Notebook, The Abridged

Rating:
Summary: Wasted reading time...a big disappointment
Review: I'm no literary critic, so bad writing has to be plain obvious to get my attention. The characters were flat, the narrative sketchy and trite. The story was sickeningly sweet, yet, I kept reading.(After all it was "a New York Times Bestseller.")Finally I threw it down after 150 pages. I can't believe that it was published. I'm sorry I wasted my time on this book, and hope that my comments will save someone else their valuable reading time.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Great
Review: Wow, 800 reviews! This is a very compelling book. It's my favorite book of all time. It shows true love in it's fullest. I suggest anyone who is considering this book, thats you should just buy it. I promise you it will affect your life.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome Book
Review: The Notebook was an awesome book, and I recommend it to anyone who likes romantic novels. I laughed and I cried. It is my favorite out of all the Nicholas Sparks' books!!! It is just incredible to me that a guy could write such romantic thoughts, I didn't think it was possible. But this book proves me wrong, everyone should read it!:)

Rating:
Summary: A Fine Romance
Review: I read this book several years ago, and it still ranks as one of the most touching contemporary love stories I have ever read. A friend was ranting about message in a bottle, a book I had not heard of and told me it was the same guy who wrote the notebook. I went to the library couldn't find message...bottle, but stumbled upon the notebook. The tears started in the first chapter and didn't ever end. It wrecked me for days. Turns out, my friend hadn't even read the darn thing. I told her it was a really funny, funny book and strongly advised her to take it to read on a plane. On the sob a lot meter, it ranks right up there with Love Story, An Affair to Remember, Magnificant Obsession and Beaches. Even now, the sweetness of this story brings a smile to my face. This is a must read for all lovers of romance, and for everyone who believes in soul mates and love ever after.

Rating:
Summary: Not as good as A Walk To Remember
Review: My favorite book still remains "A Walk To Remember" but that doesn't mean that "The Notebook" isn't a good book. It sure has its moments and really tunes you into the book. It's a good story but it didn't really captivate me as much as "A walk to remember" did. It starts off a bit dull and then gets really interesting and ends dull. The end was also a bit strange and weird. If you're in a situation where you don't know whether to buy "a walk to remember" or "the notebook," pick "a walk." There is a movie already completed for the book that will star Mandy Moore. But all in all, an okay book.

Rating:
Summary: whats wrong with our country?!!!!
Review: I will try to stick to the issue at hand here, which is this "novel", but also, I am afraid, this will be a reflection of what I have seen and inferred about the people who read, and liked, this "novel". I don't usually read bestsellers because when I do, I get this salty-sweet brackish taste in my mouth, and look at everyone who passes by with disgust. Disgust for them because they are apparently so deprived of emotion and education that this book was a "tearjerker". I used the word novel in quotes twice because I do not feel that Sparks should share that word with writers like Hermann Hesse and JD Sallinger and hundreds of others who wrote things just as worthy of the word novel. These authors wrote books that took the most extreme, the most familiar and the most foreign to us, and mixed it all up and made us learn something about ourselves. A real work of fiction always helps us find another piece of ourselves, a tempting and dark peice that we never knew was in us, and then a certain paragraph or phrase or word will be the most familiar beautiful thing in the world: like coming home. Nicholas Sparks does not deserve to share the company of authors who strive for this. When you finish a book, you should hold something dead in your hands. It should have lived and breathed before you. You shouldn't feel the need to go write Oprah on how "sweet" and "touching" you thought it was. This book eximplifies all that is "sweet" and "touching". Why can't we raise our standards as a country? Why can't we only expect the best most beautiful and most disturbing and haunting out of our literature? Why can't we teach our high schoolers this, and learn to understand ourselves better? The Notebook, as said by the author of the official review, is like a "glazed doughnut". I do agree but why on earth do we want a glazed doughnut of a book? If you like glazed doughnuts go buy one, or read a Good Housekeeping magazine, or watch a talk show, or sit down and write your own story of a long lost love with "smooth skin" and "hard nipples" that you wish you could find. However DON'T say that The Notebook is a novel. If we raise our standards altogether then only the BEST writing will emmerge. Cheesy. The Notebook is so obviously predictable and cheesy that I hope Sparks is just raking in the money from housewives who bought this book, and laughing at his inability as a writer. This book was a recycled combination of a lot of bestsellers I have read, I bet I could find the exact same SENTENCES in about a hundred differend books. There was nothing creative or inventive about this book, it didn't make us think, we didn't find ourselves and we didn't come home. Therefore, The Notebook, is a sad sad failure as a novel, and sadly a reflection on America's reading population.

Rating:
Summary: The notebook
Review: This was a book I read at a trying time in my life. It was a novel with heart and emotion that bring tears to your eyes. I absolutely loved this book and would recomend it to everyone who wants to feel true love.

Rating:
Summary: It's a good book
Review: I thought this book was a pretty good book because I finished this book in about 2-3 1/2 days! I could not put this down. And when I couldn't find it when I wanted to read it, I was very [mad]. But don't take my word for it, read it yourself and see how much you enjoyed it

Rating:
Summary: Short read, Tear Jerker, Excellent writing
Review: This book was a quick read. Excellent story telling that kept you wanting to get involved in the story. With enough of a plot twist to keep the less romantically inclined enjoying the book. It is well worth a read for anyone with a desire for a good tear jerker. His imagery pulls you into the beauty of the region you can feel his love for the area in his writing.

Rating:
Summary: It's a Keeper!
Review: This story made me laugh, made me cry, and every emotion between. A beautiful picture of everlasting love, and done so without any crude references. This is a book I'll hang on to for my daughter to read when she's older.