July 30, 2013
When does night become morning? After midnight? At dawn? It's debatable, since people might say "it's four o'clock in the goddamn morning, why are you up writing another blog post?" But it's still dark out, absolutely silent except for the sound of some traffic on the nearby interstate, and the crickets sounding. I can't sleep, obviously. I have a lot on my mind. The job that I was hoping for didn't work out, and I was pretty bummed for much of the day. But a pleasant afternoon at one of my part-time jobs and a talk with my dad helped me to adjust my attitude and straighten my head out. I have one more interview (tomorrow morning), for a position very different from any I've sought before. But come what may, I know I have to be patient. I had five interviews this past year, pretty damn good considering that I hardly had any interviews just out of college (and I sent out hundreds, literally hundreds, of resumes). I know that being in grad school puts me at a disadvantage, and also that when I do earn my degree in another year, it will open up possibilities that I never had before. I have lots of options, and very little right to piss and moan. Anywho...
So I remember this sleepover that I went to in the 8th grade. Some of the girls wanted to watch A Walk to Remember, and I remember thinking that it was an incredibly stupid movie (though I must admit, I didn't pay that much attention...I do remember this scene with Mandy Moore singing in a school play that went on for much longer than would be necessary or realistic). I've always lumped the sort of people who would be Nicholas Sparks fans with those who would call themselves "Twihards" (*shudder*). So when friends of mine wanted to go and see The Notebook in high school, I was more than a little reluctant. And I actually really loved that movie. Rachel McAdams is so gorgeous and charming, and Ryan Gosling...well, he's just absolute perfection, no doubt about it. I mean, The Notebook is a love story that even men admit to enjoying, so I guess it's right up my alley. So when I was compiling my list of books, and deciding on some contemporary works to try, I figured that if I was going to venture into any contemporary romance (not my favorite genre by a long shot), I might as well give this one a try.
I should note that the film version of this story is different from the book in many many ways, and that really surprised me. The basic premise is the same: an elderly couple in a nursing home (she has Alzheimer's and cannot remember him) are briefly brought back together, sometimes, when he reads to her the story of how they'd loved each other when they were young, were forced apart, but found each other again and rekindled their love years later, before it was too late. The characters are basically the same: Allie, Noah, Lon, and the two lovers' respective parents, and a couple of friends mentioned, make up the story's characters. It also follows the same basic plotline. But the details and the various scenes are, mostly, quite different. I will say here that I liked the book (the last part made me tear up a couple of times, just like the ending of the movie does), but I kind of liked it in a different way from the movie.
I feel that the movie better establishes the love affair that Noah and Allie had as teenagers one summer. In fact, it hardly makes up a chapter of the book, while it's a huge chunk of the movie, and my favorite part. In the book, Noah does not aggressively pursue Allie as he does in the film, and their love is much quieter, still passionate, but not with the sometimes fiery rage of the couple in the film. They don't have scabbles; they enjoy sitting quietly, reading poetry or love letters or whatever. The Noah and Allie of the film are more interesting characters on the whole.
Allie still loses her virginity to Noah, but in the film, it wasn't until their reunion years later. In the book, they had sex during that summer as teenagers. I guess the filmmakers had to be careful about that one, but it was interesting that they kept Allie a virgin all those years. When Noah seduces her (or rather, they seduce each other) after coming in from the rain, it is her first time in the film; in the book, it is a reunion of their bodies. I find that significant, especially since Allie never had sex with Lon, though they were together for several years (in the book). It makes her love for Noah seem stronger, somehow, that they had this physical as well as emotional bond, and that it all came back into place when they reunited.
The back story about Allie's mother's affair with a young working class man was not part of the book; in fact, I felt that in the book, when Allie's mother comes to confront her while she's with Noah, that that whole conflict was resolved much to quickly. It made it seem to me like Allie's choice was not a difficult one, after all, especially since she seemed to have her mother's support in it. There is no doubt that she will be with Noah. In the movie, they try to build up some tension here a little more, make it an actual question, but it never really is.
I could really go on and on about all of the differences, big and small, between the book and the film, but my point is this: even though they are different in so many ways, the spirit of the story and its major themes remain the same in the adaptation. I wonder if any real Nicholas Sparks fans were upset at how much the movie deviated from the book, but maybe because I've loved the movie for so long, I can appreciate the book now. Or something like that. I still find the most heart-wretching part to be the ending, when they are old, and Noah is trying desperately to refresh his wife's memories, to "bring her back" to him each day.
As I read the book, though, I found myself questioning if the true love that Noah and Allie felt for one another could really be true. It's the stuff of so many stories, throughout recorded history. True love...is it for real, though? I mean, does it happen in real life? And if it is real, but it is as rare as people say, then is it likely enough to hope for? What seems tragic to me, personally, is longing for something (like true love) that isn't true or real. I've always been a skeptic about this kind of thing. I don't know why. I've had my heart broken (as I've touched on in this blog), it's true, but not enough to make my bitter. And I've always felt this way, even before those stormy affairs (bahaha) of my later teenage years. But the belief that I have is this: love takes time, and love requires work. I personally do not believe in love at first sight. I appreciate Noah and Allie's story more when it described their children, the life that they'd built and shared together. That is true love, in my humble opinion. And it's real, without a doubt; everyone can have it, as long as they're willing to work for it. I guess my problem with love is, for so long now, I haven't met anyone that I feel attracted enough to, that I have enough compatibility with, or enough of a spark with, or what have you, that I would be willing to put myself out there, to give my heart away. I've always been told not to settle, and I never would, but I have to wonder about my approach to this whole thing. I guess you could say that reading The Notebook has made me want love, real love, love that could be true. It is out there, but like the perfect teaching job, it will not fall into my lap. I have to keep working at it (or actually start working at it?), just like I've been applying relentlessly for jobs. They always say that everything is a matter of perspective, and I suppose it's true. I guess that as I work on adjusting my attitude about my job search, I should try to think differently about the possibilities of finding love (that is true, or real, or whatever you want to call it). I'm not looking for my Noah (haha, weird to put that, since I have a brother by that name); I'm not looking for a man to write me love notes or read Whitman to me. But I guess it would be nice...
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| Ryan Gosling in Crazy, Stupid, Love. You're welcome, bitches. |
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| Even a callous, cold-hearted person such as myself can't resist this. All together, now: AWWWWWWW! |
Thanks for writing this.
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