo again. She slipped into her wedding dress, grabbed those two flowers (she’d brought them to the hotel), a piece of wedding cake, and a video that my brother-in-law had shot the day before, and we brought a little wedding up to the grandparents.

They had no idea we’d be coming and were excited to see us. My grandfather-in-law slipped into his jacket and put on the boutonniere and we took photographs with them; we went inside and watched the video as we ate a slice of cake, and it was then they told us the story of how they met and fell in love, parts of which eventually made their way into The Notebook.

But though their story was wonderful, what I most remember from that day is the way they were treating each other. The way his eyes shined when he looked at her, the way he held her hand, the way he got her tea and took care of her. I remember watching them together and thinking to myself that after sixty years of marriage, these two people were treating each other exactly the same as my wife and I were treating each other after twelve hours. What a wonderful gift they’d given us, I thought, to show us on our first day of marriage that true love can last forever.

New Bern, NC

New Bern is a quiet town on the coast of North Carolina. Located in Craven County, New Bern is the second oldest town in North Carolina. It is a town rich in American history, a site of Civil War battle, and the birthplace of Pepsi-Cola. New Bern’s downtown is bustling with restaurants and entertainment, and the town’s southern reaches are home to the quieter Croatan National Forest. With historic homes, beautiful gardens, and quaint shops, New Bern provides the ideal setting for The Notebook, which takes us back in time to a quiet and romantic period in the city’s history, as well as The Wedding, A Bend in the Road and Safe Haven.

As teenagers, Allie (Rachel McAdams) and Noah (Ryan Gosling) begin a whirlwind courtship that soon blossoms into tender intimacy. The young couple is quickly separated by Allie's upper-class parents who insist that Noah isn't right for her. Several years pass and, when they meet again, their passion is rekindled, forcing Allie to choose between her soulmate and class order. This beautiful tale has a particularly special meaning to an older gentleman (James Garner) who regularly reads the timeless love story to his aging companion (Gena Rowlands).

Based on the best-selling novel by Nicholas Sparks,  The Notebook  is at once heartwarming and heartbreaking and will capture you with its sweeping and emotional force.

• Director: Nick Cassavetes
• Screenplay: Jeremy Leven
• Cast: Gena Rowlands, James Garner, Ryan Gosling
• Run Time: 123 minutes

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'The Notebook" cuts between the same couple at two seasons in their lives. We see them in the urgency of young romance, and then we see them as old people, she disappearing into the shadows of Alzheimer's, he steadfast in his love. It is his custom every day to read to her from a notebook that tells the story of how they met and fell in love and faced obstacles to their happiness. Sometimes, he says, if only for a few minutes, the clouds part and she is able to remember who he is and who the story is about.

We all wish Alzheimer's could permit such moments. For a time, in the earlier stages of the disease, it does. But when the curtain comes down, there is never another act and the play is over. "The Notebook" is a sentimental fantasy, but such fantasies are not harmful; we tell ourselves stories every day, to make life more bearable. The reason we cried during " Terms of Endearment " was not because the mother was dying, but because she was given the opportunity for a dignified and lucid parting with her children. In life it is more likely to be pain, drugs, regret and despair.

The lovers are named Allie Nelson and Noah Calhoun, known as Duke. As old people they're played by Gena Rowlands and James Garner . As young people, by Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling . The performances are suited to the material, respecting the passion at the beginning and the sentiment at the end, but not pushing too hard; there is even a time when young Noah tells Allie, "I don't see how it's gonna work," and means it, and a time when Allie gets engaged to another man.

She's a rich kid, summering at the family's mansion in North Carolina. He's a local kid who works at the sawmill but is smart and poetic. Her parents are snobs. His father ( Sam Shepard ) is centered and supportive. Noah loves her the moment he sees her, and actually hangs by his hands from a bar on a Ferris wheel until she agrees to go out with him. Her parents are direct: "He's trash. He's not for you." One day her mother ( Joan Allen ) shows her a local working man, who looks hard-used by life, and tells Allie that 25 years ago she was in love with him. Allie thinks her parents do not love each other, but her mother insists they do; still, Allen is such a precise actress that she is able to introduce the quietest note of regret into the scene.

The movie is based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks , whose books inspired "Message in a Bottle" (1999), unloved by me, and " A Walk to Remember " (2002), which was so sweet and positive it persuaded me (as did Mandy Moore as its star). Now here is a story that could have been a tearjerker, but -- no, wait, it is a tearjerker, it's just that it's a good one. The director is Nick Cassavetes , son of Gena Rowlands and John Cassavetes , and perhaps his instinctive feeling for his mother helped him find the way past soap opera in the direction of truth.

Ryan Gosling has already been identified as one of the best actors of his generation, although usually in more hard-edged material. Rachel McAdams, who just a few months ago was the bitchy high school queen in " Mean Girls ," here shows such beauty and clarity that we realize once again how actors are blessed by good material. As for Gena Rowlands and James Garner: They are completely at ease in their roles, never striving for effect, never wanting us to be sure we get the message. Garner is an actor so confident and sure that he makes the difficult look easy, and loses credit for his skill. Consider how simply and sincerely he tells their children: "Look, guys, that's my sweetheart in there." Rowlands, best-known for high-strung, even manic characters, especially in films by her late husband, here finds a quiet vulnerability that is luminous.

The photography by Robert Fraisse is striking in its rich, saturated effects, from sea birds at sunset to a dilapidated mansion by candlelight to the texture of Southern summer streets. It makes the story seem more idealized; certainly the retirement home at the end seems more of heaven than of earth.

And the old mansion is underlined, too, first in its decay and then in its rebirth; young Noah is convinced that if he makes good on his promise to rebuild it for Allie, she will come to live in it with him, and paint in the studio he has made for her. ("Noah had gone a little mad," the notebook says.) That she is engaged to marry another shakes him but doesn't discourage him.

We have recently read much about Alzheimer's because of the death of Ronald Reagan. His daughter Patti Davis reported that just before he died, the former president opened his eyes and gazed steadily into those of Nancy, and there was no doubt that he recognized her.

Well, it's nice to think so. Nice to believe the window can open once more before closing forever.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

The Notebook (2004)

Rated PG-13 for some sexuality

123 minutes

Rachel McAdams as Young Allie Nelson

Joan Allen as Allie's Mother

Heather Wahlquist as Sara Tuffington

Gena Rowlands as Allie Nelson

James Garner as Noah Calhoun

Ryan Gosling as Young Noah Calhoun

Sylvia Jefferies as Rosemary

Nancy De Mayo as Mary Allen Calhoun

Directed by

• Nick Cassavetes
• Jeremy Leven

Based on the novel by

• Nicholas Sparks

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Submitting a book for review, write the editor, you are here:, the notebook.

When author Nicholas Sparks sat down to write THE NOTEBOOK, a tender love story inspired by the enduring relationship of his wife Cathy's grandparents, he wanted his readers to walk away with a renewed spirit of hope.

"I'll never forget watching those two people flirt," he recalls. "I mean, you don't see that very often. They'd been married 67 years, and yet they still loved each other. I wanted to write a book about that kind of love. I wanted people to know that unconditional love does exist."

So Sparks created THE NOTEBOOK, the simple story of Noah Calhoun, a soft spoken North Carolina outdoorsman who carried his love for the willowy Allie Nelson with him long after their youthful romance had ended. He paralleled Noah's silent passions with Allie's haunting thoughts --- feelings she could not escape even after she became engaged to another man.  He asked his readers to consider what it might mean if these relatively happy, middle-aged people found their destinies once again overlapped.

He presented a question all but universal in appeal: What would happen if two people were given a second chance at the love of a lifetime?

Sparks deftly answers that question. But it's the inspiration drawn from his real life grandparents that makes THE NOTEBOOK more than just a novel of flames reignited.  The novel opens and closes with an elderly Noah Calhoun reading aloud from his personal journals and "notebooks."  And as he shares the delicate details, the good with the bad, it's clear he is as enchanted with Allie in old age as he was on the day they met.

"And that's the legacy of THE NOTEBOOK," according to Nicholas Sparks. "When love is real, it doesn't matter what turns the road takes. When love is real, the joys and possibilities are endless."

Reviewed by Kelly Milner Halls on February 1, 2004

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

• Publication Date: February 1, 2004
• Genres: Fiction , Romance
• Mass Market Paperback: 239 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books
• ISBN-10: 0446605239
• ISBN-13: 9780446605236

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The Notebook

2004, Romance/Drama, 2h 4m

What to know

Critics Consensus

It's hard not to admire its unabashed sentimentality, but The Notebook is too clumsily manipulative to rise above its melodramatic clichés. Read critic reviews

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The notebook videos, the notebook   photos.

In 1940s South Carolina, mill worker Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling) and rich girl Allie (Rachel McAdams) are desperately in love. But her parents don't approve. When Noah goes off to serve in World War II, it seems to mark the end of their love affair. In the interim, Allie becomes involved with another man (James Marsden). But when Noah returns to their small town years later, on the cusp of Allie's marriage, it soon becomes clear that their romance is anything but over.

Rating: PG-13 (Some Sexuality)

Genre: Romance, Drama

Original Language: English

Director: Nick Cassavetes

Producer: Mark Johnson , Lynn Harris

Writer: Nick Cassavetes , Jeremy Leven , Nicholas Sparks , Jan Sardi

Release Date (Theaters): Jun 25, 2004  wide

Release Date (Streaming): Mar 18, 2013

Box Office (Gross USA): $81.0M

Runtime: 2h 4m

Distributor: New Line Cinema

Production Co: New Line Cinema, Avery Pix

Sound Mix: Surround, Dolby SRD, DTS, SDDS

Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

Cast & Crew

Ryan Gosling

Noah Calhoun

Rachel McAdams

Allie Hamilton

James Garner

Gena Rowlands

Allie Calhoun

James Marsden

Kevin Connolly

Sam Shepard

Frank Calhoun

Anne Hamilton

David Thornton

John Hamilton

Jamie Anne Allman

Martha Shaw

Heather Wahlquist

Sara Tuffington

Nick Cassavetes

Jeremy Leven

Nicholas Sparks

Mark Johnson

Avram "Butch" Kaplan

Executive Producer

Toby Emmerich

Aaron Zigman

Original Music

Robert Fraisse

Cinematographer

Film Editing

Lynn Harris

Film Editor

Sarah Knowles

Production Design

Antonio Muño-Hierro

Art Director

Scott Ritenour

Chuck Potter

Set Decoration

Karyn Wagner

Costume Design

Matthew Barry

Nancy Green-Keyes

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Critic Reviews for The Notebook

Audience reviews for the notebook.

By 2004, they had, like, twelve adaptations of Nicholas Sparks books, and it took them this long to get around to adapting his first one. Hey, whatever, I welcome it, because this film is actually pretty good, and we seriously need compensation for "A Walk to Remember", not just between 2002 and 2004, but still to this day, yet that didn't stop the critics from having some kind of bias that kept them from liking this. Hey, I can't say that I went into this film thinking, "From the director of 'John Q' comes an adaptation of a book by the author of 'A Walk to Remember' that I'm sure will not stink", nor did I walk away finding it awesome, but make no mistake, this film is better than they say, even though it does have its cheesy moments. Hey, when this film came out, Ryan Gosling had just got done playing a Neo-Nazi and some teenager who brutally murdered people... in two separate films, so it was about time for him to do something a bit fluffier, much like Rachel McAdams, who just had to have been an emotional wreck after getting off of such intense projects as "The Hot Chick" and "Mean Girls". I can think of some people who would say that they were more disturbed by "The Hot Chick" than anything that Gosling did before this film, so I guess the match works, yet Gosling still didn't immediately find his handsome, charismatic and talented self fired into the stardom that McAdams got by this film, probably because Gosling still had the integrity and, well, after this film, money to go back to doing stuff that middle-aged housewives aren't likely to even hear about. I mean, don't get me wrong, Gosling broke out eventually, but come on, it still took a while even after this film, though that might just be because of the mixed reviews, because, as you all know very well, the members of the pop culture who decide who becomes popular or not always listen to critics. Sarcasm aside, the audience is right in saying that Nick Sparks actually did something good before doing about 100 mediocre things, though you shouldn't completely disregard the critics, as their complaints are hardly completely invalid. At just over two hours, the film is somewhat lengthy, and is certainly pretty meaty, yet its concept, in a lot of areas, holds too much meat to fully juice in two hours, as reflected by story structure's pacing's being, like the pacing of plenty of other Nicholas Sparks novel adaptations, uneven, having enough meditative points to compel thoroughly, but still taking advantage of its main story's being framed to all too often only hit highlights in exposition in a storybook, objective fashion that distances you from substance a bit, and thins out meditative value. The film will run a steady pace, only to suddenly jar things along, and while you're never quite jarred loose from the film, events are often awkwardly tossed at you, and such a formula proves to be detrimental to the momentum of substance's impact, whose blows are further softened by yet another hallmark in Nick Sparks stories: subtlety issues. There have been more histrionic interpretations of Sparks' questionable dramatic efforts, but when this film's genuineness slips, its subtlety lapses range from offputting to considerable, whether when it's slapping down a rather disconcertingly syrupy dramatic beat or going so far as to craft such borderline over-the-top characters as wealthy, disapproving parents antagonists, whose layers feel a particularly forced, yet are not the only questionable components to characterization depth. Our leads are at least well-portrayed enough to come off as layered and meaty, but when it's all said and done, there is only so much depth in this film, and I don't know if it's because of the superficiality in Sparks' story concept or because something got lost in translation when Sparks' story was brought to the screen, but either way, the point is that histrionics can be fought back only so much. Needless to say, the histrionics would be more forgivable if the storytelling beats that are somewhat cheesed up weren't so familiar, because if no other department in this effort feels somewhat lazy, it's the originality department, which turns over stone after stone, until predictability ensues. There's a twist to this film that is so easy to see coming that, before too long, the film even feels like it gives up trying to obscure it, and while that is the height in the final product's predictability, it's not the only predictable beat to the final product, which makes up for originality and dramatic shortcomings more often than not with considerable inspiration, but faces shortcomings nevertheless, falling short of its full potential. With that said, the final product doesn't quite fall so far from grace that it doesn't reward, having many a flaw, but ultimately quite a few more strengths, even in the photographic department. The film isn't stunning, or at least not consistently so, yet when cinematographer Robert Fraisse's eye catches the right environment, the visual results range from striking or truly gorgeous, boasting a soulful grace that catches your eyes when it is infused in Fraisse's photography, as surely as it grips your attention when it is infused in Aaron Zigman's score, which is a bit formulaic and minimalist, but lovely and heartfelt, with a distinguished flavor that proves to be comfortably compatible with the substance that it compliments so well. Aesthetically, the film accels with a graceful taste that does a fine job of breathing soul into flawed substance, whose effectiveness is ameliorated a bit by the filmmakers' aesthetic punch-ups, but, quite frankly, doesn't need pretty visuals and nice tunes to gain your attention. Nicholas Sparks' story concept is, of course, flawed, being derivative and with its share of subtlety issues, but when you step back and see through all of the hiccups, you can find one of Sparks' most worthy concepts, and while such a concept is not fleshed out nearly as much as it could have been in execution, it's rich with endearing heart that cannot be ignored, especially when emphasized by what is, in fact, done right in Jeremy Leven's and Jan Sardi's script, and, of course, Nick Cassavetes' direction. Even outside of this film, Cassavetes isn't exactly notorious for his genuineness as a teller of a conceptually resonant tale, and sure enough, the histrionic value in the film is all too often milked for all its worth, yet for every somewhat overblown dramatic beat, Cassavetes delivers a resonant punch that gives you a taste of what could have been, and firmly reminds you of what ultimately is, a very compelling drama that, in spite of its shortcomings, wins you over time and again. By the time we reach the final act, the film really starts to pierce with sentimentality that is backed enough by genuineness and soul to all but move you to tears, and while this story concept deserves to have more of that punch, perhaps even at a greater intensity, golden occasions can be found the in midst of a compellingness that, while often diluted, never dissipates, being backed by much in the way of inspiration, both off of the screen and on the screen. The acting isn't killer, but it is strong across the board, with James Garner and Gena Rowlands ultimately delivering on sparkling chemistry and emotional range in their portrayal of good, but old and deteriorating souls, while the dashing Ryan Gosling and gorgeous Rachel McAdams carry most of the film with their distinguished charismas, bonded through powerful chemistry, and backed with a human emotional resonance that is more layered than the actual written characterization of the Noah Calhoun and Allison "Allie" Hamilton characters, who are well-defined enough by their portrayers to engross as worthy leads. Many are not likely to walk away loving this film, but it is rather underappreciated, being flawed something fierce, but ultimately with enough inspiration and rich soul to thoroughly engage and ultimately reward. Overall, pacing unevenness keeps the film from soaking up its full depth, whose kick goes further diluted by subtlety issues and conventionalism, until you're left with a flawed final product, but one that still compels, using lovely cinematography and score work to compliment the taste within Nicholas Sparks' undeniably meaty story concept, which is brought to life well enough by Nick Cassevetes' direction and a strong cast for "The Notebook" to ultimately stand as a flawed, but quite good melodrama that rewards the patient. 3/5 - Good

I remember the time where I've only seen few parts and didn't get a chance to see it all the way through. Only because I was not interested enough to get into the film. So it did not look interesting to me at first, but now that I'm older, things started to change. Here I am rewatching it from the beginning to the end, and I have to say that I pretty much enjoyed it. However, it gets slow and boring at times. I had to really see it because I keep hearing people talking about how good the movie was, and how the kissing-in-the-rain moment was the best thing to ever happen in a romantic movie. Apparently, it was a decent moment, but it's kinda overrated What makes this movie so unique is that it tells a story of a couple fell in love over many years. Not only that, but how they got into rough moments from each other. The plot was interesting and well told, but it takes too long to get into the point. Additionally, the story is something that people can relate to. The performance from each cast were great. They all deserve an Oscar, if this movie would have gotten more positive reviews. The two main cast (Rachel McAdams & Ryan Gosling) put so much talent into their characters and had a good chemistry here. It did had a well-written script, which you hardly see in most Romantic films. The Notebook is one of the few Romantic films that I really enjoy. It is not Gone With The Wind, nor Love Story, but this film is good for what it is. If it wasn't for all that hype, then I would have given it more stars. Despite what people say, this film is almost there to its greatness if they made the plot a little faster, but it was fun and interesting. Overall, it's not your typical love story, which is a good thing.

The Notebook is a very good movie, a fun movie, but at times a boring movie. What seperates this from other chick flicks is that this is told throuh the eyes of a man who tells the relationship with him and his wife over many years. The plot was fun a original and actually good, but at times very slow. The cast was great, I think Racheal mcAdams deserved more praise but thats just me. A slow movie, very slow, but overall becomes one of the best chick flicks ever made.

I don't remember too much about the movie but other then the fact that the drama was wayyyy too forced. Cliche after cliche and overall, was not interesting enough to keep me entertained.

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‘The Notebook’ Review: A Musical Tear-Jerker or Just All Wet?

The 2004 weepie comes to Broadway with songs by Ingrid Michaelson and a $5 box of tissues.

• Share full article

By Jesse Green

Romantic musicals are as personal as romance itself. What makes you sigh and weep may leave the person next to you bored and stony.

At “The Notebook,” I was the person next to you.

You were sniffling even before anything much happened onstage. As the lights came up, an old man dozed while a teenage boy and girl frisked nearby in an unconvincing body of water. A wispy song called “Time” wafted over the footlights: “Time time time time/It was never mine mine mine.”

But having seen (I’m guessing more than once) the 2004 movie on which “The Notebook” is based, and possibly having read the 1996 novel by Nicholas Sparks, you perfectly well knew what was coming. That was the point of mounting the show, which opened on Thursday at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater , in the first place.

It therefore cannot be a spoiler — and anyway this block of cheese is impervious — to reveal that over the course of the 54 years covered by the musical, the frisky boy, Noah, turns into the dozing man. And that Allie, the frisky girl, having overcome various impediments to their love, winds up his wife. Nor does it give anything away to add that Allie, now 70 and in a nursing home with dementia, will not remember Noah until he recites their story from a notebook she prepared long ago for that purpose.

So there’s a reason the producers are selling teeny $5 “Notebook”-themed boxes of tissues in the lobby. Love is powerful. Dementia is sad. The result can be heartbreaking.

Or maybe, seen with a cold eye, meretricious.

The movie, a super-slick Hollywood affair, did everything it could to keep the eye warm. Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, as the young couple, could not have been glowier. The soundtrack relied on precision-crafted standards like “I’ll Be Seeing You” to yank at your tear ducts. The production design, like a montage of greeting cards come to life , celebrated valentine passion, anniversary tenderness and golden sympathy, releasing flocks of trained geese into a technicolor sunset to symbolize lifelong pair bonding.

The musical, unwilling except at the margins to alter a plot so beloved — or at least so familiar — tries to distinguish itself in other ways. It aims for a rougher, hand-hewn texture, befitting Noah’s career as a carpenter and the indie-folk sound of its songwriter, Ingrid Michaelson . The directors, Michael Greif and Schele Williams, have cast the couples regardless of race: a nice, universalizing touch.

In other updates, the book writer, Bekah Brunstetter, has shifted the period by two decades — Noah fights in Vietnam, not at the Battle of the Bulge. She adds a third, intermediate incarnation of the couple, crowding the stage with replicants and pushing the 27-year-old Allie (Joy Woods) into the star spot because someone has to be there. (The 29-year-old Noah is played by Ryan Vasquez.) And instead of the cliché geese, Brunstetter gives us … sea turtles?

No, I don’t get that one either.

In any case, the de-slicking was a mistake; it turns out that the Hollywood varnish was the only thing holding the picture together. In its place, the musical makes few convincing arguments for a separate existence.

Certainly Michaelson’s relentlessly mid-tempo songs do not; they are pretty but flyaway, as insubstantial as blue smoke. Except for a number in which teenager Allie and Noah (Jordan Tyson and John Cardoza) first see each other undressed, the lyrics are vague and humorless, often budding with clichés the book is trying to prune. “I wanna know that my old heart can grow like spring again,” sings Older Noah (Dorian Harewood) — an alarming thought, really, for a 72-year-old or for his cardiologist. Older Allie (the great Maryann Plunkett) barely sings at all, a great loss.

When songs provide so little information, barely differentiating the characters let alone advancing the plot, a musical tends to sag. And when a musical has gone to some trouble to accommodate those songs — the movie of “The Notebook” runs two hours, the show hardly 20 minutes more — the trade-offs are of the nose-versus-face variety.

So Brunstetter, hacking through the story with a scythe to make room, has left bald stumps everywhere. Allie’s meddling, disapproving parents are demoted to mere nasties, their motivations discarded with their back story. Her fiancé is a nonentity. What Noah and Allie do between their late teens (when they meet and separate) and their late 20s (when they are rapturously rejoined) is reduced to a throwaway: “Let’s see — heartbreak, graduation, many many Tuesdays, Thanksgivings, a war.” Flip lines like that break whatever spell the material, usually earnest to a fault, is trying to cast.

The staging is consistently more engaging. Unlike the movie, which keeps its focus on one couple at a time, here we often get all three together, in color-coded costumes (by Paloma Young) that clarify their connections. (The Noahs wear blue and brown, the Allies blue and white.) And though the switching among them sometimes feels mechanical, as the lights (by Ben Stanton) dim on Older Noah reading the notebook and rise on the younger characters enacting its story, the process creates a kind of time-lapse exposure that feels natively theatrical and thus occasionally effective.

On Allie’s side of the equation especially, the time-lapse provides information the movie did not. Because all three ages exist simultaneously, her impetuousness as a teenager is connected to her indecisiveness 10 years later and, perhaps less credibly, to her eventual dementia. In all periods, her relationship to home — “Home” is the title of the Act I finale — is usefully forefronted: the home she leaves, the home she dreams of, the home Noah builds her, the home she cannot get back to.

But only in this last stage does “The Notebook” achieve any real pathos, thanks to Plunkett’s uncompromising naturalism and the lifetime of stage savvy she inevitably brings with her. Her locked-down Allie, banging frantically on the doors of her memory, is an unexpectedly terrifying character to meet in an otherwise bland musical.

It doesn’t hurt that, for those who have followed Plunkett over the years, she is also banging down the doors of our memory. Her troubled Agnes in “Agnes of God” (her Broadway debut, in 1982), her insouciant Sally in “Me and My Girl,” for which she won a Tony Award, and her series of anxious dinner-table Americans in all 12 plays of Richard Nelson’s “Rhinebeck Panorama” help turn a barely there character into a moving one.

Whether that is sufficient to make me cry for a would-be weepie is a different matter. That the “Notebook”-themed tissues are so teeny says it all.

The Notebook At the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater, Manhattan; notebookmusical.com . Running time: 2 hours 20 minutes.

Jesse Green is the chief theater critic for The Times. He writes reviews of Broadway, Off Broadway, Off Off Broadway, regional and sometimes international productions. More about Jesse Green

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The Notebook review: Nicholas Sparks' novel leaps off the page and onto the stage in emotional new musical

Noah and Allie's love story still isn't over! The pair's whirlwind romance is brought to life once again — this time on the stage — in its finest adaptation yet.

Emlyn Travis is a news writer at  Entertainment Weekly  with over five years of experience covering the latest in entertainment. A proud Kingston University alum, Emlyn has written about music, fandom, film, television, and awards for multiple outlets including MTV News,  Teen Vogue , Bustle, BuzzFeed,  Paper Magazine , Dazed, and NME. She joined EW in August 2022.

Everyone's heard of The Notebook . Whether it’s through reading Nicholas Sparks ’ best-selling debut novel or its 2004 blockbuster adaptation starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams , most can recall some semblance of Noah and Allie’s whirlwind romance — or, at the very least, their propensity for arguing and dramatic kisses in the rain. Now, The Notebook is leaping off the page and onto the stage in a poignant new musical that is, without a doubt, its finest adaptation yet. 

The Michael Greif- and Schele Williams-directed musical, which opened at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on Thursday, chronicles the decades-long relationship between Noah Calhoun, a lower-class lumber worker, and affluent artist Allie Nelson as class differences, war, and illness threaten to keep them apart.

Adapted from Sparks' original novel by Bekah Brunstetter (best known for writing and producing This Is Us ), its book splits the couple’s love story into three separate timelines that all weave together over its two hour runtime, starting with their starry-eyed youth, to their uncertain adulthoods, and finally their soul-crushing twilight years. The end result is a non-stop emotional rollercoaster full of butterfly-inducing highs and heartbreaking lows. (Seriously, there’s a reason why this musical sells its own branded box of tissues .)

Julieta Cervantes

Theatergoers are first introduced to the oldest versions of Noah (Dorian Harewood) and Allie (Maryann Plunkett) when he visits her at their shared living facility and offers to read her a love story. Allie, who is living with Alzheimer’s disease, is suspicious, but warms up to the idea when Noah begins to regale her with a tale about “two very attractive young people with glowing skin they did not appreciate, and bodies they'd spend the rest of their lives trying to get back.” 

Instantly, the musical turns back the clock to the moment young Noah (John Cardoza) first locked eyes with out-of-towner Allie (Jordan Tyson, in her incredible Broadway debut) at a dreamy dock party. Over the course of a single summer, the pair fall madly in love only to be forced apart when Allie’s disapproving parents end their trip early.

Skipping a few chapters ahead, the couple's middle-aged selves are now living entirely separate lives — and, to make matters worse, Allie (Joy Woods) is set to marry another man, Lon (Chase Del Rey). When she discovers an article about Noah (Ryan Vasquez) renovating the home they’d dreamt about in their teens, Allie pays him a visit before her big day and must decide whether or not to deviate from her parents’ path to be with a man she hasn't seen in years.

What truly sells the couple's romance — and, by extension, the entire show — are the dazzling performances by every version of Noah and Allie. Each pair serves a different purpose within the couple's journey: Cardoza and Tyson are tasked with capturing the dizzying highs and dramatic lows of teenage love with their bubbly chemistry, while middle-aged Noah and Allie, played by Woods and Vasquz, bring the heat as they tap into their characters’ ardent love for one another and equally fiery tempers. (Don't even get me started on their vocals, either — Woods' "My Days" is a total knockout that, rightfully, received a minute-long ovation.)

However, it’s Plunkett and Harewood’s performances as elder Allie and Noah that are the true heart and soul of The Notebook . From her very first scene, Plunkett brings a natural warmth and humor to Allie that makes it easy to see why Noah fell in love with her, and her emotions that bubble over as she struggles to remember feel real and heartbreaking. As Noah, Harewood is an undeniable star who imbues the character with such a gentle kindness and love for his wife that he made me burst into tears on three separate occasions —  none harder than during his gut-wrenching performance of “Iron In the Fridge" — and I seldom cry at Broadway shows.

Further amplifying The Notebook is singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson ’s stellar soundtrack which features lyrics that run the full gamut of human emotion, from young Noah and Allie reconciling after their first big fight (“Sadness and Joy”), to Allie hilariously wanting to rip off Noah’s pants with her teeth after reuniting as adults (“Forever”), to “I Wanna Go Back,” masterfully sung by Woods and Tyson, which poignantly asserts that Allie’s memories are still with her. If Michaelson's lyrics alone don't make theatergoers tear up, then her soaring orchestrations certainly will.

Meanwhile, scenic designers David Zinn and Brett J. Banakis and projection designer Lucy Mackinnon seamlessly transform the stage from a sterile hospital room to a moonlit fishing dock (complete with pool and rain that pours from the rafters), while costume designer Paloma Young cleverly uses color to tie each version of the couple together: all of the Noahs wear at least one article of clothing that’s an earthy brown tone, while all of the Allies wear a cornflower blue hue. In doing so,  the production's color-conscious cast not only remain connected amid the musical’s ever-changing time periods, but the clothes also provide a visual representation of Allie and Noah’s love as their respective wardrobes slowly blend together. 

Brunstetter also makes some changes to The Notebook too, most noticeably pushing its setting from the 1940s to the ‘60s. As a result, Noah and Allie are presented both with new opportunities — she's college bound — and struggles, like when Noah is drafted into the Vietnam war and suffers a permanent knee injury. She also spectacularly highlights the struggles that families caring for loved ones with Alzheimer’s face in an emotional scene in which Noah and Allie’s family come to visit, only for Allie to become overwhelmed by them and suffer a breakdown.

Still, it’s worth noting that it becomes easy to spot how The Notebook operates by its second act: a heartfelt scene, an emotional song, and then a one-liner to make theatergoers laugh after bawling their eyes out. Fans of the film will also notice that the musical doesn't make excuses for Allie's mother, and that Lon’s role is diminished. However, it also introduces new characters too, like the affable physical therapist Johnny (Carson Stewart) as well as stern, yet caring Nurse Lori (Andréa Burns). 

The Notebook is well aware of what theatergoers are expecting from it before they take their seats: they want to laugh, they want passionate arguments, they want kisses in the rain, and, most importantly, they want to believe in a love that conquers all. With its stunning performances, beautiful songs, and supreme stage directing, the musical succeeds in delivering a fresh spin on its original material while also making sure that Noah and Allie’s story is never truly forgotten. A-

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Related content:

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• The Notebook still isn't over: Ingrid Michaelson musical headed to Broadway
• Musical adaptation of The Notebook in the works with music by Ingrid Michaelson

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The Notebook

An elderly man reads to a woman with dementia the story of two young lovers whose romance is threatened by the difference in their respective social classes. An elderly man reads to a woman with dementia the story of two young lovers whose romance is threatened by the difference in their respective social classes. An elderly man reads to a woman with dementia the story of two young lovers whose romance is threatened by the difference in their respective social classes.

• Nick Cassavetes
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• Rachel McAdams
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• 53 Metascore
• 12 wins & 10 nominations

• Allie Calhoun

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Did you know

• Trivia Ryan Gosling prepared for his role by living in Charleston, South Carolina before filming began. For two months, he rowed the Ashley River every morning and built furniture during the day.
• Goofs The narrator says, "And after two years of chasing Erwin Rommel through the North African desert..." American forces fought in North Africa from November 1942 to May 1943 - just 6 months.

Noah : I am nothing special; just a common man with common thoughts, and I've led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten. But in one respect I have succeeded as gloriously as anyone who's ever lived: I've loved another with all my heart and soul; and to me, this has always been enough.

• Alternate versions The love scenes had to be toned down to avoid an R rating in the United States. The footage is featured on the DVD as deleted scenes. There is no explicit nudity or actual sex shown. Any "sex" scenes were edited down to implied sex instead.
• Connections Edited into The Notebook: Deleted Scenes (2005)
• Soundtracks I'll Be Seeing You Written by Sammy Fain and Irving Kahal Performed by Billie Holiday and Jimmy Durante Courtesy of The Verve Music Group and Warner Bros. Records Inc. Under license from Universal Music Enterprises By arrangement with Warner Strategic Marketing

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• punk_rawk_princez
• Feb 3, 2005
• June 25, 2004 (United States)
• United States
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• Diario de una pasión
• Boone Hall Plantation - 1235 Long Point Road, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, USA (the Hamiltons' beach house)
• New Line Cinema
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• $29,000,000 (estimated)
• $81,417,274
• $13,464,745
• Jun 27, 2004
• $118,262,017

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• Runtime 2 hours 3 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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The Notebook

• Drama , Romance

Content Caution

In Theaters

• Rachel McAdams as young Allie Hamilton; Ryan Gosling as young Noah Calhoun; Gena Rowlands as elderly Allie; James Garner as elderly Noah; Joan Allen as Anne Hamilton; David Thornton as John Hamilton; James Marsden as Lon; Sam Shepard as Frank Calhoun; Kevin Connolly as Fin

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• Nick Cassavetes

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• New Line Cinema

Movie Review

I am nothing special, of this I am sure. I am a common man with common thoughts and I’ve led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten, but I’ve loved another with all my heart and soul, and to me, this has always been enough.

So opens The Notebook against the backdrop of a spectacular sunset over a lake, grabbing our hearts and never letting go as the extraordinary love story of Allie and Noah unfolds.

It begins at the end. Every day his failing health allows, an octogenarian shuffles down the corridors of a nursing home and enters an old woman’s room. Her mind is riddled by Alzheimer’s disease, but as the man reads from the handwritten pages of a worn notebook, science is defied and her memory is sparked by the timeless story of their love. …

The chronicle he reads begins one summer in 1930s North Carolina. Poor country boy Noah Calhoun meets rich city girl Allie Hamilton and is instantly attracted. Soon the two are inseparable, spending every waking moment together. He shows her how to have good ol’ country-style fun; she invites him into her world of fine arts and garden parties. By the end of the summer the teen soul mates have given their hearts, and most of their purity, to each other.

There’s just one problem: Allie’s parents have her future all planned out, and Noah doesn’t fit the picture of the wealthy, blue-blooded husband they have in mind for her. So without giving the young lovers a chance to even say goodbye, Mrs. Hamilton packs her little girl off to a fancy women’s college. Noah writes to Allie every day for a year, but never receives a reply. Unaware of parental deception, Allie and Noah are each devastated at the perceived abandonment by the other. They slowly rebuild their lives apart, haunted by memories of their first love.

Noah survives a stint in Patton’s third army during WWII, then returns to buy and restore his dream home, all the while fighting off Allie’s ghost. Allie gets an art degree and becomes a volunteer army nurse before settling down to the life her parents dreamed of. But why does she see Noah’s face while accepting the rich and handsome Lon’s proposal? When all hope seems lost, “fate” intervenes and they’re given a second chance at love.

Positive Elements

Noah’s dad models selflessness and generosity of spirit to his son. He teaches him to build a relationship one memory at a time by sharing life’s simple joys like fishing and eating pancakes at midnight. He also instills in his young son a love of poetry by having him repeatedly recite Walt Whitman to overcome a speech impediment. Noah’s love of the written word is embraced by Allie, and their shared passion for expressing their feelings in writing becomes the life support of their relationship. (In today’s high-tech world, it’s refreshing to find a story that upholds the power of the written word.)

Mrs. Hamilton redeems her broken relationship with her daughter by returning Noah’s letters at a critical moment and sharing a story from her own youth that helps Allie choose what path she will take. Noah’s example of placing his wife before all others is an inspiration to a generation taught to put their own needs first. He also makes it clear that love is hard, everyday work, and that squabbles don’t have to undo it. Ultimately, he gives up his beloved home and personal life to reside in a separate wing at her nursing home, not for health reasons, but to allow himself constant access to Allie.

Another poignant lesson here is that all human life has value. The elderly and mentally disabled still have much to offer and are not ready to be cast by society into the invisible realm of shadow people. This is reflected not only in the relationship between the aging Allie and Noah, but also in the compassionate treatment they receive from nursing home attendants who come up with creative ways to accommodate patients’ emotional and physical needs.

Spiritual Elements

The narrator, commenting on the doctor’s prognosis of Allie’s dementia, says, “Science only comes so far and then comes God.” He also speaks of the “miracle” of love. While Allie and Noah never discuss spiritual matters (except for lighthearted banter about being a bird in some past life), their love matures into the embodiment of God’s ideal expressed in 1 Corinthians 13.

Sexual Content

Author Nicholas Sparks told ChristianityToday.com that he believed his stories (most notably A Walk to Remember ) resonated with Christians because, “I have certain moral parameters that I do not cross in writing; I don’t write about adultery or kids having premarital sex.” His book The Notebook mentions (briefly) that the teenage Noah and Allie “both lost their virginity.” This movie, however, translates those four words into an onscreen romp that’ll leave families squirming uncomfortably in their seats. After exchanging promises, Noah and Allie shed their clothes one piece at a time, then engage in totally nude foreplay. (Calculated positioning of arms, legs and the camera, along with the low light, obscures both bodies’ most “delicate” parts.) Allie’s remaining virtue is rescued (and moviegoers’ along with her) when Noah’s best friend barges in and tells them Allie’s folks have the cops out looking for them.

Years later the now-adult couple’s second tryst, and actual consummation of their passions (an event written about in considerably detail in the book) occurs long into Allie’s engagement to a “good man” that she says more than once she’s in love with. She playfully rebukes Noah’s advances with, “You wouldn’t dare. I’m a married woman!” He counters by reminding her she isn’t married yet . They then commence a two-day love affair that, because of its fiery intensity and just-shy of explicit nudity feels like it lasts at least that long onscreen.

Thinking Allie is lost to him forever, Noah “takes the sting of loneliness” away by becoming bed buddies with a war widow named Martha. (Sex is implied when Martha gets out of bed nude; she’s seen from the back, from the waist up.) Martha knows he’s thinking of another woman during their romps but accepts his explanation that “the things you want are all broken, gone.” Martha goes over to Noah’s house after he’s reunited with Allie and asks to meet his “one.” Inexplicably, instead of being jealous, Martha is inspired by the love she sees. Her parting words to Noah are, “For the first time since I lost [my husband], I feel like I have something to look forward to.”

Elsewhere, Allie licks ice cream off Noah’s face on a public street (risqué stuff for 1930s rural America). And he slaps her bottom as she gets out of his truck. A nude Allie is seen painting (waist up from the back). A few characters wear revealing outfits.

Violent Content

Allie pushes and slaps Noah several times during a heated argument. (To his credit, Noah refuses to retaliate.) Noah’s best friend, Fin, dies in battle. (War images are brief and tempered.)

Crude or Profane Language

A half-dozen misuses of God’s name (three of “g–d–n”), and a dozen or so other mild profanities (“a–,” “h—,” “d–n”). The elderly Allie, commenting on a notebook passage, says, “She should have told them to stick it where the sun don’t shine.”

Drug and Alcohol Content

The narrator tells us that Noah goes on a 10-day drinking binge after seeing Allie with her fiancé, Lon. Indeed, both Noah and Allie drink quite a bit to smother their pain. Allie and Lon seem a bit tipsy while drinking champagne at a nightclub. Lon has a casual drink in his office. When the adult Allie and Noah have beers with dinner, she tells him she’s a cheap drunk. Guests at a party drink and smoke cigarettes. WWII soldiers and Lon also inhale.

Other Negative Elements

A few juvenile hijinks don’t cause much of a ruffle onscreen, but could result in real-life unhappy endings if imitated: An impetuous young Noah dangles from the heights of a Ferris wheel with one hand to capture Allie’s attention. (She responds by undoing his pants and revealing his boxers.) When Noah challenges Allie to lie down in the middle of an intersection (remember, this is rural America) in the middle of the night, she asks, “What happens if a car comes?” His deadpan reply? “You die. You have to learn to trust.” Elsewhere, army recruits are seen nude. (Their hands cover their privates.)

Allie’s parents make no secret of the fact that they believe Noah isn’t worthy of their daughter. They like him all right, he’s just not rich enough and doesn’t have the right daddy. On the night of the couple’s breakup, Noah overhears Allie’s mother calling him “trash, trash, trash!” Mrs. Hamilton’s deception of hiding Noah’s letters from Allie succeeds in keeping the couple apart for years, but at the cost of a strained mother-daughter relationship.

Some will write The Notebook off as yet another emotionally manipulative and overly-sappy “chick flick.” But because it looks so tenderly at an elderly couple stricken by Alzheimer’s, others will find themselves attracted to it, placing themselves into the story and living out its emotion. It might also be seen as a timely reflection of the deep and lasting loved shared by Nancy and Ronald Reagan, whose love story has made a permanent cultural impression. Just as Nancy’s commitment and love transcended the emotional and physical gulf that marked her husband’s disease, so Noah’s steadfast love for Allie sustains them.

Nicholas Sparks has said his story “is a metaphor for God’s love for us all. The theme is everlasting, unconditional love. It also goes into the sanctity of marriage and the beauty you can find in a loving relationship.” Although that metaphor gets more than a little muddied by premarital sex, Noah and Allie ultimately realize the full potential of mature love. Most romantic dramas only celebrate the chaotic, spontaneous flush of young love, serving it up as the pinnacle of the relationship before either settling down on a complacent plateau or crashing down the slippery slope of dysfunction. Sparks’ movie shows a rare understanding of the kind of love God desires for married couples, a once-in-a-lifetime deep intimacy of spirit, expressed without boundaries and growing in strength and loveliness as time goes by. It is the kind of soul-satisfying love that God established as a demonstration of His own love for His people, hence the author’s metaphor. That makes it all the more regrettable that steamy sex scenes will give a lot of adults reason to pause, and push the tale (at least unedited) out-of-bounds for discerning teens.

Rhonda Handlon

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The notebook, common sense media reviewers.

More sexy stuff than you'd expect for a syrupy romance.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

The movie's ultimate message is that true love con

Though it's romantic to watch characters fall in l

Noah and Finn are engaged in active duty during Wo

Steamy passion between the two young lovers. Lots

Words/phrases used include "damn," "crap," "goddam

A 17-year-old smokes a cigar. Adults drink cocktai

Parents need to know that this three-hanky World War II-era romance has pretty steamy sexual content for a PG-13-rated movie, including very passionate kissing and a fairly graphic lovemaking scene (though only shoulders are shown). A teenage couple agrees to have sex, but then she becomes very flustered and anxious,…

Positive Messages

The movie's ultimate message is that true love conquers all. But there are also less-positive takeaways influenced by the time in which the movie takes place -- people of color are often portrayed as subservient, and both Ali and her mother say: "I am a stupid woman," as though repeating a truism that they have learned.

Positive Role Models

Though it's romantic to watch characters fall in love so wholly and stay devoted to each other, some of the choices that the lovers make -- like cheating on a relationship and lying to family members -- don't qualify as role model behavior.

Violence & Scariness

Noah and Finn are engaged in active duty during World War II. There's a bomb raid that incurs heavy losses. Ali nurses soldiers who have lost limbs. Noah and Ali fight passionately -- so much so that she hits and slaps him. Some poignant deaths.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Steamy passion between the two young lovers. Lots of making out and heavy petting, and characters undress in front of each other (only their shoulders are shown). A fairly graphic lovemaking scene (again, just shoulders visible, plus a brief glimpse of breast from the side).

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Words/phrases used include "damn," "crap," "goddammit," "son of a bitch," and "pain in the ass."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

A 17-year-old smokes a cigar. Adults drink cocktails, wine, champagne, and beer. Noah goes on a 10-day drinking binge. Characters drink in excess to ease pain or to lessen their inhibitions. Most meals are accompanied by alcohol.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this three-hanky World War II-era romance has pretty steamy sexual content for a PG-13-rated movie, including very passionate kissing and a fairly graphic lovemaking scene (though only shoulders are shown). A teenage couple agrees to have sex, but then she becomes very flustered and anxious, and an engaged girl has sex with a man who isn't her fiance. Characters drink and smoke; there's also brief battle violence and some poignant deaths. Teens will be watching with rapt attention to pick up clues about what true, passionate love looks like, but this type of sensual story may not be appropriate for the youngest teenagers. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (30)
• Kids say (106)

Based on 30 parent reviews

Enjoyed the movie; should be rated R.

How's nobody talking about the toxic relationships in this, what's the story.

A man comes to read to a woman in a nursing home. It's a story about a summer romance between Allie ( Rachel McAdams ), the daughter of wealthy parents, and Noah ( Ryan Gosling ) a poor boy. They are crazy about each other. But her parents suddenly decide they have to break up, and they send her to school up north. He writes to her every day. She never responds. Then he goes off to fight in World War II and she falls in love with a handsome wounded officer named Lon ( James Marsden ) and agrees to marry him. But she sees Noah's picture in the newspaper. He is restoring the house he once told her he would make into a home for the two of them. Even though she has all but forgotten him and is perfectly happy being engaged to Lon, she has to see Noah once more. And after she sees him, she has to decide which man is the one she really loves.

Is It Any Good?

In THE NOTEBOOK, the details and dialog are a bit clumsy, but in the end romantics won't care. Also, it's hard to believe in Allie's feelings for Noah or Lon, partly because none of them ever come alive as characters. It's all description, not depiction.

We do care about the couple in the nursing home, but the connection to the other story is never strong enough to keep our attention. Gosling is one of the most talented actors of his generation, but he's not as good in this role. James Garner , Gena Rowlands , Sam Shepard as Noah's father and Joan Allen as Allie's mother give the material more than it deserves, and director Nick Cassavetes clearly wants this film to be a love letter to Rowlands, his mother. She is luminous, and we do believe she could inspire great love. Too bad the movie isn't a little bit better.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about how the movie depicts love and romance. Is this what a relationship is "supposed" to be like? Why or why not?

How does the movie treat sex ? Parents, talk to your kids about the real-life impact and consequences of sexual activity.

How do we know who we are meant to be with? Who should we listen to as we think about making that choice?

Movie Details

• In theaters : June 25, 2004
• On DVD or streaming : February 7, 2005
• Cast : James Garner , Rachel McAdams , Ryan Gosling
• Director : Nick Cassavetes
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : New Line
• Genre : Romance
• Run time : 124 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : some sexuality
• Last updated : March 17, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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My favourite film aged 12: The Notebook

Continuing our series revisiting childhood movie passions, we look at a romance that could’ve been schlock, if not for Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling’s chemistry

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F lash back to the summer of 2007: Spider-Man 3 was in theatres. Two of the top five most viewed YouTube videos were by the band My Chemical Romance. And The Notebook, a movie starring Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling as star-crossed teenage lovers who reconnect as adults, was three years old. The famous re-enactment of the film’s climactic lift-and-kiss at the MTV movie awards by its stars, then a real-life couple, was two years old. I was 13 years old and, true to sheltered oldest child form, didn’t know about any of this. And so one sleepover night in my friend’s basement, I faced at least three aghast faces: “You haven’t seen The Notebook?!?”

The Notebook probably has fans outside my demographic – it’s an adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks romance novel, a book/author/genre marketed to middle-aged women – but for girls in middle school (or, at least, my middle school in suburban Ohio) between 2004 and 2008 or so, it was a foundational text. It was the romantic movie of choice, a portal into couple-shipping YouTube and, later, Tumblr holes, a benchmark for years of unrealistic dating expectations. You wanted to know what sex was “supposed” to look and sound like AND tell everyone you bawled at the profound idea of love transcending old age? You watched The Notebook.

For those who haven’t seen it, The Notebook follows 17-year-old Allie (McAdams) as she moves to a small South Carolina town for the summer and meets Noah (Gosling), a construction worker fond of Walt Whitman and bold gestures, such as threatening to jump off a ferris wheel to get Allie to go out with him. They fall in love, then break up (she’s rich, he’s not; her parents disapprove) and, separately, serve in the second world war . He pines for her; she gets engaged to handsome, preternaturally forgiving solider played by James Marsden. They reconnect, and things are complicated. The story is narrated by the older Noah, who reads from a notebook composed by Allie as a totem to bring her back from the dementia eclipsing her memories.

This twist – Noah and Allie have together composed an epic love story that she mostly can’t remember – landed like a gut punch for us as emotionally chaotic seventh-graders who had imagined our sunset years approximately zero times. All of us watching that summer night ended the movie in tears, which was a cathartic bonding experience on its own. But at 13, on the cusp of high school but seemingly, for me, light-years away from sneaking out with a boy, the main draw was the heat between McAdams and Gosling. Their chemistry was palpable and hungry with a sharp, heady sting. (It is transparent they were falling in love off-screen.) These two were brain-meltingly hot, an unknowing factory of aspirational summer love gifs .

Importantly for me then, the film hinges on one pivotal, rain-soaked scene in which Allie asks Noah why he never wrote her when they broke up. (Actually, he wrote her 365 letters! He wrote her every day for a year!). He proclaims, famously: “It wasn’t over … it STILL isn’t over.” At the time, I had no older friends or siblings, no health class, just the steamy handprint from Titanic, so I was thrilled when they kiss, and he pushes her against a wall, and carries her up the stairs, and strips off her soaked clothes … and the camera keeps rolling . As far as movies go, The Notebook has a rather tame sex scene – all soft lighting, swelling music, delicate shots that don’t reveal much, nudity-wise. The camera mostly lingers on McAdams’ face as she has a transcendent time (again, disappointingly high expectations were set by this movie). The whole scene is only about 4.5 minutes long, but at 13 this felt like an eternity, and a guidebook. Oh, adulthood has this? You lose your senses and can’t take your hands off someone? Good to know!

Rewatching The Notebook for the first time in years, it’s clear, of course, how silly it was to base my idea of maturity on this movie, and also how stellar McAdams and Gosling’s performances remain. The Notebook could have been a solid B-movie romance (see: every other Nicholas Sparks adaptation), but the lead performances power it far higher than its melodramatic parts. It is almost thrilling – and the main draw for me now – to watch two ascendant, now-acclaimed actors make the hairpin turns of its dialogue somewhat convincing. The idea of actually fighting this way ? Laughable. But that look Noah gives Allie when he asks: “Goddammit, what do you WANT?” Yeah, that still hits.

A couple of weeks ago, before this series assignment, I rewatched The Notebook on instinct. It felt good during, you know, ALL THIS, to return to an old favourite, to slip along the slick grooves of worn emotions. To retrace the lines of this familiar ride, even if I now find many of them horribly cheesy, and my feelings cringingly earnest. How to think of it now? I defer to Gosling, who said in that fateful year , 2007: “God bless The Notebook. It introduced me to one of the great loves of my life.” I would not classify The Notebook as one of my great loves, but still: god bless this movie, flawed textbook that it was, for introducing me to a new vision of the adult future, and for saying: Hang on. It’s a bumpy ride of feelings ahead but one day, you’ll appreciate them.

• My favourite film aged 12
• Ryan Gosling
• Rachel McAdams

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‘The Notebook’ Review: Broadway Musical of the Popular Romance Hits All-Too-Familiar Notes

By Frank Rizzo

Frank Rizzo

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• ‘The Notebook’ Review: Broadway Musical of the Popular Romance Hits All-Too-Familiar Notes 1 week ago
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Musical theater can be a sucker for a romantic tale, whether it’s about obsessive devotion, idealized passion, or lost loves. “ The Notebook ,” based on Nicholas Sparks ‘ bestselling, 1996 debut novel, has elements of all three — but they’re thinly rendered here in this Hallmark movie of a musical, awash in sentimentality and drenched in wistful longings and wish fulfillment.

The huge fanbase of the romance novel and the 2004 hit film might initially boost the box office, but it will take more than recreating that iconic rainstorm to win over other theatergoers looking for more than clichés, tropes and triggers.

The notebook’s narrative tells of their relationship from first meeting to separation to reunion to marriage to old age. The journey is dramatized with interwoven, non-linear flashbacks, centering around their past teen selves (John Cardoza and Jordan Tyson) and then, nearly a decade later, their young-adults years (Ryan Vasquez and Joy Woods).

She’s a rich girl on summer vacation. He’s a poor local boy. She thinks he’s cute and he thinks she’s pretty. They fall instantly in love but her parents whisk the girl back home before things go much further. (Too late.)

Each thinks the other has forgotten the other and years go by. But just before her wedding to nice-guy lawyer Lon (Chase Del Ray) she decides to return to the place where it all began after seeing a newspaper article about a house he has spent years fixing up — and, as it turns out, pining for her all the while.

But to be invested in an endless love an audience has to first believe in it. In the script by Bekah Brunstetter (“This is Us”), there’s no “Titanic”-like connection between these two class-crossed lovers: no charm, no complexity, nothing special.

The show, which had a pandemic delay and a 2022 run at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, updates the novel’s time period from the 1940s to the 1970s and then extends to the present. But if there weren’t references about Vietnam, you would be at a loss to recognize the eras of the story — or to pinpoint the story’s locale, which the program notes as “a coastal town in the mid-Atlantic.” David Zinn and Brett J. Banakis’ set echoes that vague sense of place.

That feeling of everywhere/nowhere is reflected in the freshman score by indie singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson , the singer-songwriter whose tunes were featured in TV’s “Grey’s Anatomy.” They’re pleasant enough, tender and often lilting with introspective lyrics. But for the stretch of a musical, there’s little variation in tone or text, which is full of on-the-nose feelings.

That obviousness, however, may be the key to its popularity — and perhaps here as well. The romantic duo comes across as blank slates on which audiences may project themselves, nostalgically bathed by summer sunsets and moonlit nights, nicely supplied by lighting designer Ben Stanton.

Certainly the novel and film underscore that identification of ordinariness (though the film’s Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling take ordinary to a different level). Perhaps this intimate, small-scale musical will do the same here, but more likely it will land better on tour where the enchantment bar is lower.

As for the production, the staging by Michael Greif (“Dear Evan Hansen,” “Next to Normal”) and Schele Williams (“The Wiz”) feels, for all its intention of intimacy, contrived and unsurprising. For a while the cross-cutting of the three couples haunting each other is intriguing but soon Katie Spelman’s choreography of past and future lives ever-circling each other simply becomes a dizzying one-note effect.

The cross-racial casting of couples nicely underscores the universality of the romance and the ease of imaginative leaps in musical theater.

Plunkett and Harewood bring quiet compassion and authenticity as the oldest Noah and Allie. Plunkett is especially poignant as she struggles for her memories with confusion, curiosity and fear, but also reveals glimpses of a wry self, too, and the person she used to be.

Vasquez and Woods are in fine voice and bring a bit of humor and charm to their reunion scene. Cardoza and Tyson, however, are stuck with the heavy lifting as the teen couple who have to begin the epic romance — but have little in script or song to launch it across the decades.

Andrea Burns as Allie’s mother (and as a head nurse) has an assured presence, but she doesn’t have a song to bring another perspective to a pivotal character, which feels like a loss. Carson Stewart brings a welcome sense of quirkiness and fun as a health care worker.

Schoenfeld Theatre; 1017 seats; top non-premium $199. Opened March 14, 2024. Reviewed March 9. Running time: 2 HOURS 30 MINS.

• Production: A presentation by Kevin McCollum, Kurt Deutsch, Jamie Wilson, Gavin Kalin, Stella La Rue, Hunter Arnold, Roy Furman, Nederlander Productions, Lams Productions, Nicole Eisenberg, Betsy Dollinger, Endeavor, Sing Out, Louise! Productions, Timothy Laczynski,  Scott Abrams/Jonathan Corr/Leslie Mayer, Bob Boyett, Emily Bock/Pam & Stephen Della Pietra, Est Productions/LTD Productions, Independent Presenters Network, Lucas McMahon in association with Chicago Shakespeare Theater of a musical in two acts by Bekah Brunstetter, based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks; music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson.
• Crew: Directed by Michael Greif and Schele Williams; choreography by Katie Spelman; sets, David Zinn and Brett J. Banakis; costumes, Paloma Young; lighting, Ben Stanton; sound, Nevin Steinberg; projection, Lucy MacKinnon; music director, Geoffrey Ko, music coordinator, Kimberlee Wertz; orchestrations, John Clancy and Carmel Dean; musical supervision and arrangements, Carmel Dean; production stage manager, Victoria Navarro.
• Cast: Ryan Vasquez, Joy Woods; John Cardoza, Jordan Tyson, Maryann Plunkett, Dorian Harewood, Andrea Burns, Carson Stewart, Chase Del Rey, Hillary Fisher, Dorcas Leung, Charles E. Wallace; Yassmin Alers, Alex Benoit, Jerome Harmann-Hardeman, Happy McPartlin, Juliette Ojeda, Kim Onah, Charlie Webb.

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‘The Notebook’ Review: A Melodrama Becomes a Musical

As a woman suffering the cruelties of what appears to be Alzheimer’s disease, desperately trying to recall the lost memories of her life’s great love, the veteran stage actor Maryann Plunkett gives a performance of such breathtaking delicacy and truth that she elevates the new musical “The Notebook” simply by her presence—even if much of the show takes place in the past, which has eluded her character’s faltering mind.

Based on the debut novel of Nicholas Sparks, which became a runaway bestseller and inspired a popular 2004 movie starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, the musical features a melodic, gracefully orchestrated score by the singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson, and a book by the playwright Bekah Brunstetter that knits together the three time periods depicted effectively.

Nevertheless, the comparative simplicity of the teary tale at its center—love at first sight strikes boy and girl like lightning, they are separated for a decade, and then the couple reunites for a striding-into-the-sunset happy ending (before age and illness impinge)—left me dry-eyed and occasionally tempted to check my watch. This may put me in the minority, given the story’s proven success in other mediums, but for all its sweetness and polish “The Notebook” never rises to truly transporting heights—except when Ms. Plunkett, as the heroine, Allie, in her later years, and Dorian Harewood, as her husband, Noah, are the focus.

The musical moves the story forward in time. While the novel has Noah (John Cardoza) and Allie (Jordan Tyson) meeting as teenagers before World War II, and reuniting after, in the show they meet in 1967 and reunite in 1977, presumably because, in another switch from the book, Allie is black and Noah is white. Until, somewhat bizarrely, they switch races in their later years—perhaps meant as a metaphor for their intense communion? If we are meant to be theoretically blind to their race, why do the actors in the middle years, Joy Woods and Ryan Vasquez, share the same skin colors as their younger selves?

In any case, after an ensemble opening the musical depicts Allie and Noah in a nursing home, where Noah, himself ailing, tries desperately to maintain his connection to Allie through a notebook he reads to her in which is written their history together. Ms. Plunkett is heartbreaking as we watch Allie, her eyes clouded by confusion, her voice sometimes faltering, radiating an air of intense anxiety and frustration, struggling, moment by moment, to grasp her surroundings, and even who this man before her is. Mr. Harewood is similarly moving as Noah, whose gentle ministrations and soothing voice coax Allie, as best they can, into retrieving the deep emotional bond between them. Their scenes together are so beautifully rendered that they constitute a sad but captivating drama within the larger story of their lives.

Perhaps in part due to the narrative’s time-traveling nature, with the roles of the younger Noah and Allie played by two actors each, the characters in the earlier chapters of their story never attain much depth or complexity, but seem merely to exist as exemplars of true love thwarted and true love regained. She paints; he restores a house that when they first met he told her he hoped they would live in together. But aside from depicting her parents’ objection to the relationship, the musical leaves their lives otherwise unexplored. This is no fault of the actors, who are uniformly excellent, channeling the ardency of fiery young love, and later the excitement of a rekindled affection.

But Allie and Noah seem more like young people of the 1930s and 1940s than the 1960s and 1970s, when new generations were actively rebelling against their parents and the social order; these characters seem to exist in a world apart. The plot, for instance, turns in part on Allie’s ignorance of the daily letters Noah wrote after their first meeting, which were intercepted by Allie’s mother (the fine Andréa Burns, almost too sympathetic for a woman who would do such a thing), but one wonders why, in 1967, he didn’t attempt at least one phone call—as Allie herself points out.

These details tended to nag because the musical, while staged with a clean simplicity by Michael Greif and Schele Williams, is so abundantly stuffed with love songs—hopeful, ecstatic, elegiac, rueful, sensual—that they gradually blur together. Although Ms. Michaelson is a gifted composer and lyricist, and the gentle sonorities of the score—orchestrated for just 10 musicians—make for a restful contrast with the overmiked, overpowering style that larger-scale Broadway musicals favor, the stream of similar songs threatens to drench the audience in a waterfall of similar emotion. (That said, a few, such as “Carry You Home” and “If This Is Love,” might easily find their way to the pop charts.)

For this viewer the musical’s distinction, as noted, lies in its depiction of the piteous suffering of Ms. Plunkett’s Allie, and the determined devotion of Mr. Harewood’s Noah. And yet, affecting and realistically detailed as most of the scenes between them are, even their travails are airbrushed into a sentimentally tinged ending. Few may complain, as they take out their handkerchiefs, but “The Notebook” cannot resist putting a filter of softening gauze over even the most tragic human circumstances.

Mr. Isherwood is the Journal’s theater critic.

Everything you need to know about 'The Notebook' on Broadway

Discover how the cherished love story, known to countless fans as a novel by Nicholas Sparks and a swoon-worthy 2004 movie, sings in a new way on stage.

The love story at the heart of The Notebook musical is one for the books. Central couple Allie and Noah beat all the odds, lost time and stolen memories among them. No wonder they share a song called “It’s Not Easy.” But their love is – to namecheck another song – “Forever.”

The show playing at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre is based on Nicholas Sparks’s 1996 bestselling novel that inspired a hit film eight years later starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams . Its latest installment as a musical marks the Broadway songwriting debut of musician Ingrid Michaelson alongside book writer Bekah Brunstetter. Here's all you need to know before seeing The Notebook 's latest chapter on stage.

Get The Notebook tickets now.

What is The Notebook about?

The Notebook revolves around the enduring love story between Noah Calhoun and Allie Hamilton, who share a passionate summer romance as teenagers but are separated by societal differences.

Despite Allie's engagement to another man, Noah's persistent love spans years, with the couple eventually reuniting. However, the challenges of Alzheimer's disease pose a new hurdle, testing their commitment in their older years.

Where is The Notebook playing?

The Notebook is at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre , located at 236 W. 45th St. between Broadway and 8th Avenue. Designed by Herbert J. Krapp and built in 1917, the Schoenfeld originally opened as the Plymouth Theatre in 1918. It got its current name in 2005 in honor of the late chairman of the Shubert Organization, which owns and operates the venue.

Plays and musicals that have run at the 1,079-seat theatre include Life of Pi , Take Me Out , Come From Away , and The Humans .

How long is The Notebook ?

The Notebook runs approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes, including one 15-minute intermission. This is a typical running time for a Broadway musical, which usually includes a 15-minute intermission.

What days is The Notebook playing?

The Notebook plays Tuesday through Sunday, with two performances on Wednesdays and Saturdays and no performances on Mondays. For the most up-to-date weekly schedule, visit The Notebook page .

When did The Notebook premiere?

The Notebook musical premiered in October 2022 at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, 26 years after the novel was published. Check out the full timeline of how The Notebook went from page to screen to stage below.

• 1996: Rescued by an editor from a manuscript slush pile and based loosely on the marriage of his wife’s grandparents, Nicholas Sparks’s novel became a New York Times bestseller in its first week.
• 2004: The Notebook film, adapted by Jeremy Leven and Jan Sardi and directed by Nicholas Cassavetes, starred Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams as the young Noah and Allie, who meet in the 1940s. James Garner and Gena Rowlands, the director’s mother, played the characters in old age.
• 2019: A workshop reading of The Notebook musical, directed by Michael Greif and featuring six actors playing Allie and Noah at three different ages, was held at the Powerhouse Theater at Vassar College.
• 2022: The Notebook musical made its world premiere to warm reviews in Chicago.
• 2024: The musical began performances on February 10 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre.

Who wrote The Notebook musical?

The Notebook musical features an adapted book by Bekah Brunstetter, a playwright and television writer. Her credits include This Is Us (for which she earned three Emmy nominations) and the play The Cake . She is known for her poignant explorations of family dynamics, identity, and social issues.

The music and lyrics are by Ingrid Michaelson, a celebrated indie singer and songwriter known for pop and folk and emotionally charged lyrics and thoughtful introspective lyrics. Michaelson has a celebrated song catalog, but her score for The Notebook is completely original.

The Notebook characters

Allie and Noah are embodied in three stages of their lives in the musical, and other characters include Allie’s fiance, family members, and friends.

• Noah: A passionate working-class man and war veteran with the soul of a poet and an unwavering love for Allie. Three actors play Noah at young, middle, and older stages of life.
• Allie: An affluent, artistic woman born into privilege whose love for Noah ultimately transcends social barriers. Three actors play Allie at young, middle, and older stages of life.
• Lon: A war veteran and lawyer who becomes Allie’s fiance.
• Mother: Allie's mother, who discourages her and Noah's relationship but ultimately urges her to follow her heart.
• Father: Allie's wealthy and protective father.
• Fin: A friend and fellow soldier of Noah's.

Who is in the cast of The Notebook musical?

The cast of the Broadway premiere of The Notebook musical features Broadway newcomers, seasoned performers, and a Tony Award winner. Many reprise their roles from the Chicago run.

Jordan Tyson makes her Broadway debut as Younger Allie opposite John Cardoza ( Jagged Little Pill ) as Younger Noah. Joy Woods ( Six ) plays Middle Allie, alongside Ryan Vasquez ( Wicked, Waitress, Hamilton ) as Middle Noah. Maryann Plunkett (Tony winner for Me and My Girl ) is Older Allie, opposite Dorian Harewood ( The Jesse Owens Story ), who joined the show in New York, as Older Noah.

The cast also includes Chase Del Ray as Lon and Andréa Burns as Allie’s mother.

The Notebook songs

The songs in The Notebook musical feature lyrics and music by Ingrid Michaelson. Here are all the songs in the show.

• “Dance With Me”
• “Carry You Home”
• “Blue Shutters”
• “Sadness and Joy”
• “Leave the Light On”
• “What Happens”
• “I Wanna Go Back”
• “If This Is Love”
• “We Have To Try”
• “Sadness and Joy Reprise”
• “Iron in the Fridge”
• “Don’t You Worry”
• “It’s Not Easy”
• “I Love You More”

What awards has The Notebook musical won?

The Broadway production of The Notebook has not yet been honored with awards, but it will be eligible for 2024 awards in the spring. The critically acclaimed Chicago production of The Notebook , however, was nominated four Jeff Awards, including for musical and lighting. Joy Woods won for supporting actress, and Bekah Brunsetter and Ingrid Michaelson won for new work.

Additionally, the movie earned multiple accolades. James Garner was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role, and Gena Rowlands won the Golden Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Drama. Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams won the MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss.

Major productions of The Notebook musical

The 2022 Chicago premiere and the 2024 Broadway production are the only major productions so far. If the show is a success, the production could have a long future, leading to plenty more across the country and the world.

Onscreen adaptations of The Notebook

This musical hasn't received a screen adaptation yet — but the story had the reverse journey. The Notebook musical is based on the 1996 novel of the same name, which became a hit movie eight years later starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams.

Fun facts about The Notebook

• The book and film versions of The Notebook both begin in the 1940s. Events in the musical take place in the late 1960s and ’70s and the present day.
• Allie and Noah share a kiss in the rain on stage, just like on screen, and the rainwater is heated. If the performers look cold, “it’s acting,” star Ryan Vasquez told New York Theatre Guide .
• Brunstetter has a personal connection to the story. She has a history of Alzheimer’s disease in her family, including her grandfather and his siblings.
• The first song Ingrid Michaelson wrote for the show, in 2017, was called “I’ll Know.” It became “I Know.”
• Migratory birds are prominent in the novel and film versions of The Notebook . “There’s a moment in the musical that’s an Easter egg for the folks waiting for a line about birds,” Ryan Vasquez told NYTG.

Get tickets to The Notebook on Broadway

In The Notebook musical, one love story unfolds on stage, but it reverberates with universal appeal. Love doesn’t come easily or quickly for Allie and Noah, but you can get tickets in no time.

Top image credit: The cast of The Notebook on Broadway. (Photos by Rachel Neville) In-article image credit: The Notebook in Chicago. (Photos by Liz Lauren)

Originally published on Feb 23, 2024 20:56

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