By: Nicholas Sparks
Essence: romance, sadness, incidental, memories, passion

Definitely among the best books I have read so far. The Notebook succeeds in establishing Sparks as a gifted Romantic writer and brings out his skill in keeping the book soft in terms of words yet heavy in content.

The book revolves around the romance between the two lead characters of the movie and is limited to that end. The story moves through various stages almost effortlessly and at the end you realize that so much has been told in so little words. This is where you start to realize Spark's brilliance and his skill. A person who can convey a lot through a few sentences is definitely skilled.

The different phases of the book add to the excitement of the story and yet the book remains whole.
The first phase involves the memories from the guy's childhood and how he met her and how they parted. The second phase deals with the present scenario and the life of this passionate and sentimental guy.
The third phase is where everything lights up. The story starts taking grip and the words start becoming deep.

Then suddenly, you encounter the first twist of the story, and surprisingly, the book moves ahead without clearing the fog of the twist. When you slowly realize what happened, well, it surely will make you smile.
Then comes the final phase, the one that really takes the cake.

The last part of the book will pull at your heart regardless of whether you are such a person or not. I must say that the last part was so well written that it just stays with you for real long. And, honestly, it was maybe the toughest part to write.
Talking anymore about the last phase would spoil the story and hence I will go no further on this.

As the book moves ahead, you start feeling its grip on you and you can rest assured that the end will definitely choke you up. The power of the book lies in both, the story and in its narration and that's the reason why I rated it so high. It's not often that you come across a book that's excellent both in narration and script.

Reviewing the book brings back those moments from the book that really deliver the punch and that setting that the book effortlessly creates is worth appreciating.

All in all, a splendid book. Sparks is goooooooood.