Joint Review: A Walk to Remember and The Notebook By Nicholas Sparks (books v. movies)

Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening,

So this is more of a review if you've see the movies and are confused as to whether or not you want to read the books.

Title: A Walk to Remember

Author: Nicholas Sparks

Summary: (since I can’t find a summary that doesn’t give away everything…I’ll write my own, forgive my shortness) Landon Carter found love in the most unexpected way in this heart wrenching story from beloved author Nicholas Sparks.

My Review: For the first time in the history of forever I actually like the movie better than the book. The book was so simple compared to the movie version. Landon wasn’t as sweet and Jamie didn't have a list. The book didn’t seem complete without a list of things Jamie wanted to do with her life. They both seemed kind of detached from the situation. Don’t get me wrong I cried. A lot. And in Nicholas Sparks in the prologue to this book even warned the reader to have a box of tissues with them as they neared the closing of this story.

Title: The Notebook

Author: Nicholas Sparks

Summary (from B&N.com): Every so often a love story so captures our hearts that it becomes more than a story-it becomes an experience to remember forever. The Notebook is such a book. It is a celebration of how passion can be ageless and timeless, a tale that moves us to laughter and tears and makes us believe in true love all over again... At thirty-one, Noah Calhoun, back in coastal North Carolina after World War II, is haunted by images of the girl he lost more than a decade earlier. At twenty-nine, socialite Allie Nelson is about to marry a wealthy lawyer, but she cannot stop thinking about the boy who long ago stole her heart. Thus begins the story of a love so enduring and deep it can turn tragedy into triumph, and may even have the power to create a miracle...

My Review: One of my best friends forced me to watch this movie one night so she could see if I’d cry. I didn’t cry during the movie (she, however, started 23 minutes in) but oh boy when I read the book I bawled. The story is just so bittersweet that you cant help crying. If you’re a fan of the movie you know that you see in detail Allie and Noah’s first summer together, the book kind of glossed over it so there is more time to tell the amazing story of their lives.

I just wish that in the case of Nicholas Sparks movies they’d quit adding all this great stuff because then the books are, sad to say a let down. Either way I’d give both A Walk to Remember and The Notebook four hearts.