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The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

Title: The Notebook

Author:  Nicholas Sparks

Publisher:  Grand Central Publishing

Genre: Romance Fiction

First Publication: 1996

Language:  English

Major Characters: Allie Hamilton, Noah, Jr., Lon Hammond, Anne Hamilton, Dr. Barnwell

Setting Place: North Carolina

Narration: First Person (in first and last chapters), Third Person

Theme: Love Conquers All, Fate Vs Free Will,

Book Summary: The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

Set amid the austere beauty of the North Carolina coast , The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks begins with the story of Noah Calhoun, a rural Southerner recently returned from the Second World War . Noah is restoring a plantation home to its former glory, and he is haunted by images of the beautiful girl he met fourteen years earlier, a girl he loved like no other. Unable to find her, yet unwilling to forget the summer they spent together, Noah is content to live with only memories…until she unexpectedly returns to his town to see him once again.

Like a puzzle within a puzzle, the story of Noah and Allie is just the beginning. As it unfolds, their tale miraculously becomes something different, with much higher stakes. The result is a deeply moving portrait of love itself, the tender moments and the fundamental changes that affect us all. It is a story of miracles and emotions that will stay with you forever.

Book Review: The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

Allison Hamilton, now 29 years old, can’t seem to shake away her first love, Noah Calhoun. Torn between her fiancé Lon and her soul mate Noah, Allie must make a decision that won’t be easy and faces the danger of breaking one of these man’s hearts. Nicholas Sparks writes a jaw-dropping, passionate romance novel that will have you wanting more. If you aren’t a fan of romance stories, start here and read this captivating novel The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks.

It all started that summer when Allie was only 15; she met Noah- a low class 17 year old filled with life and enthusiasm- and they immediately clicked. Infatuated with love, this young couple did everything together and they were never apart. They had high hopes of being together, raising a family and growing old with each other. Even though they had their differences at times, they still were there for each other.

“I am nothing special, of this I am sure. I am a common man with common thoughts and I’ve led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten, but I’ve loved another with all my heart and soul, and to me, this has always been enough.”

Unfortunately, Allie had to go back home and leave Noah behind. Heartbroken, Allie missed Noah and thought about him all the time. Noah was sad and missed Allie terribly. He wrote letters to Allie-one each day- but all of them were left unanswered. Allie’s mother had purposely taken them, without informing Allie. She didn’t think Noah was right for Allie and referred to him as “trash.” Years passed and both of them had not heard from each other but they still had tremendous love for one another.

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks will make you fall even more in love with love stories. If you are not a fan of romance stories then The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks is definitely what you need. From the second you pick up this book to the second you put it down, it will change the way you look at love and make you desire it. Nicholas Spark paints us a beautiful picture of the obstacles and the wonderful things that loves offers.

“So it’s not gonna be easy. It’s going to be really hard; we’re gonna have to work at this everyday, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, everyday. You and me… everyday.”

Nicholas Spark’s unique writing will have you fighting back tears and wishing for a relationship just like the one that is shared between Noah and Allie. This heart warming novel had me on the edge of my seat, not wanting to put the book down. I anxiously turned each page waiting to see what became of Allie and Noah.

The Notebook is a timeless love story that captures the essence of enduring romance. Set against the backdrop of 1940s North Carolina, the novel follows the passionate yet turbulent relationship between Noah Calhoun and Allie Nelson, two young lovers torn apart by social class and familial expectations. Sparks masterfully interweaves their heart-wrenching past with their poignant present, where Noah attempts to revive Allie’s fading memory through the power of their love story. With its tender moments and heartbreaking sacrifices, The Notebook is a beautifully written tale that celebrates the resilience of true love and the unbreakable bonds it can forge.

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Summary and Reviews of The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

Summary | Excerpt | Reading Guide | Reviews | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio

The Notebook

• Critics' Consensus:
• Readers' Rating:
• First Published:
• Oct 1, 1996, 214 pages
• Dec 1999, 226 pages
• Romance/Love Stories
• N & S Carolina
• 1940s & '50s
• Publication Information
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About This Book

• Book Club Questions

Book Summary

A man with a faded, well-worn notebook open in his lap. A woman experiencing a morning ritual she doesn't understand. Until he begins to read to her. An achingly tender story about the enduring power of love.

A man with a faded, well-worn notebook open in his lap. A woman experiencing a morning ritual she doesn't understand. Until he begins to read to her. The Notebook is an achingly tender story about the enduring power of love, a story of miracles that will stay with you forever. Set amid the austere beauty of coastal North Carolina in 1946, The Notebook begins with the story of Noah Calhoun, a rural Southerner returned home from World War II. Noah, thirty-one, is restoring a plantation home to its former glory, and he is haunted by images of the beautiful girl he met fourteen years earlier, a girl he loved like no other. Unable to find her, yet unwilling to forget the summer they spent together, Noah is content to live with only memories...until she unexpectedly returns to his town to see him once again. Allie Nelson, twenty-nine, is now engaged to another man, but realizes that the original passion she felt for Noah has not dimmed with the passage of time. Still, the obstacles that once ended their previous relationship remain, and the gulf between their worlds is too vast to ignore. With her impending marriage only weeks away, Allie is forced to confront her hopes and dreams for the future, a future that only she can shape. Like a puzzle within a puzzle, the story of Noah and Allie is just the beginning. As it unfolds, their tale miraculously becomes something different, with much higher stakes. The result is a deeply moving portrait of love itself, the tender moments and the fundamental changes that affect us all. Shining with a beauty that is rarely found in current literature, The Notebook establishes Nicholas Sparks as a classic storyteller with a unique insight into the only emotion that really matters. "I am nothing special, of this I am sure. I am a common man with common thoughts and I've led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten, but I've loved another with all my heart and soul, and to me, this has always been enough." And so begins one of the most poignant and compelling love stories you will ever read...The Notebook

Chapter One: Miracles

Who am I? And how, I wonder, will this story end? The sun has come up and I am sitting by a window that is foggy with the breath of a life gone by. I'm a sight this morning: two shirts, heavy pants, a scarf wrapped twice around my neck and tucked into a thick sweater knitted by my daughter thirty birthdays ago. The thermostat in my room is set as high as it will go, and a smaller space heater sits directly behind me. It clicks and groans and spews hot air like a fairytale dragon, and still my body shivers with a cold that will never go away, a cold that has been eighty years in the making. Eighty years, I think sometimes, and despite my own acceptance of my age, it still amazes me that I haven't been warm since George Bush was president. I wonder if this is how it is for everyone my age. My life? It isn't easy to explain. It has not been the rip-roaring spectacular I fancied it would be, but neither have I burrowed around with the gophers. I suppose it...

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Word of Mouth

Submitting a book for review, write the editor, you are here:, the notebook.

When author Nicholas Sparks sat down to write THE NOTEBOOK, a tender love story inspired by the enduring relationship of his wife Cathy's grandparents, he wanted his readers to walk away with a renewed spirit of hope.

"I'll never forget watching those two people flirt," he recalls. "I mean, you don't see that very often. They'd been married 67 years, and yet they still loved each other. I wanted to write a book about that kind of love. I wanted people to know that unconditional love does exist."

So Sparks created THE NOTEBOOK, the simple story of Noah Calhoun, a soft spoken North Carolina outdoorsman who carried his love for the willowy Allie Nelson with him long after their youthful romance had ended. He paralleled Noah's silent passions with Allie's haunting thoughts --- feelings she could not escape even after she became engaged to another man.  He asked his readers to consider what it might mean if these relatively happy, middle-aged people found their destinies once again overlapped.

He presented a question all but universal in appeal: What would happen if two people were given a second chance at the love of a lifetime?

Sparks deftly answers that question. But it's the inspiration drawn from his real life grandparents that makes THE NOTEBOOK more than just a novel of flames reignited.  The novel opens and closes with an elderly Noah Calhoun reading aloud from his personal journals and "notebooks."  And as he shares the delicate details, the good with the bad, it's clear he is as enchanted with Allie in old age as he was on the day they met.

"And that's the legacy of THE NOTEBOOK," according to Nicholas Sparks. "When love is real, it doesn't matter what turns the road takes. When love is real, the joys and possibilities are endless."

Reviewed by Kelly Milner Halls on February 1, 2004

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

• Publication Date: February 1, 2004
• Genres: Fiction , Romance
• Mass Market Paperback: 239 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books
• ISBN-10: 0446605239
• ISBN-13: 9780446605236

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The Notebook

Self-Purchased copy

Nicholas Sparks

Penguin Books

Romance , number of pages.

“As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. ”

In the story, Noah, a poor young man, falls in love with Allie, an upper-class girl, but her parents disapprove of their relationship, which breaks the couple apart.

The Notebook begins with an eighty-year-old man describing the most remarkable part of his life. The story then moves on to Noah and Allie when happenstance brought them together one summer. Then they never met for 14 years until one afternoon, Allie decides to visit Noah to tell him she is engaged to Lon. Or was that just a reason to see her first love once more. Noah is then sure he wants her back, but can Ellie stay back?

This book highlights the power of true love and companionship. The story was not very special for me; what makes this book unique is the narrative by an old Noah. Riddled with arthritis and living in a senior home, his passion has only grown not diminished. His fierce determination for his first love makes the tale so poetic and heart-touching.

The book makes you nostalgic about two beautiful themes, poetry and letter writing.  The poems are so sweet, and adorable and they agree with the context. But the letter writing is meant for a good cry. Its beauty has been captured brilliantly.

So it's not gonna be easy. It's going to be really hard; we're gonna have to work at this everyday, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, everyday. You and me... everyday." — Nicholas Sparks ( The Notebook )

Other Books by Nicholas Sparks

Another thing I liked that Nicholas Sparks considered is the length of the book. It’s a quick read. One-night read; It’s suitable for readers who have less time on their hands and yet want to get lost in a good story.

The writing is easy, straightforward and the cliff-hanger in the story pivoting back to current-times is just amazing. This makes the writing gripping. I love Noah and Allie too; the will she, won’t she suspense just had me turning pages. I was angry at Allie one time. I felt like she was using Noah but realized that I would have been more twisted than her in her place. The characters felt so real.

Didn't Like

I am unhappy only about one thing. The book I have, the story covers only 70% of it. The rest of the pages are about Nicholas Sparks, his upcoming books, chapters from his popular books, etc. I feel cheated. That’s all.

Final Verdict

I award one star each to the story, the realistic characters, the lovely poetry, the forever kind-of bitter-sweet ending, and the tale's length to make it 5 stars worthy. No doubt.

Who Should Read This and Who Shouldn't

Romance readers looking for a clean, elegant story should definitely read this. If you’re looking for steamy, sexy romance, you might not enjoy this. But otherwise, young and old alike and enjoy this light read immensely.

If you don’t get emotional during the movie or reading the book, you’ll most certainly cry at the end of the story.

Happy Reading!

- Featured In -

For more Quotes from The Notebook see my post here...

Check my list of 50 romance titles you must read...

Nicholas Sparks is one of the world’s most beloved storytellers. All of his books have been  New York Times  bestsellers, with over 105 million copies sold worldwide, in more than 50 languages, including over 75 million copies in the United States alone. Sparks wrote one of his best-known stories,  The Notebook , over a period of six months at age 28. It was published in 1996 and he followed with the novels  Message in a Bottle  (1998),  A Walk to Remember  (1999),  The Rescue  (2000),  A Bend in the Road  (2001),  Nights in Rodanthe  (2002),  The Guardian  (2003),  The Wedding  (2003),  True Believer  (2005) and its sequel,  At First Sight  (2005),  Dear John  (2006),  The Choice  (2007),  The Lucky One  (2008),  The Last Song  (2009),  Safe Haven  (2010),  The Best of Me  (2011),  The Longest Ride  (2013),  See Me  (2015),  Two by Two  (2016) and Every Breath (2018) as well as the 2004 non-fiction memoir  Three Weeks With My Brother , co-written with his brother Micah. His twenty-first novel,  The Return , will be published on September 29, 2020. Film adaptations of Nicholas Sparks novels, including  The Choice ,  The Longest Ride ,  The Best of Me ,  Safe Haven  (on all of which he served as a producer),  The Lucky One ,  Message in a Bottle ,  A Walk to Remember ,  The Notebook ,  Nights in Rodanthe ,  Dear John  and  The Last Song , have had a cumulative worldwide gross of over three-quarters of a billion dollars.  The Notebook  is also being adapted into a musical, featuring music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson.

Sparks lives in North Carolina. He contributes to a variety of local and national charities, and is a major contributor to the Creative Writing Program (MFA) at the University of Notre Dame, where he provides scholarships, internships, and a fellowship annually. He co-founded The Epiphany School in New Bern, North Carolina in 2006. As a former full scholarship athlete (he still holds a track and field record at the University of Notre Dame) he also spent four years coaching track and field athletes at the local public high school. In 2009, the team he coached at New Bern High School set a World Junior Indoor Record in the 4x400 meter, in New York. The record still stands.

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The notebook.

• Common Sense Says
• Parents Say 35 Reviews
• Kids Say 107 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

By Nell Minow , based on child development research. How do we rate?

More sex than you'd expect for a syrupy romance.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The Notebook is a World War II-era romantic drama film directed by Nick Cassavetes and based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks. Scenes include passionate kissing and a fairly graphic lovemaking scene (though only shoulders and a side breast are shown). Characters…

Why Age 14+?

Steamy passion between the two young lovers. Lots of making out and heavy pettin

A 17-year-old smokes a cigar. Adults drink cocktails, wine, champagne, and beer.

Noah and Finn are engaged in active duty during World War II. There's a bomb rai

Words/phrases used include "damn," "crap," "goddammit," "son of a bitch," and "p

Any Positive Content?

The movie's ultimate message is that true love conquers all. But there are also

Predominantly White cast, with most Black characters shown in stereotypical role

Though it's romantic to watch characters fall in love so wholly and stay devoted

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Steamy passion between the two young lovers. Lots of making out and heavy petting. Characters undress in front of each other (only their shoulders are shown). A fairly graphic lovemaking scene (again, just shoulders visible, plus a brief glimpse of breast from the side).

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

A 17-year-old smokes a cigar. Adults drink cocktails, wine, champagne, and beer. Noah goes on a 10-day drinking binge. Characters drink in excess to ease pain or to lessen their inhibitions. Most meals are accompanied by alcohol.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Violence & Scariness

Noah and Finn are engaged in active duty during World War II. There's a bomb raid that incurs heavy losses. Allie nurses soldiers who've lost limbs. Noah stalks and pursues Allie; she repeatedly refuses him and says no, but he threatens self-harm until she consents to a date. Noah and Allie fight passionately—in multiple scenes, she hits and slaps him. Poignant deaths.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Words/phrases used include "damn," "crap," "goddammit," "son of a bitch," and "pain in the ass." The slur "darn squaw" is heard in a movie theater.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

The movie's ultimate message is that true love conquers all. But there are also less-positive takeaways and stereotypes; see more in Diverse Representations.

Diverse Representations

Predominantly White cast, with most Black characters shown in stereotypical roles (e.g., maid in a wealthy household, caretakers, entertainers). Neutral depictions also include Black couples dancing alongside White couples in a 1940s social club. Socioeconomic disparities are frequently highlighted between the working class (called "poor" and "trash") and the privileged (called "rich"). A movie theater scene shows a non-Native character in redface, and the phrase "darn squaw" can be heard.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Positive Role Models

Though it's romantic to watch characters fall in love so wholly and stay devoted to each other, some of the choices that the lovers make—like cheating on a relationship, resorting to domestic violence, and lying to family members—don't qualify as role model behavior.

Parents need to know that The Notebook is a World War II-era romantic drama film directed by Nick Cassavetes and based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks. Scenes include passionate kissing and a fairly graphic lovemaking scene (though only shoulders and a side breast are shown). Characters drink and smoke; there's also brief battle violence and poignant deaths. Language includes "damn," "son of a bitch," "ass," and the slur "squaw." Iffy messages around romance include the portrayals of stalking, coercion, and domestic violence as simply "passion." The cast is predominantly White, while Black supporting characters fall into various clich és (e.g., a maid). To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (35)
• Kids say (107)

Based on 35 parent reviews

Enjoyed the movie; should be rated R.

How's nobody talking about the toxic relationships in this, what's the story.

THE NOTEBOOK is a story about a 1940s summer romance between Allie ( Rachel McAdams ), the daughter of wealthy parents, and Noah ( Ryan Gosling ), a working-class boy. They're crazy about each other, but her parents disapprove. When Allie goes to college, Noah writes to her every day, but Allie's mother ( Joan Allen ) withholds his letters. Believing neither have wanted to stay in touch, Allie and Noah go their separate ways as World War II ensues. When newly engaged Allie returns to their small town and sees Noah again, they soon realize their romance is far from over.

Is It Any Good?

In this sweeping drama, the details and dialogue are a bit clumsy, but romantics likely won't care. McAdams and Gosling are talented actors of their generation. James Garner , Gena Rowlands , Sam Shepard (as Noah's father), and Allen (as Allie's mother) also give the material more than it deserves, and director Nick Cassavetes clearly wants this film to be a love letter to Rowlands, his mother, who's luminous in this film. In the end, Noah's enduring love for Allie wins hearts.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about how The Notebook depicts love and romance. Is this what a relationship is "supposed" to be like? Why, or why not?

How does the movie treat sex ? What are the real-life impacts and consequences of sexual activity?

How do we know who we're meant to be with? Who should we listen to as we think about making that choice?

Movie Details

• In theaters : June 25, 2004
• On DVD or streaming : February 7, 2005
• Cast : James Garner , Rachel McAdams , Ryan Gosling
• Director : Nick Cassavetes
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : New Line
• Genre : Romance
• Run time : 124 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : some sexuality
• Last updated : August 7, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

What to watch next.

A Walk to Remember

Love Actually

Romance movies, drama movies that tug at the heartstrings.

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

The Notebook

"The Notebook" is based on the best-selling novel by Nicholas Sparks and directed by Nick Cassavetes.

‘The Notebook” cuts between the same couple at two seasons in their lives. We see them in the urgency of young romance, and then we see them as old people, she disappearing into the shadows of Alzheimer’s, he steadfast in his love. It is his custom every day to read to her from a notebook that tells the story of how they met and fell in love and faced obstacles to their happiness. Sometimes, he says, if only for a few minutes, the clouds part and she is able to remember who he is and who the story is about.

We all wish Alzheimer’s could permit such moments. For a time, in the earlier stages of the disease, it does. But when the curtain comes down, there is never another act and the play is over. “The Notebook” is a sentimental fantasy, but such fantasies are not harmful; we tell ourselves stories every day, to make life more bearable. The reason we cried during “ Terms of Endearment ” was not because the mother was dying, but because she was given the opportunity for a dignified and lucid parting with her children. In life it is more likely to be pain, drugs, regret and despair.

The lovers are named Allie Nelson and Noah Calhoun, known as Duke. As old people they’re played by Gena Rowlands and James Garner . As young people, by Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling . The performances are suited to the material, respecting the passion at the beginning and the sentiment at the end, but not pushing too hard; there is even a time when young Noah tells Allie, “I don’t see how it’s gonna work,” and means it, and a time when Allie gets engaged to another man.

She’s a rich kid, summering at the family’s mansion in North Carolina. He’s a local kid who works at the sawmill but is smart and poetic. Her parents are snobs. His father ( Sam Shepard ) is centered and supportive. Noah loves her the moment he sees her, and actually hangs by his hands from a bar on a Ferris wheel until she agrees to go out with him. Her parents are direct: “He’s trash. He’s not for you.” One day her mother ( Joan Allen ) shows her a local working man, who looks hard-used by life, and tells Allie that 25 years ago she was in love with him. Allie thinks her parents do not love each other, but her mother insists they do; still, Allen is such a precise actress that she is able to introduce the quietest note of regret into the scene.

The movie is based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks , whose books inspired “Message in a Bottle” (1999), unloved by me, and “ A Walk to Remember ” (2002), which was so sweet and positive it persuaded me (as did Mandy Moore as its star). Now here is a story that could have been a tearjerker, but — no, wait, it is a tearjerker, it’s just that it’s a good one. The director is Nick Cassavetes , son of Gena Rowlands and John Cassavetes , and perhaps his instinctive feeling for his mother helped him find the way past soap opera in the direction of truth.

Ryan Gosling has already been identified as one of the best actors of his generation, although usually in more hard-edged material. Rachel McAdams, who just a few months ago was the bitchy high school queen in “ Mean Girls ,” here shows such beauty and clarity that we realize once again how actors are blessed by good material. As for Gena Rowlands and James Garner: They are completely at ease in their roles, never striving for effect, never wanting us to be sure we get the message. Garner is an actor so confident and sure that he makes the difficult look easy, and loses credit for his skill. Consider how simply and sincerely he tells their children: “Look, guys, that’s my sweetheart in there.” Rowlands, best-known for high-strung, even manic characters, especially in films by her late husband, here finds a quiet vulnerability that is luminous.

The photography by Robert Fraisse is striking in its rich, saturated effects, from sea birds at sunset to a dilapidated mansion by candlelight to the texture of Southern summer streets. It makes the story seem more idealized; certainly the retirement home at the end seems more of heaven than of earth.

And the old mansion is underlined, too, first in its decay and then in its rebirth; young Noah is convinced that if he makes good on his promise to rebuild it for Allie, she will come to live in it with him, and paint in the studio he has made for her. (“Noah had gone a little mad,” the notebook says.) That she is engaged to marry another shakes him but doesn’t discourage him.

We have recently read much about Alzheimer’s because of the death of Ronald Reagan. His daughter Patti Davis reported that just before he died, the former president opened his eyes and gazed steadily into those of Nancy, and there was no doubt that he recognized her.

Well, it’s nice to think so. Nice to believe the window can open once more before closing forever.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

• Rachel McAdams as Young Allie Nelson
• Joan Allen as Allie's Mother
• Heather Wahlquist as Sara Tuffington
• Gena Rowlands as Allie Nelson
• James Garner as Noah Calhoun
• Ryan Gosling as Young Noah Calhoun
• Sylvia Jefferies as Rosemary
• Nancy De Mayo as Mary Allen Calhoun
• Jeremy Leven

Based on the novel by

• Nicholas Sparks

Directed by

• Nick Cassavetes

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The Notebook review: Nicholas Sparks' novel leaps off the page and onto the stage in emotional new musical

Noah and Allie's love story still isn't over! The pair's whirlwind romance is brought to life once again — this time on the stage — in its finest adaptation yet.

Emlyn Travis is a news writer at  Entertainment Weekly  with over five years of experience covering the latest in entertainment. A proud Kingston University alum, Emlyn has written about music, fandom, film, television, and awards for multiple outlets including MTV News,  Teen Vogue , Bustle, BuzzFeed,  Paper Magazine , Dazed, and NME. She joined EW in August 2022.

Everyone's heard of The Notebook . Whether it’s through reading Nicholas Sparks ’ best-selling debut novel or its 2004 blockbuster adaptation starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams , most can recall some semblance of Noah and Allie’s whirlwind romance — or, at the very least, their propensity for arguing and dramatic kisses in the rain. Now, The Notebook is leaping off the page and onto the stage in a poignant new musical that is, without a doubt, its finest adaptation yet. 

The Michael Greif- and Schele Williams-directed musical, which opened at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on Thursday, chronicles the decades-long relationship between Noah Calhoun, a lower-class lumber worker, and affluent artist Allie Nelson as class differences, war, and illness threaten to keep them apart.

Adapted from Sparks' original novel by Bekah Brunstetter (best known for writing and producing This Is Us ), its book splits the couple’s love story into three separate timelines that all weave together over its two hour runtime, starting with their starry-eyed youth, to their uncertain adulthoods, and finally their soul-crushing twilight years. The end result is a non-stop emotional rollercoaster full of butterfly-inducing highs and heartbreaking lows. (Seriously, there’s a reason why this musical sells its own branded box of tissues .)

Julieta Cervantes

Theatergoers are first introduced to the oldest versions of Noah (Dorian Harewood) and Allie (Maryann Plunkett) when he visits her at their shared living facility and offers to read her a love story. Allie, who is living with Alzheimer’s disease, is suspicious, but warms up to the idea when Noah begins to regale her with a tale about “two very attractive young people with glowing skin they did not appreciate, and bodies they'd spend the rest of their lives trying to get back.” 

Instantly, the musical turns back the clock to the moment young Noah (John Cardoza) first locked eyes with out-of-towner Allie (Jordan Tyson, in her incredible Broadway debut) at a dreamy dock party. Over the course of a single summer, the pair fall madly in love only to be forced apart when Allie’s disapproving parents end their trip early.

Skipping a few chapters ahead, the couple's middle-aged selves are now living entirely separate lives — and, to make matters worse, Allie (Joy Woods) is set to marry another man, Lon (Chase Del Rey). When she discovers an article about Noah (Ryan Vasquez) renovating the home they’d dreamt about in their teens, Allie pays him a visit before her big day and must decide whether or not to deviate from her parents’ path to be with a man she hasn't seen in years.

What truly sells the couple's romance — and, by extension, the entire show — are the dazzling performances by every version of Noah and Allie. Each pair serves a different purpose within the couple's journey: Cardoza and Tyson are tasked with capturing the dizzying highs and dramatic lows of teenage love with their bubbly chemistry, while middle-aged Noah and Allie, played by Woods and Vasquez, bring the heat as they tap into their characters’ ardent love for one another and equally fiery tempers. (Don't even get me started on their vocals, either — Woods' "My Days" is a total knockout that, rightfully, received a minute-long ovation.)

However, it’s Plunkett and Harewood’s performances as elder Allie and Noah that are the true heart and soul of The Notebook . From her very first scene, Plunkett brings a natural warmth and humor to Allie that makes it easy to see why Noah fell in love with her, and her emotions that bubble over as she struggles to remember feel real and heartbreaking. As Noah, Harewood is an undeniable star who imbues the character with such a gentle kindness and love for his wife that he made me burst into tears on three separate occasions —  none harder than during his gut-wrenching performance of “Iron In the Fridge" — and I seldom cry at Broadway shows.

Further amplifying The Notebook is singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson ’s stellar soundtrack which features lyrics that run the full gamut of human emotion, from young Noah and Allie reconciling after their first big fight (“Sadness and Joy”), to Allie hilariously wanting to rip off Noah’s pants with her teeth after reuniting as adults (“Forever”), to “I Wanna Go Back,” masterfully sung by Woods and Tyson, which poignantly asserts that Allie’s memories are still with her. If Michaelson's lyrics alone don't make theatergoers tear up, then her soaring orchestrations certainly will.

Meanwhile, scenic designers David Zinn and Brett J. Banakis and projection designer Lucy Mackinnon seamlessly transform the stage from a sterile hospital room to a moonlit fishing dock (complete with pool and rain that pours from the rafters), while costume designer Paloma Young cleverly uses color to tie each version of the couple together: all of the Noahs wear at least one article of clothing that’s an earthy brown tone, while all of the Allies wear a cornflower blue hue. In doing so,  the production's color-conscious cast not only remain connected amid the musical’s ever-changing time periods, but the clothes also provide a visual representation of Allie and Noah’s love as their respective wardrobes slowly blend together. 

Brunstetter also makes some changes to The Notebook too, most noticeably pushing its setting from the 1940s to the ‘60s. As a result, Noah and Allie are presented both with new opportunities — she's college bound — and struggles, like when Noah is drafted into the Vietnam war and suffers a permanent knee injury. She also spectacularly highlights the struggles that families caring for loved ones with Alzheimer’s face in an emotional scene in which Noah and Allie’s family come to visit, only for Allie to become overwhelmed by them and suffer a breakdown.

Still, it’s worth noting that it becomes easy to spot how The Notebook operates by its second act: a heartfelt scene, an emotional song, and then a one-liner to make theatergoers laugh after bawling their eyes out. Fans of the film will also notice that the musical doesn't make excuses for Allie's mother, and that Lon’s role is diminished. However, it also introduces new characters too, like the affable physical therapist Johnny (Carson Stewart) as well as stern, yet caring Nurse Lori (Andréa Burns). 

The Notebook is well aware of what theatergoers are expecting from it before they take their seats: they want to laugh, they want passionate arguments, they want kisses in the rain, and, most importantly, they want to believe in a love that conquers all. With its stunning performances, beautiful songs, and supreme stage directing, the musical succeeds in delivering a fresh spin on its original material while also making sure that Noah and Allie’s story is never truly forgotten. A-

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Related content:

• How a box of The Notebook tissues became Broadway's hottest merch
• The Notebook still isn't over: Ingrid Michaelson musical headed to Broadway
• Musical adaptation of The Notebook in the works with music by Ingrid Michaelson

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The Notebook Mass Market Paperback – June 24, 2014

• Book 1 of 2 The Notebook
• Print length 272 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Grand Central Publishing
• Publication date June 24, 2014
• Dimensions 4.25 x 0.88 x 6.88 inches
• ISBN-10 9781455582877
• ISBN-13 978-1455582877
• Lexile measure 850L
• See all details

Editorial Reviews

About the author, product details.

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1455582875
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Grand Central Publishing; Media tie-in edition (June 24, 2014)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781455582877
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1455582877
• Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 850L
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.25 x 0.88 x 6.88 inches
• #25 in 20th Century Historical Romance (Books)
• #31 in Classic American Literature
• #229 in Classic Literature & Fiction

About the author

Nicholas sparks.

Nicholas Sparks is one of the world’s most beloved storytellers. All of his books have been New York Times bestsellers, with over 130 million copies sold worldwide, in more than 50 languages, including over 92 million copies in the United States alone.

Eleven of Nicholas Sparks's novels—The Choice, The Longest Ride, The Best of Me, Safe Haven, The Lucky One, The Last Song, Dear John, Nights in Rodanthe, The Notebook, A Walk to Remember, and Message in a Bottle—have been adapted into major motion pictures. The Notebook has also been adapted into a Broadway musical, featuring music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson.

Customer reviews

• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 5 star 77% 13% 6% 2% 2% 77%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 4 star 77% 13% 6% 2% 2% 13%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 3 star 77% 13% 6% 2% 2% 6%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 2 star 77% 13% 6% 2% 2% 2%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 1 star 77% 13% 6% 2% 2% 2%

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.

Customers say

Customers find the romance beautiful, sweet, and emotional. They praise the writing style as descriptive, easy to read, and wonderful. Readers say the book makes them cry and is a real tearjerker. They describe it as a quick, one-sitting read with wonderful detail. Customers also mention the main characters are realistic and easier to get into and understand. They say the book provides great value for money.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Customers find the romance in the book beautiful, sweet, and well-told. They say the unexpected reunion is very emotional and shows the writing skills that have made Sparks a great writer. Readers also appreciate the devotion and truth written in every sentence. They feel transported into this magical world as Noah reads his journal to his dear wife.

"...filled with uncompromising love and told in a manner that evokes such strong emotions that you can't help but cry through almost every page." Read more

"...I am so thankful to enjoy this book and the wonderful devotion and truth written in every sentence !..." Read more

"I loved this classic. It was such a beautiful love story . I’m really wondering why I didn’t read this sooner" Read more

"...The story very good and I really like Nicholas Sparks. My only complaint is that it was only available in píxeles book size so it is small...." Read more

Customers find the writing style very well-written, descriptive, and wonderful. They say the book is easy to read and the author writes men and women characters wonderfully.

"...Nicholas has a wonderful way with words . The beginning teaches us that true love is out there and that life is also there at the same time...." Read more

"...The closing chapters skip to a geriatric nursing home. They are well written but left me emotionally disturbed as I am already over my allotted time..." Read more

"... Beautifully written . I look forward to other books by this author." Read more

"I like the size of the book and the letters, make it easily to read . It’s an amazing romantic story. One of my favorite movies." Read more

Customers find the book to be a tearjerker. They say it has a sad, yet happy ending. Readers also mention the book is light-hearted and wonderful.

" Had no tears , bends nothing. It was in perfect condition" Read more

"... Both were tear jerkers . I really can't say which book I enjoyed better, but I will certainly read his other books...." Read more

"I love that it was wrapped and secured no tears or stains on the book!! Love it 😌..." Read more

"...They are well written but left me emotionally disturbed as I am already over my allotted time of "three score years and ten"." Read more

Customers find the book readable. They say the first half is predictable but satisfying.

"...I found this book a very fast read . This is my second Nicholas Sparks book, and as with MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE, I enjoyed THE NOTEBOOK very much...." Read more

"...It is a very short read in my opinion, just a few hours. I do feel like there is a lot of fluff and detail added to make the story last longer...." Read more

"This is the quickest book I have ever read . It was THAT addicting and hard to put down...." Read more

"... A fast read ! Read the book before you see the movie; books are always better than the movie......BUT, of course, that's my opinion!" Read more

Customers find the book wonderful, descriptive, and overwhelming. They say it fills in a lot more details and is very real-to-life. Readers also mention the author paints a picture with his words.

"...You will truly enjoy it. A well written story with such wonderful detail that you can actually see it as described...." Read more

"My favorite movie turns in my favorite book!! Love the extra details !! Very exited to read the second part, The wedding !" Read more

"Great Book!!! I love the story sooo much and i also love how descriptive all the scenes are ...." Read more

"... Everything is so vivid , you can feel every single emotion, as if you're the one who is experiencing the plot of the book, not the characters...." Read more

Customers find the main characters in the book to be real. They say the author conveys the characters' feelings well.

"The main characters were so real . I felt like I understood the feelings they had for one another A good lesson in relationships that are everlasting." Read more

"...I think it helps this way because it makes the characters easier to get into and understand . Plus, people in general can be simple...." Read more

" Great character development . I liked getting to know them and their feelings." Read more

"...The characters reach out and squeeze your heart , as if you are one of them...." Read more

Customers find the book great and inexpensive. They also say it's worth it.

"I love the movie so I decided to purchase the book! It was cheap and came super quick! Love this book!" Read more

" Great price . Great quality. Shipped quickly. Packaged safely. No damage. Wife loves these books!" Read more

"...It's also a great price and was even delivered earlier than it was expected to...." Read more

"...The book arrived in perfect condition and on time. Great value ." Read more

Customers have mixed opinions about the book. Some find it addictive and entertaining the whole way through, while others say it's boring, repetitive, and trite.

"...them being young to them being old, but it was still entertaining enough the whole way through , just not as much a page turner after that...." Read more

"...The book didn't draw me in or keep me over interested. It was shallow and left me wondering why I had wasted my time reading it...." Read more

"...This story is a fine example of entertainment that is infused with heart, and enough reality that you can relate to the characters...." Read more

"...Really really awful writing- it's very trite , bland, and repetitive...." Read more

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Kobo Libra Colour review: The best e-reader I’ve ever used

I’ve always been an avid reader, but it took me a while to switch over to e-reading devices. For one, I love the look and feel of a physical book. For another, I borrow a lot of library books — but on the rare occasion I buy one, I take notes and highlight all over it. Still, once e-ink (the technology that mimics ink on paper) became particularly convincing and a single device could store my entire library, I couldn’t resist. 

I’ve used Kobo e-readers in the past due to their affordability, but after I started downloading e-books from my library via the OverDrive Libby app, the transferring process became too tedious. (I had to connect the e-reader to my laptop and transfer the files manually.) My techie boyfriend got me a Boox Nova Air2 , which is basically an Android tablet with an e-ink display, and I’ve been using that ever since. 

That said, the new Kobo Libra Colour posed a solution to my initial e-reader doubts: In addition to mimicking a tangible, physical copy of a book with its colorful e-ink display and ability to take notes in the margins, it also has OverDrive built right in so you can borrow e-books from the library. The brand sent me a Libra Colour to try out, and after a few weeks of using it, I’d recommend it to any avid reader. Below, I’ll share my experiences and explain why I think it’s worth the investment.

SKIP AHEAD How the Kobo Libra Colour works | How I tried the Kobo Libra Colour | My experience with the Kobo Libra Colour | What’s the TLDR? | Why trust NBC Select?

What is the Kobo Libra Colour ?

Kobo Libra Colour

• Intuitive interface
• Compact & waterproof
• Long battery life
• OverDrive login bug
• Accessories cost extra

The Kobo Libra Colour ($219.99) is an e-reader with a colorful display. The device has both black-and-white ink that mimics text on paper and a vivid color palette for book covers and illustrations. It’s also compatible with a stylus, which lets you highlight, scribble and take notes, also in color. The Libra Colour has 32GB of storage, supports 15 file formats and can play Kobo audiobooks when you connect Bluetooth headphones. It also has page-turning buttons, and, like the Kindle Scribe , a separate notebook section for writing or doodling.

In terms of customizations, there are plenty: In addition to adjusting the screen’s brightness and color temperature for outdoor or nighttime reading, you can also change the font, line spacing, margins and screen orientation.

The device has an IPX8 rating , meaning it’s waterproof for up to 60 minutes in up to 2 meters of water, according to the brand. It measures approximately 6.3 inches tall and 5.7 inches across, which makes it wider than my Google Pixel 6a smartphone, but no taller. (For comparison, a Kindle Paperwhite is 6.9 inches by 4.9 inches.)

How the Kobo Libra Colour works

The Kobo Libra Colour has five tabs at the bottom of the main screen: Home, My Books, My Notebooks, Discover and More. 

• Home : Here, you’ll find a combination of books you’re currently reading, books you own and recommended titles based on your past reads. 
• My Books : This is where you’ll find the books you own or borrowed on your device. You can sort by various filters, scan your list of authors, organize books by series or create your own collections.
• My Notebooks : This tab lets you create separate documents for doodling and notetaking. Basic notebooks allow you to choose from 20+ page layouts, including blank, ruled, dotted, grid and calligraphy as well as daily, weekly and monthly planners. The “advanced notebook” option converts your handwriting into text and supports diagrams and math equations. However, to write on your Libra Colour at all, you’ll need to purchase the Kobo Stylus 2 ($69.99) separately; once you do so, you can also change the color of the pen. 
• Discover : Discover lets you browse e-books and audiobooks from the Kobo Store or borrow e-books from your local library (once you successfully connect your library card). Since Kobo has OverDrive built in, you can take out e-books for free with a few taps inside the Discover tab. 
• More : Here, you can access settings, your wishlist, Dropbox or Google Drive, reading stats, beta features or help. You can also read articles by syncing your e-reader with Pocket . 

To start reading, tap on a book you bought or borrowed. When a book is open, you can use your finger to get definitions, add notes with a touchscreen keyboard and highlight text in yellow, pink, blue or green. If you have the stylus, you can also underline and write notes directly on the page.

How I tried the Kobo Libra Colour

Over the course of a recent nine-day summer trip, I used it at the airport, on the plane, in two hotel rooms, in an Airbnb, on a balcony (in indirect sunlight), by the pool (in direct sunlight) and while sitting in a hot tub. (The brand sent me a courtesy sample for testing purposes.) While on vacation, I read on it for an average of two hours every day, in the morning and at night. Thanks to its slim, compact profile, it fits in my everyday bag without issue, so I took it with me to coffee houses and to the Venice Beach skatepark. Since it’s waterproof, I also didn’t hesitate to read it by the pool or while sitting in the hot tub.

While testing this device, I read two books, highlighting and taking notes with the stylus. If I owned the books, I may have taken notes in the margins; however, since I borrowed them from the library, I appreciated the separate notebook function, which allowed me to reference my notes after the books were returned.

My experience with the Kobo Libra Colour

From the moment I unboxed this device, I felt drawn to its sleek design. Its packaging reminded me of the iPhone: streamlined and intuitive — but instead of Apple’s all-white branding, this box had pastel watercolor leaves, which matched the soothing color palette on the screen.

Overall, I was thrilled with the Libra Colour’s portability, sleek interface and ease of use. The screen was eye-friendly and the text was clear in any environment, including direct sunlight. Below, I’ll share more details about my experience.

What I like

Thoughtful, functional design

Put simply, I love the way this e-reader feels in my hand. It’s slim with gentle curves and intuitive controls. The right side is thicker than the left with an ergonomic indentation for my thumb, so I can hold it comfortably with one hand. 

There also aren’t many e-readers on the market that have physical page-turn buttons — but the Libra Colour has them and I love them. Though I can turn the page using the touchscreen, the buttons prevent me from accidentally highlighting words or clicking links. They’re also just satisfying to press and in some ways, mimic that feeling of physically turning a book page.

Intuitive reading experience

Unlike my Boox (with great power comes lots of confusing apps and settings), the Libra Colour is extremely intuitive. I figured out how to browse, search for and open books right away, so I was reading in no time. In my experience, even the shortcuts are easy to master; you can zoom in or out by pinching the screen, and you can change the brightness of the backlight by dragging your finger up and down the left margin. 

Colored text

Its colorful interface is one of the device’s biggest selling points. In addition to viewing the book covers in color, I can also highlight and write in four shades. Due to the nature of e-ink technology, the colors aren’t that vivid; they’re more like pastels, especially when the screen’s brightness is low. That said, if you like color-coding notes and information, this feature is definitely handy.

Long battery life 

A single charge will give you 40 days of reading, according to Kobo, so while I didn’t clock my exact usage, I used it on a nine-day trip and didn’t charge my e-reader once while I was there. It still had battery life left when I got home. 

I’m not a huge notetaker while reading — I prefer highlighting — but since I borrow a lot of library books, the Kobo Libra Colour’s notebook section lets me jot down key ideas so I can refer to them after returning the books. The stylus writes smoothly and I appreciate the feature that automatically turns my handwriting into text.

Potential drawbacks to keep in mind

Difficulty setting up OverDrive

If you plan on using your Kobo Libra Colour to borrow e-books from the library, you’ll need to connect your OverDrive account. While the e-reader itself was ready to go within minutes (the initial update was seamless and my existing Kobo account synced to the device without issue). setting up OverDrive took a lot of time. The OverDrive app was discontinued in May of 2023 and replaced with Libby — but since Kobo devices still use OverDrive, the syncing process may be buggy for some.

In my experience, the device kept prompting me to log in to OverDrive over and over again, but wouldn’t acknowledge my account. I tried on my own for about an hour. After waiting on hold with customer service for 30 minutes, a representative suggested a manual factory reset. (Settings, Device information, and Factory reset your e-reader.) From there, I set up my Kobo again and input my library card information, not my OverDrive account login. I was then able to borrow library ebooks and haven’t had a problem since.

Cost of accessories

The brand also sells a $39.99 cover (available in black or sand beige) and a $69.99 stylus for note-taking, erasing and easier highlighting. The brand sent me both alongside the e-reader and while the cover is nice to have, the stylus is necessary to experience the full functionality of your e-reader. Without it, you can highlight with your finger, but you can’t take notes in the margins or use Kobo’s integrated notebooks section. 

If you’re willing to spend the extra $110, these Kobo accessories expand your Libra Colour’s functionality tenfold and make the experience better. The stylus charges via USB-C, comes with replacement tips and has an eraser as well as a shortcut button for highlighting. The case automatically puts the device to sleep when closed and has a magnetic slot to hold the stylus. In my experience, the only thing missing is a finger strap on the case, which would make it easier to grip. (I’m under 5 feet tall, so I have very small hands.) 

The Amazon Kindle Scribe, a similar note-taking e-reader, includes a stylus — but it’s also more expensive (models start at $339) and doesn’t have a colored display. Another competitor, the Boox Note Air3 C , takes notes and highlights in more colors than Kobo and includes the stylus and case, though it costs more than twice as much at $500.

Who’s the Kobo Libra Colour best for?

Overall, the device packs a punch in terms of colorful design and sleek functionality, especially given its $220 price tag. Even after purchasing the stylus and case separately, it has more features than competing basic e-readers (a colorful display, notetaking capabilities, waterproof durability, and page-turn buttons) for less money. I’ll continue to use it both at home and on the go, and I’d certainly recommend it to any avid reader. 

Why trust NBC Select?

Maria Cassano is a writer, editor and consultant who specializes in e-commerce. She reviews and writes about products for dozens of publications, including Bustle, Elite Daily, Food & Wine and The Daily Beast. For this article, she tried the Kobo Libra Colour, which the brand sent her along with the Kobo Stylus 2 and Notebook SleepCover.

Catch up on Select’s in-depth coverage of personal finance , tech and tools , wellness and more, and follow us on Facebook , Instagram , Twitter and TikTok to stay up to date.

Maria Cassano is a writer, editor, and consultant who specializes in e-commerce. You can find her work in dozens of publications, including Bustle, CNN, Allure, Elite Daily, The Daily Beast, Food & Wine, Better Homes & Gardens, and Real Simple.

Spoiler Disclaimer An elderly man reads a story to his ailing wife about two star-crossed lovers from years ago. Noah Calhoun and Allie Nelson met at a local carnival in 1932. They fell in love at first sight and became inseparable until her family moved away. For the next two years, Noah wrote to Allie regularly but never received a reply. He went on with his life, first moving to New Jersey where he worked in a scrapyard, and later went off to fight in Europe during WWII. No matter where he went, the ghost of his whirlwind summer romance with Allie haunted him, making it impossible to have a successful relationship. Fourteen years later, Noah is living a peaceful existence in North Carolina in an old house that he restored after returning from the war, when who should pull into his driveway, but the woman he's never been able to forget. Allie had never forgotten Noah either. Her parents didn't really approved of Noah, thinking he wasn't good enough for their daughter. She went off to college and has since become engaged to a man who is more to their liking. She loves her fiancé, but knows there is something missing in their relationship, the passion that she has only shared with one man. Three weeks before her wedding, Allie sees a picture of Noah in the local paper and knows she must see him one more time before getting married. When she pulls up to Noah's house, she isn't quite sure what she's hoping for, but what she finds is that their love never died. After only one day with Noah, she's sure she'll never have anything like this with her fiancé, but will she have the strength to make the most difficult decision of her life? The Notebook is a poignant story of true and unending love in its purest form, and the power and magic of love to defy all odds. It begins with an elderly man, sitting by his wife's bedside, reading her a story. From there, we travel back in time to when star-crossed lovers Noah and Allie met as teenagers in 1932 and spent one magical summer together. They were from opposite sides of the tracks. Allie was from a well-to-do family with political connections, and Noah was more or less a nobody. An aristocratic type system still prevailed in the South, so Allie's family didn't approve of a match with Noah and the two were separated for fourteen years. Noah moved to New Jersey where he worked for several years before joining the Army and heading for Europe to fight in WWII. Allie went to college, abandoned her artwork of which her parents did not approve, and eventually became engaged to an attorney of whom they did approve. Over the years, neither was able to forget the other. Noah has had no successful relationships since, because the ghost of the time he spent with Allie still haunts him, and deep down, Allie knows there is something missing in her relationship with her fiancé. Neither really knows what became of the other until Allie sees a picture of Noah in a local newspaper just three weeks before her wedding. Seeing him again, stirs memories and emotions, and even though she doesn't really know why at the time, she is compelled to go see him in person one last time before getting married. She tells her family and fiancé that she needs to get away from the stress of wedding planning and heads for New Bern alone. Noah can hardly believe his eyes when the woman of his dreams pulls up in front of his house one day out of the blue. The longing and desire between Noah and Allie is extremely moving and palpable and hasn't dimmed one bit in fourteen long years. I love how they slip right back into a comfortable relationship as though they've never been apart. It's obvious that they're soul mates and perfect for each other, and in their heart of hearts, they know it too. After only one evening with Noah, Allie knows that what they share is something she's never had with her fiancé and never will. At the point when Allie must make her fateful decision about which man she is going to choose, the story cuts back to the elderly man and his wife who we discover has Alzheimer's. This part of the book is so powerful and affecting, I read parts of it through a blur of tears. The lengths to which this man goes to help his wife remember the love they share is moving beyond words, an expression of a true and pure love. The way he romances her and gets her to fall in love with him over and over again and persists in doing it day after day, never giving up even when it doesn't always turn out the way he hopes is potent stuff, so much so that I'm sitting here crying my eyes out while writing this. It's the kind of love I think we all hope for, but so few seem to actually achieve. Many readers seem to categorize The Notebook as romance, but I don't see it as such. For me, romance as a genre, usually only follows the couple through the falling in love stages of the relationship with the happily ever after implied. It taps into the fantasy of what we want love to be, while The Notebook takes that one step further. Not only do we get to see the beginnings of a relationship, we also get to see one very advanced in years, but no less passionate for the passage of time. It also takes a more realistic look at what it truly means to love someone. It's not just the gooey feeling we get when first falling in love or the sexual desire that soon follows. It's something that can last a lifetime when nurtured and a couple is fully committed to one another. Make no mistake, The Notebook is very romantic, but to me it is not merely a romance, but a love story. The Notebook was my first read by Nicholas Sparks and certainly won't be my last. It was also his debut novel and very impressive for a first effort. The opening chapter and the latter part of the book with the elderly couple is written in first person, present tense which was beautifully rendered, giving these parts a deep sense of immediacy. Noah and Allie's story in the past is written in third person, past tense. This part was wonderful too, but I did have a small problem with the second chapter. When the author goes back to Noah and Allie's first meeting that summer, he tells it more like a narrator relating a story which made it a little difficult to get into at first. Because of the passive nature of this passage, I wasn't able to fully immerse myself on an emotional level like I wanted to and couldn't help wondering if it might have been better if written in a more active voice. Once the narrative got to Noah and Allie's reunion it was much better and only improved with every page I read. The ending was so utterly beautiful, I couldn't help giving the book the full five stars despite the early misstep. Mr. Sparks definitely has a way with words, turning prose into pure poetry. There are so many quotable passages in this book, I almost feel like putting the whole thing in my memorable quotes file. For some reason, I was under the impression that Nicholas Sparks' books didn't have any love scenes in them, but apparently I was mistaken. I was very pleasantly surprised to find one, as well as other expressions of sexual desire, and even though that one love scene is only moderately descriptive, it was very sensual and emotional, unexpectedly well done for a male author. The Notebook is the first story in a duet about members of the Calhoun family, and I very much look forward to reading its sequel, The Wedding . This book has certainly found a spot on my keeper shelf. Reading it was a touching and emotional experience that has left a huge impression on me. It was an inspiring, thought-provoking, powerful and passionate love story that was absolutely unforgettable. Nicholas Sparks Latest Reviews Uglies  by Scott Westerfeld Raising Critical Thinkers: A Parent's Guide to Growing Wise Kids in the Digital Age  by Julie Bogart Partners in Persuasion  by Nalini Singh If It Flies  by Aleksandr Voinov, L. A. Witt Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation  by Kristin Kobes Du Mez Sensuality Rating Key 1 Heart = Smooching May contain mild to moderate sexual tension and/or possible implications of something more taking place off canvas, but nothing beyond kissing actually occurs within the text. Our take: These books would be appropriate for teen and sensitive readers. 2 Hearts = Sweet May contain moderate to high sexual tension which could include passionate clinches that end in cut scenes and/or extremely mild love scenes with virtually no details. Our take: These books should still be appropriate for most mature teens and sensitive readers. 3 Hearts = Sensuous May contain moderately descriptive love scenes, usually no more than three. Our take: Teen and sensitive readers should exercise caution. 4 Hearts = Steamy May contain a number of explicitly descriptive love scenes. Our take: Not recommended for under 18 or sensitive readers. 5 Hearts = Scorching May contain a number of explicitly descriptive love scenes that typically include explicit language and acts which some readers may find kinky and/or offensive. Our take: Definite adults only material, not for the faint of heart. We always endeavor not to give away endings or major plot twists in either our synopses or reviews, however they may occasionally contain information which some readers might consider to be mild spoilers. Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes Trouble logging in? By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands . By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands . By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes. Email not verified Let's keep in touch. Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on: Upcoming Movies and TV shows Rotten Tomatoes Podcast Media News + More By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences. OK, got it! About Rotten Tomatoes® Login/signup Movies in theaters Opening This Week Top Box Office Coming Soon to Theaters Certified Fresh Movies Movies at Home Fandango at Home Prime Video Most Popular Streaming Movies What to Watch New Certified fresh picks 88% Transformers One Link to Transformers One 100% Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story Link to Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story 98% His Three Daughters Link to His Three Daughters New TV Tonight 100% Colin from Accounts: Season 2 100% Matlock: Season 1 100% Brilliant Minds: Season 1 67% Murder in a Small Town: Season 1 43% Rescue: HI-Surf: Season 1 -- Grotesquerie: Season 1 -- Nobody Wants This: Season 1 -- Everybody Still Hates Chris: Season 1 -- Doctor Odyssey: Season 1 -- Social Studies: Season 1 Most Popular TV on RT 94% The Penguin: Season 1 78% Agatha All Along: Season 1 63% The Perfect Couple: Season 1 86% High Potential: Season 1 44% Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story: Season 2 64% Twilight of the Gods: Season 1 100% From: Season 3 74% Kaos: Season 1 Best TV Shows Most Popular TV Certified fresh pick 78% Agatha All Along: Season 1 Link to Agatha All Along: Season 1 All-Time Lists Binge Guide Comics on TV Five Favorite Films Video Interviews Weekend Box Office Weekly Ketchup What to Watch The 100 Best Horror Movies of the 1970s 100 Best Movies on Disney Plus (September 2024) What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming Awards Tour Lupita Nyong’o Explains How Variety Has Guided Her Career Decisions on The Awards Tour Podcast TV Premiere Dates 2024 Trending on RT Hispanic Heritage Month Best 2024 Action Movies TV Premiere Dates Best ’90s TV Shows The Notebook Where to watch. Rent The Notebook on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV. What to Know It's hard not to admire its unabashed sentimentality, but The Notebook is too clumsily manipulative to rise above its melodramatic clichés. Critics Reviews Audience reviews, cast & crew. Nick Cassavetes Ryan Gosling Noah Calhoun Rachel McAdams Allie Hamilton James Garner Gena Rowlands Allie Calhoun James Marsden More Like This Related movie news. The Notebook By nicholas sparks. 'The Notebook' by Nicholas Sparks is a short romantic novel with a classic tale of love that sails on turbulent waters. Noah and Allie share a love that wades through many challenges but triumphs at the end. Article written by Israel Njoku Degree in M.C.M with focus on Literature from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. ‘ The Notebook ‘ by Nicholas Sparks is a short novel of eight chapters and less than a hundred pages. The events in the novel have three timelines and two narrative frames told in a combination of the first-person and the third-person points of view. Here is a summary of the work. The Notebook ‘Spoiler-Free’ Summary ‘ The Notebook ‘ by Nicholas Sparks begins when Noah, who lives in a nursing home for old people, visits his wife Allie, who stays in another room in the same nursing home. When Noah gets to Allie’s room, he sits down and begins to read to her from a notebook. The story Noah reads from the notebook is that of himself and Allie and tells of their reunion as lovers after fourteen years of separation. But Allie enjoys Noah’s reading without comprehending that she is one of the characters being read about. From Noah’s reading, Noah and Allie fell in love when they met as teenagers in New Bern, North Carolina. They spend a passionate summer together, where they both lose their virginity. But after the summer, Noah and Allie are separated when Allie’s family moves out of New Bern. During this separation, Noah tries to stay in touch with Allie but is unable to reach her. Eventually, Noah tries to forget Allie and move on with his life. He gets a job where he impresses his employer and inherits a fortune, enlists in the army, and takes up a project of refurbishing an old house in New Bern where he intends to settle down. But despite all these, he is still unable to stop loving or thinking about Allie. Allie, on her part, is engaged to be married in a few weeks but decides to visit Noah in New Bern to seek closure from an old flame. However, things do not go as planned as Noah and Allie find themselves falling in love with each other again, and Allie is left with the difficult decision of choosing between her current fiancé Lon and her old flame Noah. The Notebook Complete Plot Summary Warning : This article contains spoilers and important details Chapter One: Miracles This chapter is titled “Miracles.” We are introduced to Noah, who at this point is frail at eighty years old, as he repeats his habit of visiting Allie’s room in the morning to read to her from an old notebook. Noah remarks to himself that the outcome of his visit to Allie is never predictable, but this never changes his resolve to visit her every day and to hope for a miracle that defies science and all odds. The content of the notebook Noah reads makes up the subsequent chapters. Chapter Two: Ghosts The second chapter, titled “Ghosts,” flashes back to Noah in his early thirties. He is a wealthy war veteran who is haunted by memories of his lost love but tries to pacify his mind through physical work and poetry. Noah lives in solitude with his dog Clem and with occasional companionship from his neighbors and beneficiaries, Gus and Martha. Meanwhile, Allie is a few weeks away from getting married to a fellow socialite, Lon Hammond, who is also an exceptional lawyer. But when she reads a newspaper article about how Noah is reconstructing an old historic building in New Bern, she decides to visit New Bern and see Noah. Allie lies to her fiance that her visit to New Bern is just to shop for antiques. She checks into a hotel in New Bern and calls Lon from the hotel room. Satisfied that she would not speak on the phone with Lon for the rest of the day, she leaves the hotel and drives to Noah’s house. Chapter Three: Reunion In Chapter Three, titled “Reunion,” Noah is both delighted and surprised to see Allie in his driveway after fourteen years of separation, but he calmly welcomes her, and they have dinner together in his home. They do not talk much or catch up on lost time; they just eat together and enjoy each other’s company until late at night when Allie leaves with the promise of visiting the following day again at noon. Chapter Four: Phone Calls In this chapter captioned ”Phone Calls,” Lon calls Allie’s hotel late at night but does not receive a response. He calls the reception at the hotel and is informed that Allie had left the hotel hours ago. This makes Lon suspicious, and he begins to think of all the details that will enable him to make sense of the situation. Eventually, he remembers that Allie had once loved a boy in New Bern and connects Allie’s absence at the hotel to this old lover. Chapter Five: ”Kayaks and Forgotten Dreams” and Chapter Six: ”Swarms and Storms” The main occurrence in these chapters is Allie’s second visit to Noah. They go on a kayak ride in the creek where they see the scenic view of flowers, swans, and other beautiful elements of nature. They, however, get caught in the storm and hurriedly return to the house to warm up and have dinner. Allie is constrained to spend the night in Noah’s house because of the storm. After freshening up and having dinner together, Allie and Noah make love by the fireplace and reignite their passion and love for each other. Chapter Seven: An Unexpected Visitor Lon is worried when he cannot reach Allie at her hotel after many hours and numerous calls. Because of this, he excuses himself from a court hearing that had already commenced and headed to New Bern in search of Allie. Anne arrives at New Bern ahead of Lon to warn Allie about Lon’s suspicion and arrival in New Bern. She then apologizes to Noah for how she treated him in the past and hands over Noah’s letters to Allie, which she had been intercepting and withholding over the years. Allie thanks her mother for her eventual revelation, then taking the letters with her, she leaves Noah’s house to think about her choices and to finally decide who to marry. Chapter Eight: Winter for Two In Chapter Eight, ”Winter for Two” we return to the aged Noah, who has finished reading to Allie from the notebook. Allie, who suffers from dementia as a result of Alzheimer’s disease, asks Noah who Allie chooses at the end because she does not realize that she is the one in the story. Noah replies that Allie chose the one who was right for her. Noah and Allie spend a romantic day together in the nursing home, but Noah does not remind her of her identity or her disease as he believes it will hurt her feelings. Allie regains her memory for a moment and professes her undying love for Noah, an action that defies all scientific explanations about her disease. Noah suffers a partial stroke in addition to arthritis he suffers from, but when he recuperates a little, he continues his routine of visiting Allie’s room to read to her against all odds. What is the plot twist in ‘ The Notebook ?’ The plot twist in ‘ The Notebook ‘ is that Hannah, who is being read to from the notebook, happens to be Allie from the story being read, and the reader Duke happens to be Noah in the same story being read. What did Anne Nelson hide from Allie in ‘ The Notebook ?’ Anne Nelson hid Noah’s letters from Allie because she did not want them together as a couple. Noah wrote countless letters to Allie for twelve years, but Anne ensured that none got through to Allie. Why was Lon suspicious of Allie in ‘ The Notebook ?’ Lon was suspicious of Allie because of the numerous calls he put across to her, all of which she missed, and also because he realized that Allie had an old flame in the town she was visiting. Join Book Analysis for Free! Exclusive to Members Save Your Favorites Free newsletter, comment with literary experts. About Israel Njoku Israel loves to delve into rigorous analysis of themes with broader implications. As a passionate book lover and reviewer, Israel aims to contribute meaningful insights into broader discussions. About the Book Discover the secrets to learning and enjoying literature. Join Book Analysis ADMIN AREA MY BOOKSHELF MY DASHBOARD MY PROFILE SIGN OUT SIGN IN THE NOTEBOOK A history of thinking on paper. by Roland Allen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 3, 2024 An enthusiastic, informative cultural history. A celebration of the joys of putting pen to paper. British publisher and diarist Allen brings his love of notebooks to a lively, wide-ranging history of bound blank pages. Notebooks, he writes, “interest me as a technology that has had tangible effects on the world around us.” The author started keeping a journal in 2002: “Writing a diary made me happier; keeping things-to-do lists made me more reliable (which in turn made those around me happier), and I learned never to go to a doctor’s appointment, or a meeting of any kind, without taking notes of what I heard.” Wondering how and when notebooks were invented and why their use spread, he decided to fill a historical gap with the results of his own sleuthing. After an overview of record-keeping in the ancient world—diptychs, papyrus, and parchment—Allen begins in 13th-century Florence, where ledgers, first on parchment and later on paper, a superior product imported from Provence, became indispensable for business. Books of paper became indispensable for many artists, as well, who developed their techniques in sketchbooks. Notebooks grew in popularity, finding uses in the home to keep track of accounts or compile personal anthologies of entries such as prayers, medical recipes, riddles, and poems. Those anthologies evolved into commonplace books, favored by Erasmus and W.H. Auden, among others. Ships’ logs, travelogues, recipe books, and naturalists’ findings are just a few of the many uses for notebooks across the centuries. Isaac Newton, Swiss naturalist Conrad Gessner, and Charles Darwin recorded their discoveries in notebooks; Leonardo da Vinci worked out inventions. In treating chronic pain or PTSD, physicians have found that for patients, keeping a diary has “proven therapeutic value.” As an intimate repository for thought, notebooks, Allen amply shows, are essential. Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2024 ISBN: 9781771966283 Page Count: 416 Publisher: Biblioasis Review Posted Online: June 13, 2024 Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024 HISTORY | MODERN | WORLD Share your opinion of this book Awards & Accolades Our Verdict Kirkus Reviews' Best Books Of 2017 New York Times Bestseller IndieBound Bestseller National Book Award Finalist KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON The osage murders and the birth of the fbi. by David Grann ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 18, 2017 Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil. Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma. During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorker staff writer Grann ( The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession , 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs. Pub Date: April 18, 2017 ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6 Page Count: 352 Publisher: Doubleday Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017 Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017 GENERAL HISTORY | TRUE CRIME | UNITED STATES | FIRST/NATIVE NATIONS | HISTORY More by David Grann BOOK REVIEW by David Grann More About This Book BOOK TO SCREEN by Elie Wiesel & translated by Marion Wiesel ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 16, 2006 The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the... Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.  He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.  Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006 ISBN: 0374500010 Page Count: 120 Publisher: Hill & Wang Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011 Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006 BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | HOLOCAUST | HISTORY | GENERAL BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | GENERAL HISTORY More by Elie Wiesel by Elie Wiesel ; edited by Alan Rosen by Elie Wiesel ; illustrated by Mark Podwal by Elie Wiesel ; translated by Marion Wiesel Discover Books Fiction Thriller & Suspense Mystery & Detective Romance Science Fiction & Fantasy Nonfiction Biography & Memoir Teens & Young Adult Children's News & Features Bestsellers Book Lists Profiles Perspectives Awards Seen & Heard Book to Screen Kirkus TV videos In the News Kirkus Prize Winners & Finalists About the Kirkus Prize Kirkus Prize Judges Magazine Current Issue All Issues Manage My Subscription Subscribe Writers’ Center Hire a Professional Book Editor Get Your Book Reviewed Advertise Your Book Launch a Pro Connect Author Page Learn About The Book Industry More Kirkus Diversity Collections Kirkus Pro Connect My Account/Login About Kirkus History Our Team Contest FAQ Press Center Info For Publishers Privacy Policy Terms & Conditions Reprints, Permission & Excerpting Policy © Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. Popular in this Genre Hey there, book lover. We’re glad you found a book that interests you! Please select an existing bookshelf Create a new bookshelf. We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus! Please sign up to continue. It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds! Already have an account? Log in. Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials. Almost there! Industry Professional Welcome Back! Sign in using your Kirkus account Contact us: 1-800-316-9361 or email [email protected]. Don’t fret. We’ll find you. Magazine Subscribers ( How to Find Your Reader Number ) If You’ve Purchased Author Services Don’t have an account yet? Sign Up. Advertisement More from the Review Subscribe to our Newsletter Best of The New York Review, plus books, events, and other items of interest October 3, 2024 Current Issue Duterte’s Cruel Tricks October 3, 2024 issue Rouelle Umali/Alamy Then president Rodrigo Duterte at a Philippine National Police ceremony, Quezon City, Philippines, April 2018 Submit a letter: Email us [email protected] Some People Need Killing: A Memoir of Murder in My Country Before the 2016 election in the Philippines, the journalist Patricia Evangelista pleaded with her readers not to believe the sinister promises of Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte, the leading candidate for president. Duterte, a trash-talking strongman from Davao City, on the southern island of Mindanao, had made a career of deploying cops, prosecutors, and vigilantes to commit violence against “criminals,” especially drug users and dealers, in the name of public safety. Now he was vowing to export this brutal politics to Manila and the rest of the country. Evangelista listened carefully to his speeches: Vote for people like us, he says. People like you and me. There are many of us. Don’t vote for people who defend criminals. Forget about the laws protecting human rights. Forget about the regulations made by men. Look up to the sky, and there you will see the eternal justice of God. By what right in the universe do those sons of bitches dare to cook up crystal meth? Where in the vastness of the sky do they find the license to feed drugs to the nation’s children? He had entered the race to oppose Grace Poe, the adopted daughter of Filipino movie stars and a former US citizen. “I cannot accept an American president,” Duterte said. He was the antithesis of Poe: ruthlessly masculine, Filipino to his core, disdainful of America’s liberal-democratic pieties. As the mayor of Davao, he had overseen the killings of more than 1,400 alleged criminals. “The streets will run red if Rodrigo Duterte keeps his promise,” Evangelista wrote. “Take him at his word—and know you could be next.” Evangelista was working the “night shift”—the drug-war beat—for the Manila-based news website Rappler. Within hours of Duterte’s inauguration, the first victim “was found at three in the morning abandoned in a Tondo back alley,” she writes. “A cardboard sign sat on his chest: I AM A CHINESE DRUG LORD .” The police would later admit that they were killing an average of six “drug suspects” per day. Duterte invited the nation to join him in eliminating “drug pushers” and “addicts.” His assault recalled other drug wars waged in the US, Mexico, and Thailand: it responded to real concerns over the spread of cheap, toxic substances and related crime, especially in poor areas, yet did little to cure the joblessness, despair, and chronic pain that often lead people to use and sell. (The average monthly income in the Philippines, which has a population of 115 million, is about $314.) Duterte’s battlefields were far from the gated communities of Manila. His drug war’s only tool was punishment, and in this he was singularly unrestrained. During Duterte’s six-year presidency, his government and supporters killed between 12,000 and 30,000 people; thousands more were tortured, arrested, and imprisoned. His government contorted numbers to cast drugs as the biggest problem in society. Law enforcement exploited the syncretic inventiveness of spoken Filipino to cover acts of unimaginable cruelty. Evangelista offers a partial glossary of this regime: tokhang , a Visayan portmanteau ( toktok plus hangyo ) for “knock and plead,” meaning house visits made by the police in hunts for small-time suspects; salvage , from the Spanish salvaje , which had morphed into “apprehend and execute without trial”; and nanlaban , “to fight back,” used by activists during martial law and now, under Duterte, “the assumption of resistance in the drug war: you fought, and then you died.” In her reported memoir, Some People Need Killing , Evangelista writes that the president, with all the cultivated vulgarity of his speech, “did not call for murder, not once. It was a word he avoided with careful precision.” Those even suspected of drug use or drug dealing “would ‘have to perish,’ said the president. They would be ‘wiped out from the face of the earth.’” Some People Need Killing is both a reporter’s notebook and a contemporary political history of the Philippines. Evangelista pulls from her investigations at Rappler, augmented by diaristic recollections. (“I spent the nights in the mechanical absorption of organized killing.”) She explains in the preface: “This is a book about the dead, and the people who are left behind. It is also a personal story, written in my own voice, as a citizen of a nation I cannot recognize as my own.” Evangelista was born in 1985, the last full year of Ferdinand Marcos’s rule. 1 In 1983, Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., the former journalist and exiled opposition leader, had returned to Manila from Harvard, only to be murdered on the tarmac. When Marcos fixed a subsequent election, hundreds of thousands of Filipinos took part in the Edsa Revolution, which finally dethroned him. “My people said that no man should die because a dictator said he must,” Evangelista writes. “They said it in front of guns. They knelt and they sang and they prayed and they were brave, and because they were, I was born free.” (The writing is like this throughout: dramatic and grandiose.) President Reagan welcomed the Marcoses and their billions in loot to Hawaii; Aquino’s widow, Corazon, became president of the Philippines. During this transition, the Aquino administration installed caretaker bureaucrats throughout the country. In Davao, which had a long history of violence between US-backed government forces and Communist and Islamist rebels, she tapped seventy-year-old Soledad “Soling” Duterte, a schoolteacher and the wife of a former governor. Soling asked that her son Rody, a recent law graduate, take the position instead. In 1988 he was elected mayor, a position he would hold, on and off, until 2016. Rody had grown up wealthy—in “a house with a cook and a driver and an errand boy and a passel of bodyguards”—yet asserted his distance from the transnational elites of Manila. (If the Philippines had to align with a superpower, he preferred China to the US, the former colonizer.) He claimed to know the struggles of a traumatized population and promised to eliminate petty crime, rape, and murder, even if that meant becoming a murderer himself. Drug users and dealers—especially of shabu , the common term for crystal methamphetamine—were metonyms for criminality. Evangelista, who was raised in a middle-class, intellectual household near Manila, has the kind of profile Duterte liked to angle himself against. Her grandfather was a journalist and a founding member of the National Press Club of the Philippines, with close ties to the ruling class. “He shared a typewriter with Ninoy and sent bushels of fresh tomatoes to Marcos,” she writes. As a student at the University of the Philippines, she traveled to London to participate in a public-speaking contest, delivering a speech “about the Filipino diaspora and the promise of multicultural cooperation.” Around that time, the Davao Death Squad, a vigilante group associated with Duterte, engaged in what the United Nations has called “a systematic practice of extrajudicial killings.” Yet these horrors were not widely known outside Mindanao. After graduation, Evangelista worked for the English news channel of ABS-CBN , the country’s dominant TV broadcaster. In 2009 she was dispatched to Maguindanao, a Muslim area of Mindanao, to cover a massacre of fifty-eight people, the majority of whom were journalists. (“I was, at the time, a foreign correspondent in my own country,” she says of her first visit to Duterte’s home region.) She reported to an editor named Glenda Gloria; the head of the newsroom was a former CNN correspondent, Maria Ressa. “Philippine journalism,” Evangelista writes, “is a largely female enterprise.” This was certainly the case at Rappler, which Ressa and Gloria founded in 2011. Evangelista was one of their first recruits. As a profile in The New York Times Magazine noted, initially “competitors derided the mostly female reporting staff as ‘Rappler-ettes.’” But the site made stars of dogged young investigators like Pia Ranada, who at twenty-five covered Duterte’s campaign “before the rest of the news media caught on.” Evangelista, the site’s “trauma reporter,” linked Duterte the politician to Duterte the commander of a war against his own people. She observed how he took the crude puffery of electioneering to a macho extreme. He bragged, as part of his platform, about having shot a classmate at law school, or about a bust of Chinese drug suspects in Davao, in which he’d told a police officer to “finish them off.” (The officer did, killing nine and leaving his colleague to kill two more; they split the bounty.) Duterte and Donald Trump, with whom he ascended in parallel, were around the same age and indulged in a similar shtick: hulking shoulders, comedic timing, misogyny, a message of total liquidation. Duterte would quickly become part of a global authoritarian vogue. What sorts of voters would find this appealing? Evangelista sketches a few profiles. Joy Tan, from a town in Mindanao, had seen family members resort to drugs in the face of conditions beyond their control: “cannon blasts from Camp Abubakar” (rebel fighting); “a riot over the failed delivery of rice supplies”; “the day Super Typhoon Haiyan pounded the province into rubble.” When her brother and cousins sank “so deep into their addictions that they were stealing from the family to buy illegal drugs out of Liguasan Marsh,” she wished for their arrest. Duterte promised to save them all, and Tan was ready to believe: “When Tan saw Duterte on television, ‘it was like seeing Jesus.’” Jason Quizon—who rose from poverty to become an OFW (Overseas Filipino Worker) in the Gulf, supervising a pipeline project—was inspired by Duterte’s campaign against corruption. Just before the election, an extortion scheme that involved the planting of bullets in airport luggage had put OFW s like him in constant fear. “The line between traveling safely and spending weeks in jail had become a narrow one, dependent on the whim of a single airport employee,” Evangelista writes. It was a banal but emblematic dysfunction, which President Benigno Aquino III, son of Ninoy and Corazon, who took office in 2010, mostly ignored. Mayor Duterte stepped into the gap, promising to hire lawyers for scam victims and issuing an ultimatum to Aquino. “What Jason liked was that the mayor was a man of action. That he swore like Jason, spoke like Jason, saw solutions instead of problems, as Jason did.” Duterte won the presidency by a large margin, in a five-way race. Yet at the same time, Filipinos chose as their vice-president (the two are elected separately) Leni Robredo, a human rights lawyer and an ally of Aquino, over Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, the dictator’s son. “The results in that race demonstrated the capricious nature of Philippine democracy”: an authoritarian from Davao was not the same as a dynastic successor. But neither Robredo nor the parliament could stop the new president from pulling the levers of the drug war. Politicians made kill lists, while police officers and vigilantes were rewarded with cash. (The book’s title comes from something a vigilante says at one point: “I’m really not a bad guy. I’m not all bad. Some people need killing.”) Shakedowns were common. Evangelista tells the story of Elena de Chavez, the mother of a young trans woman named Heart who sold tiny amounts of drugs. “It was an enterprise that terrified her mother,” Evangelista writes, but “Heart brushed off the warnings. She said no cop would take notice of a ten-dollar deal. She was wrong.” The police arrested and jailed Heart, then demanded money; de Chavez pawned her husband’s pension to retrieve her daughter. Heart was released, but three days later seven masked gunmen broke into her home and dragged her to a shack down the street. “The man in the lead held his gun with both hands. He ordered everyone back into their homes,” Evangelista writes. De Chavez “found Heart inside an empty house with a bullet in her cheek.” 2 Neither local policemen nor vigilante gangs took their orders directly from Duterte. But his mandate filtered down throughout the country. 3 Much of her book consists of reconstructed crime scenes, such as the tokhang of Dee and Ma, a married couple suspected of using drugs, in a Manila slum. Ma had so feared the coming of the drug war that she kept their treatment records close at hand. “The baby wailed. Ma wept. She thrust a handful of paper at the man who killed her husband. Here was proof, she sobbed, that they had mended their ways.” The witnesses to this execution were the couple’s eleven-year-old daughter, Love-Love, and a baby curled on Dee’s chest. Many, many Filipinos risked their lives to speak with Evangelista and other journalists and human rights groups. A few politicians also resisted the drug war, including Leila de Lima, a lawyer and former senator who’d condemned Duterte when he was still in Davao. De Lima was jailed on bogus drug charges from 2017 until she was allowed to post bail in November 2023, and still faces prosecution. Evangelista offers the case of Efren Morillo, who survived a massacre by the police in Quezon City. He was playing pool outside a friend’s house, with four other men, when a group of officers approached. They ransacked the home and found no drugs, but beat and shot all the men anyway, claiming nanlaban. “Call the crime scene operatives,” one of the officers instructs. “Leave the evidence behind. Say they all fought back.” Morillo, the sole survivor, was prosecuted for assault but refused to take a plea deal. After five years in court, he was acquitted. “The discovery of those lies,” Evangelista writes, was “due only to a single irregularity in the daily circumstances of fatal police encounters under the administration of Rodrigo Duterte. That irregularity is named Efren Morillo.” Not only in the Philippines, but in much of the world, drug use is treated as a moral defect or mental dysfunction. Some People Need Killing doesn’t quite explain how Duterte was able to twist this prejudice into a policy of mass murder. What social conditions made this possible? A bad economy? An increase in crime? Dissatisfaction with the politics that came before? Perhaps Evangelista decided that any explanation would be too conjectural. But as the award-winning Filipino podcast Tokhang sa Tokhang argues, Duterte was not the first politician to push a drug war in the Philippines. In the 1970s and 1980s, Marcos Sr. persecuted drug users alongside Communists; he oversaw the establishment of the Dangerous Drugs Board, a health agency with a tellingly judgmental name. In the 1990s, Vice President Joseph Estrada founded an abstinence initiative based on the Reagan-era Drug Abuse Resistance Education ( DARE ) program, and Alfredo Lim, the mayor of Manila, mirrored Duterte’s Davao approach, killing dozens of suspected drug users and dealers. The persecution of opium users by the Catholic Church goes much further back, to the colonial period. Evangelista notes that the use of illicit drugs in the Philippines is quite low, “roughly half the global average.” 4 The Duterte administration exaggerated the crisis by inventing data and making unscientific claims. (In a recent book, The Ghost in the Addict , the psychologist Shepard Siegel cites Duterte as an extreme case of “appealing to the brain-disease model of addiction”—the idea that every drug user is an addict, and that every addict is beyond rationality.) Yet polls throughout Duterte’s term showed overwhelming support for the war on drugs. Researchers Gideon Lasco and Lee Edson Yarcia have observed that, because of a longstanding religious panic around drug use and limited investments in behavioral health and harm reduction, many Filipinos see forced treatment in prisonlike settings as the only alternative to violent punishment—a “paradigm that dichotomizes between killing and ‘rehab.’” (In my reporting on drug policy in the US, I’ve observed a similar, stubborn reliance on criminal penalties and mandatory treatment.) Every war on drugs is principally a war on the poor, waged in alleyways and shacks. Evangelista describes the home life of Djastin Lopez, who was killed for having used marijuana and meth: twenty-eight members of his family “lived shoulder to sweaty shoulder in four boxes each roughly the size of a standard parking space.” She often had to refuse her sources’ requests for burial expenses. “Sometimes a grandmother would tell me there was no money for school. One woman would plead every so often for a loan—for food, for power bills, for rent, for funds to visit a son in jail.” Evangelista typed these harrowing stories while drinking cappuccinos and chain-smoking in her “apartment suburbia,” she writes with bleak self-awareness. “Had I not been a journalist, the practical impact of Rodrigo Duterte’s election on me would have been limited to my tobacco consumption and little else.” Evangelista worked at Rappler between 2011 and 2018, a difficult period for Filipino journalists. (She left “halfway through the war,” to take a nonfiction fellowship in New York. “Rappler decided my presence in Manila was a security risk. I agreed.”) Some two dozen media workers were killed while Duterte was in power; the majority of these crimes occurred in urban areas and went unsolved. In December 2021, for example, gunmen murdered Jesus Malabanan, a freelance reporter and a contributor to Reuters’s Pulitzer-winning coverage of the drug war, as he was watching television in his family’s store. The Duterte administration also engaged in widespread “red-tagging” (red-baiting), singling out journalists (and activists and professors, among others) as communists. Len Olea, the secretary-general of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, recently likened this experience to “having a target on your face.” Duterte also went after entire media outlets. In 2020, during the worst months of the pandemic, his administration refused to renew the broadcast license of ABS-CBN , Evangelista’s first workplace, jeopardizing 11,000 media jobs and potentially cutting off a weekly audience of 70 million. (The company now has half the number of employees.) Rappler faced the retraction of its operating license and charges of tax evasion and “cyberlibel”; its reporters, most of whom were in their twenties, were banned from the presidential palace. The site was also denigrated as a propaganda arm of the CIA based on its receipt of foreign (namely, American) funding and its large Western readership. “We were threatened daily on social media,” Evangelista writes. “Because we were women, the threats included rape.” (Ressa, the editor-in-chief, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021. Last month an appeals court in the Philippines ruled that Rappler’s license should be restored.) It was harder yet for the photographers. Evangelista mentions Eloisa, who “supplemented the five-dollar contributing freelancer rate with weekends shooting birthday parties,” and Vincent, who was often “the only journalist left following the morgue truck…. Once, when the call came on a Sunday night, he brought his toddler along, leaving her in the car with his wife just long enough to do his job.” Just before Christmas 2020, an off-duty police officer in Manila shot and killed his neighbors: a mother, Sonya, and her grown son, Anton. The cop had become upset when Anton launched an improvised boga firecracker, and the two men got into a fight outside. Sonya intervened, as did the cop’s teenage daughter, who yelled, “My father is a policeman” (meaning, “Do you know who you’re dealing with?”), after which the cop pulled out his gun. It was all caught on video, and #MyFatherIsAPoliceman went viral. The double homicide caused many Filipinos to reevaluate the war on drugs. For Evangelista, the murders registered with “no particularity.” She scoffed at a Twitter post that read, “This is not who we are.” Her anger wasn’t directed at the police alone. “I was furious instead at everyone who announced their indignation after ignoring a four-year parade of coffins.” Near the end of the book, Evangelista stands on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue as cannons shoot confetti into the air. It’s February 2022, the anniversary of the Edsa Revolution, and Duterte, “whose government had allowed the burial of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the Cemetery of Heroes with a twenty-one-gun salute,” has chosen not to come. A few months later, on election day, Evangelista is back on the same avenue. Bongbong Marcos and Sara Duterte, the former president’s daughter, have been elected president and vice-president. “The jubilant crowds have poured into the driveway of the Marcos-Duterte campaign headquarters,” Evangelista writes, “where the citizens of the revolution once marched to overthrow Ferdinand Marcos, Sr.” Duterte’s youngest son, meanwhile, is elected mayor of Davao. Today, nearly two years into Marcos Jr.’s term, the killings have slowed down, but Duterte’s drug war is still official policy, still coming into view. In August a former high-ranking customs official accused close allies of Duterte, including his son and son-in-law, of direct involvement in importing more than a ton of shabu from Vietnam, valued at nearly $200 million, in 2018. (Duterte denies the allegations.) Marcos, meanwhile, has refused to cooperate with the International Criminal Court in a probe of crimes against humanity: “It’s not right for outsiders to tell us who to investigate,” he said at a press conference last fall. Evangelista was recently on book tour in the Philippines. 5 Northeast of Manila, in Quezon City—home to Love-Love, the girl who’d watched a vigilante shoot her parents, and Morillo, the stubborn pool player who wasn’t meant to survive—Evangelista met with survivors and family members at the Church of Our Lady of the Promised Land. They held candles and stood in a circle, under a big white banner that said “ STOP THE KILLINGS .” Despite their protests, despite the investigative reporting and testimonies and human rights reports, the killings did not stop. As journalists, we labor and wish for a different result: accountability, social change, the affliction of the powerful. When this doesn’t happen, what do we make of our work? Returning to the Rappler newsroom this past spring, Evangelista emphasized the keeping of evidence over transformation: “I hope to have honored the people who told the story. I hoped to have done it in a compelling fashion. And I believe in a record, I think that’s what I offer.” At the church meeting in Quezon City, a young woman named Marilyn Malimban, whose boyfriend was murdered on his knees by the police, addressed her fellow survivors—and perhaps us reporters, too. “Tell the story,” she said. “Tell it, again and again. Even if there is no justice now, there is justice above. There is justice somewhere else.” Dynamism & Discipline Living the Nakba An Entry of One’s Own Subscribe to our Newsletters More by E. Tammy Kim The current Hollywood strikes have a precedent in Disney’s golden age, when the company was a hothouse of innovation and punishing expectation. October 5, 2023 issue The longshoreman labor leader Harry Bridges may no longer be widely known, but his philosophy of inclusive, democratic unionism imbues much of today’s most ambitious organizing campaigns. April 20, 2023 issue May 14, 2022 E. Tammy Kim is a contributing writer for The New Yorker , a Puffin Fellow at Type Media Center, and a contributing editor at Lux . (October 2024) Marcos and his glamorous wife, Imelda, stole billions from the state treasury while presiding over the arrests and killings of thousands of supposed “Communists,” all with American support—a common cold war story.   ↩ Later, one of Evangelista’s sources in law enforcement arranges for de Chavez to receive “a wad of bills. Seven thousand pesos, the exact amount Elena claimed had been extorted by the Pritil police.”   ↩ The early years of the drug war focused on greater Manila and depended heavily on vigilante labor; later, the epicenter migrated to Luzon, and the police played a larger role.   ↩ Other reporting, from 2016, suggests that the rate of drug use might be even lower: 1.69 percent of Filipinos ages ten to sixty-nine, compared with a global average of 5.2 percent of people ages fifteen to sixty-four. See Camille Diola, “How Duterte’s Drug War Can Fail,” The Philippine Star , September 19, 2016.   ↩ In January the journalist Carolyn Arguillas met with Duterte and handed him a copy of the book. He hadn’t heard of it, she wrote, but “his eyes lit up upon hearing the title.” See Carolyn Arguillas, “Gifting Duterte with Pat Evangelista’s Book,” Mindanao Times , January 12, 2024.  ↩ ‘Knee Deep in the Hoopla’ December 21, 1989 issue Lost in the Cosmic June 14, 1990 issue The Russians Have a Word for Dressing Up Reality December 22, 1988 issue The Senator Giovanni Agnelli International Prize March 17, 1988 issue Short Review November 20, 1980 issue The Lion of Judah May 20, 1965 issue The Good Soldier December 22, 1983 issue Reagan and the Apocalypse January 19, 1984 issue Give the gift they’ll open all year. Save 65% off the regular rate and over 75% off the cover price and receive a free 2025 calendar! Benchmarks / Tech Buyers Guide Honor MagicBook X16 Plus 2024 Specifications. Price comparison Reviews for the honor magicbook x16 plus 2024. 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An epic of treacle, an ocean of tears, made possible by a perfect, ideal, unalloyed absence of humor. Destined, positively,... Sparks's debut is a contender in the Robert Waller book-sweeps for most shamelessly sentimental love story, with honorable mention for highest octane schmaltz throughout an extended narrative. The Notebook Review by Nicholas Sparks The Notebook Review 'The Notebook' is a classic romantic tale that captures existential themes as it tells a love story between a poor small-town boy and a rich socialite girl.Nicholas Sparks puts a noble and loving soul in the lead character Noah. And Noah's musings are touching thoughts that are both heartwarming and inspirational. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks Book Review: The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks. Allison Hamilton, now 29 years old, can't seem to shake away her first love, Noah Calhoun. Torn between her fiancé Lon and her soul mate Noah, Allie must make a decision that won't be easy and faces the danger of breaking one of these man's hearts. Nicholas Sparks writes a jaw-dropping ... Summary and Reviews of The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks The Notebook is an achingly tender story about the enduring power of love, a story of miracles that will stay with you forever. Set amid the austere beauty of coastal North Carolina in 1946, The Notebook begins with the story of Noah Calhoun, a rural Southerner returned home from World War II. Noah, thirty-one, is restoring a plantation home to ... The Notebook The Notebook. by Nicholas Sparks. Publication Date: February 1, 2004. Genres: Fiction, Romance. Mass Market Paperback: 239 pages. Publisher: Warner Books. ISBN-10: 0446605239. ISBN-13: 9780446605236. Noah Calhoun carried his love for the willowy Allie Nelson with him long after their youthful romance ended. 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The Notebook Movie Review THE NOTEBOOK is a story about a 1940s summer romance between Allie (Rachel McAdams), the daughter of wealthy parents, and Noah (Ryan Gosling), a working-class boy. They're crazy about each other, but her parents disapprove. When Allie goes to college, Noah writes to her every day, but Allie's mother (Joan Allen) withholds his letters. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks Israel loves to delve into rigorous analysis of themes with broader implications. As a passionate book lover and reviewer, Israel aims to contribute meaningful insights into broader discussions. 'The Notebook' is a 1996 novel by American Novelist Nicholas Sparks. It tells the romantic story of two aged lovers and the role of time in their lives. The Notebook Themes and Analysis Themes. Like books such as ' Romeo and Juliet ' by William Shakespeare and ' Pride and Prejudice ' by Jane Austen, the familiar theme of love is found in ' The Notebook ' by Nicholas Sparks. Also, there are other less popular but important themes, such as aging, memory, beauty in nature, and class discrimination in this novel. The Notebook movie review & film summary (2004) June 25, 2004. 4 min read. "The Notebook" is based on the best-selling novel by Nicholas Sparks and directed by Nick Cassavetes. 'The Notebook" cuts between the same couple at two seasons in their lives. We see them in the urgency of young romance, and then we see them as old people, she disappearing into the shadows of Alzheimer's, he ... 'The Notebook' review: Nicholas Sparks' novel leaps onto the stage review: Nicholas Sparks' novel leaps off the page and onto the stage in emotional new musical. Noah and Allie's love story still isn't over! The pair's whirlwind romance is brought to life once ... Amazon.com: The Notebook: 9781455582877: Sparks, Nicholas: Books The Notebook. Mass Market Paperback - June 24, 2014. by Nicholas Sparks (Author) 4.6 13,389 ratings. Book 1 of 2: The Notebook. See all formats and editions. Experience the unforgettable, heartbreaking love story set in post-World War II North Carolina about a young socialite and the boy who once stole her heart -- one of PBS's "Great ... Reviews: Here's What Critics Think of the World Premiere of The Critics are weighing in on the world premiere of The Notebook at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Based on the bestselling novel by Nicholas Sparks that inspired the film of the same name, the new ... Kobo Libra Colour e-reader review The Kobo Libra Colour is a colored e-reader and notebook with long battery life and a waterproof design. Learn more about my experience using it to download and read books via OverDrive. The Notebook Review. The Notebook is a poignant story of true and unending love in its purest form, and the power and magic of love to defy all odds. It begins with an elderly man, sitting by his wife's bedside, reading her a story. From there, we travel back in time to when star-crossed lovers Noah and Allie met as teenagers in 1932 and spent one magical ... The Notebook Rated: 1/5 Feb 2, 2019 Full Review Leslie Felperin Times (UK) A honey-dipped love story with a surprisingly tart aftertaste, The Notebook is a better-than-you'd-expect adaptation of Nicholas ... The Notebook Summary by Nicholas Sparks The Notebook 'Spoiler-Free' Summary. ' The Notebook ' by Nicholas Sparks begins when Noah, who lives in a nursing home for old people, visits his wife Allie, who stays in another room in the same nursing home. When Noah gets to Allie's room, he sits down and begins to read to her from a notebook. The story Noah reads from the notebook ... Book Review, Synopsis [PDF] The Notebook Book Review. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks is a contemporary love story set in the period of Pre and Post World war II. The story revolves around Noah and Allie who spend one summer together when they were still young and carefree. THE NOTEBOOK A celebration of the joys of putting pen to paper. British publisher and diarist Allen brings his love of notebooks to a lively, wide-ranging history of bound blank pages. Notebooks, he writes, "interest me as a technology that has had tangible effects on the world around us.". The author started keeping a journal in 2002: "Writing a ... The Notebook The Notebook is a 2004 American romantic drama film directed by Nick Cassavetes, from a screenplay by Jeremy Leven and Jan Sardi, and based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks.The film stars Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams as a young couple who fall in love in the 1940s. Their story is read from a notebook in the present day by an elderly man, telling the tale to a fellow ... Duterte's Cruel Tricks Some People Need Killing is both a reporter's notebook and a contemporary political history of the Philippines. Evangelista pulls from her investigations at Rappler, augmented by diaristic recollections. ... Best of The New York Review, plus books, events, and other items of interest. Email Address. Continue. More by E. Tammy Kim. Storyboards ... Honor MagicBook X16 Plus 2024 Обзор Honor MagicBook X16 Plus: имба среди офисных ноутбуков Source: Hi-Tech Mail RU→EN Single Review, online available, Very Long, Date: 07/26/2024 essay homework paper phd project resume review study thesis