At a recent movie, I saw a preview for a new movie called The Notebook. It looked like a World War II love story, and being the hopeless romantic I am, I wanted to see it. A friend suggested I read the book first. He said it was a great love story. It was a short book by Nicholas Sparks, so I figured I could read it in a few hours. I did like the story, but having a master’s in writing and having studied fiction writing, I couldn’t separate the editor in me from the reader. The first few chapters of the book were what you’re taught not to do in writing--telling not showing. The scenes weren’t fleshed out enough. In short, I wasn’t impressed with the writing, but I did like the story.

The story is about Noah and Allie, teens who share a summer romance. After summer, she goes back home and they lose touch. Years later, she is getting married to someone else--the perfect man, a great job, good family. But he lacks something, namely, her love, so she reconnects with Noah. In the book, the story really begins with their reunion. The book has a surprise ending, and when I was done reading it, I thought it was a touching, beautiful love story but it didn’t evoke emotion in me.

The movie, on the other hand, had tears quietly rolling down my cheeks. Though it was the same story with some of the same scenes and dialogue, the movie was so much better. It started the story from the beginning, showing you the most important thing--the thing the book neglected to show--how these two people came to love each other, which seems as important as their reunion years later.

Where the book made the characters seem flat, the movie shows them in 3D. The movie has a magical quality to it. Perhaps it’s the cinematography--you can see this serene magic in the opening scene where Noah is rowing on the water. Or maybe it’s the acting. Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams have the perfect on-screen chemistry. They have perfect timing, and you can believe that these two people are in love. Or maybe it’s the fact that the movie makes love seem lasting and innocent, something wonderful and ideal. The 1940’s backdrop takes us back to a simpler time where love and loyalty meant something. The characters have a choice: follow their hearts or do what makes sense.

A great sadness comes to Noah and Allie in the end of this story, which shows the beauty of commitment, loyalty and enduring love--the reality of love that is left when the ideal is gone. It shows a sacrifice that is lost in modern-day relationships.

In the theater, I couldn’t hold back tears, and I could hear people around me sniffling. At the end of the movie, I saw old men looking down, not wanting to admit it hit them too. I highly recommend this movie. The lines are real; there’s nothing cheesy in the dialogue. If you do plan on reading the book, I would read it first because for once, the movie is better than the book.