Review of The Notebook (2004) by Dusty L — 21 Apr 2016

Unfortunately for Sparks, not all people have fuzzy feelings towards his collection of books and movies. Many complain that Nicholas Sparks is repetitive, unoriginal, unrealistic, and manipulates emotions. To some degree, these "haters" have a point--Sparks is very formulaic, and he does rely on the whirlwind romances, and his stories are blissful, beautiful, and magical like fairy tales, and they do all end with illness and horror and death. However, there is validity in what these "haters" have to say. Many claim Sparks uses the same formula for all of his tales. He begins all, or almost all of his books and movies, with a whirlwind romance. Everything is blissful and beautiful and magical, and as quickly as the characters hearts are all wrapped up in attaining a fairy tale ending, something bad, usually death or illness, presents itself. The story usually end fairly quickly after one of the main characters die, leaving the readers disappointed and wanting more. This can be rather frustrating for readers and there is truth in what these people have to say. But what if all of Sparks's critics are actually misunderstanding what he is trying to do?

Nicholas Spark's uses a blend of love, heartbreak, and tragedy to create a beautiful and realistic tale of the young couple through his ability to play with neo-sentimentalism.