By Nicholas Sparks. New York: Warner Books, 1996.A Summer Spent Beneath the Trees The beginning of this book puzzles the reader. It doesn't clearly state the setting and plot in the first chapter; it almost leaves the mood open to how the reader interprets it. In the romance story The Notebook, by Nicholas Sparks, the plot then shifts from a nursing home to a small town -- New Bern, North Carolina. It baffles the reader so much that it urges one to read on. The romance of Noah and Allie in this book is so deep and complex that it will bring a tear to the eye of any reader. The man, Noah, is a poet in Allie's eyes and he expresses love as, "Our souls were one, if you must know and never shall they be apart; With splendid dawn, your face aglow I reach for you and find my heart" (183). As teenagers, the two of these "love birds" had one summer of intense passion that was ended abruptly by Allie's parents disapproval. When Allie left New Bern the couple planned to keep in touch by writing letters, but because Allie's moms did not approve of Noah, she hid all his letters from her without Allie knowing. Noah continued to write but without a reply, his hopes dissolved. While Noah sat on his porch playing his guitar with his three-legged dog Clem, he reminisced about the adventures they had, foreshadowing the events that followed. "And if, in some distant place in the future, we see each other in our new lives, I will smile at you with joy, and remember how we spent a summer beneath the trees, learning from each other and growing in love. And maybe, for a brief moment, you'll feel it too, and you'll smile back, and savor the memories we will always share together" (151). There are surprises one would never expect and descriptions that one can't even imagine; they pull the reader in and paint a picture in the mind. This novel will make the reader cry, gasp, sigh, and cry once more. The Notebook is a very romantic novel for those w...
