Love From The Pages: The Notebook: Letter 1

Friday, 5 May 2017

The Notebook: Letter 1

Cover page of The Notebook

The Notebook is a 1996 romantic novel by American novelist Nicholas Sparks, The novel was later adapted into a popular film of the same name, in 2004. The Indian Bollywood film, Zindagi Tere Naam, starring Mithun Chakraborty, is also based on it.

Noah and Allie are meeting, again, after a 14-year separation, which followed their brief but passionate summer romance. Later in the story, Noah reveals to the audience that he is reading to his wife (a notebook and letters), who suffers from Alzheimer's disease and does not recognize him.

THE NOTEBOOK

-by Nicholas Sparks

My Dearest Allie,
The porch is silent except for the sounds that float from the shadows, and for once I am at a loss of words. It is a strange experience for me, for when I think of you and the life we have shared, there is much to remember. A lifetime of memories. But to put it into words? I do not know if I am able. I am not a poet, and yet a poem is needed to fully express the way I feel about you.
So my mind drifts, and I remember thinking about our life together as I made coffee this morning. Kate (Noah's daughter) was there, and so was Jane (Noah's daughter), and they both became quiet when I walked in the kitchen. I sat myself beside them at the table and held their hands. And do you know what I saw when I looked at them? I saw you from so long ago, the day we said goodbye. They resemble you and how you were then, beautiful and sensitive and wounded with the hurt that comes when something special is taken away. And for a reason I'm not sure I understand, I was inspired to tell them a story.

Noah

Nicholas Charles Sparks (born December 31, 1965) is an American novelist, screenwriter and producer. He has published eighteen novels and two non-fiction books. Several of his novels have become international bestsellers, and eleven of his romantic-drama novels have been adapted to film with multimillion-dollar box office grosses including THE NOTEBOOK.