The Notebook: Is There a Noah?

Some thoughts about my favorite book of Nicholas Sparks…

I took a day off from work as a treat for working hard the long week last. I forced myself into finishing some books I had left untouched since forever, which I knew had it not been for a free day like this, I wouldn't have been in the mood to complete. I skimmed over a few books I almost read and not read at the same time — I was always eager to start before I got bored and gave up after a while. The atmosphere was inspiring — the rain danced in rhythm and the winds blew effortlessly — so then I knew I ultimately ended up with a romance novel. It was The Notebook.

I've watched the movie as many times as I could imagine. I know every detail of the movie, like every scene Allie or Noah walks in. It is one of a few romance movies I truly love, as usually I prefer crime / detective genre. But it was not until yesterday did I get myself into understanding the whole picture of all characters, like Noah, Allie and Lon, and their stories and feelings behind the cinematic imagery of the movie. The movie is amazing, but the book has much more than that.

Noah & Allie

Noah. I love, and I did get stunned by how different Noah in the book turns out. He is rather quiet and shy and sort of a bookworm — though it would be better saying he’s a poetry-worm. He doesn't really look passionate, not if it means quirky and crazy and wild as portrayed by Ryan Gosling. But then he is passionate, because he has a warm kind heart, and eyes that always “gave him away”even when words fail to convey his thoughts. He’s silent and considerate, at the same time a type of man who “seemed to savor life more fully than others appeared to”.

Allie. Somehow I find her less impulsive as she appears in the movie. Sparks spares most of the book, especially the middle part, describing how Allie changes and levels up her feelings and thoughts towards Noah. I like how Allie and Noah come to fall in love beneath the old oak tree, when he reads to her poems of his favorite. I believe they fall in love not only because of the rising chemistry between a country boy and an uptown girl in one blazing hot summer, but also because they share the same values and viewpoints towards life and its beauty. Allie was born a talented artist but no one, except her professor and Noah, has ever encouraged her to follow that path. She finds herself satisfied in every way when being with Noah. They are both lovers and best friends.

Lon

“The way I see it, I got three choices. One, I can shoot him. Two, I can kick the crap out of him. Or three, I leave you. Well. all that’s no good. You see, ‘cause none of those options get me you…”

I get to know Lon a bit deeper as he shares some pages in the book. He is a wonderful man, but just not the type Allie has always been looking. Lon is rushing, driven in his work — I guess which has made him so successful. But he does love Allie by all he’s got. He’s sincere and tolerant. And I appreciate how Lon lets Allie run to the man of her life and accepts everything as it is. After all it’s only the matter of shared beliefs and values. Allie and Lon simply don’t click. They were not born for each other.

I, however, kind of relate to Allie and Lon. Though I am inspired by Noah and Allie’s love yet I, at times, find it rare and unreal. But Lon and Allie’s situation is more common and their story is what we usually have to struggle in life: to choose a man who has everything but lacks a touch of true affection, which may assure a secured life but is no where near as fantastic as we dream about ‘love’. Now, what if we were never to meet anyone who we would call ‘Noah’ of our life? Should we follow the safe path, or should we wait for someone who has yet to come — and even we aren't sure exist?