May 13, 2004

ON MY BOOKSHELF

“The Notebook”
By Nicholas Sparks

Danielle Bickar, 17,
Leigh High School senior

There’s something magical in blooming flowers, green grass, and even drippy nostrils. There’s something beautiful about teenage romance ignoring sweaty palms or an awkward exchange of the lips. There’s something exciting about that happening every year in the springtime. But there’s something even better at Leigh High School. There, Danielle Bickar refuses to fall for any of that business before she feels ready.

“I’m not in love right now,” said Bickar. “I’m really more concerned with helping other people.”

Currently, Bickar, a veteran member of the Longhorn’s tennis team, is preparing for a summer of semi-love, avoiding any longterm commitments while assuring herself of a good time spent watching movies, hanging out with friends and working at Curves, a physical fitness center for women.

Next fall Bickar plans to attend West Valley in preparation for an U.C. Irvine transfer into its pre-med program.
“My mom has spent 20 years working in Good Sam’s Intensive Care Unit for infants,” explained Bickar. “I’ve always wanted to follow her into the field and try to become a doctor. I think it’s very important to help others and I believe in the value of medicine.”

However, despite a firm stance against too much too early, Bickar found Nicholas Sparks’ “The Notebook” extremely touching in the romance department.

In “The Notebook,” teenaged Allie Nelson falls deeply in love with Noah Calhoun over the course of a steamy, southern summer. However, after Noah is sent away to boot camp and several subsequent tours across the Atlantic fighting the Axis forces in World War II, Allie promises to marry an ambitious attorney, Lon Hamilton.

Upon Noah’s return, Allie finds herself caught in a case of love lost versus reality. Will Allie follow the Southern Caste System, obeying her parents and marrying Lon, or will she follow her heart and choose Noah?

Despite what “Publisher’s Weekly” calls “slim dimension and cliché ridden prose,” Sparks explores a magnificent and original framing device, supposing that the two characters meet years later in a convalescent home. From there, Noah focuses his attentions dictating their recorded love to Allie relying on a childhood notebook of hers. In this sense, the story can be read in two fashions—either tragedy or love story.

“I would definitely recommend this book,” said Bickar. “In the end, Allie’s Alzheimer’s couldn’t control the love that the two had shared at one point. Allie remembered in the end. The book was very touching. I thought it was cute for love to conquer all.”

As for Bickar, her love can wait for another spring.

“I’m young,” said Bickar. “Why would I want to waste that time in a serious relationship?”