The Notebook: A Great Example of How to Use Flashbacks

Spoiler alert: If you haven't read The Notebook, by Nicholas Sparks, or you haven't seen the movie, I'm about to give away the story line, so if that bothers you, you may want to skip this post.

I recently (finally!) read The Notebook. I got tired of all the buzz about it being referred to as the best love story ever, or the quintessential love story. I wanted to know what all the buzz was about.

So I read it. And oh my God. What a book. It's not a very long book – about 240 pages. But it's long enough for the characters to be deep, and real, and raw, and for readers to fall in love with them.

What I like most about The Notebook though, is Sparks' use of a flashback. Next to A Woman of Substance by Barbara Taylor Bradford, The Notebook is the best use of the technique that I think I have ever read.

Page one starts with an old man shuffling around a nursing home. But the book quickly shifts to that same man at age 31. Then, for the bulk of the book, Noah is 31, and is remembering or flashing back to age 16 when he first met Allie, so it's actually a flashback within a flashback, because he goes from elderly to 31 to 16, then back to 31, then back to elderly, which is where the book ends.

The shifts in time and age are well choreographed, and the flashbacks are easy to follow. I highly recommend reading The Notebook first if you are considering putting a flashback in your book.

Or, if you're not writing a book, but you happen to love good romance stories, The Notebook is one of the best. Enjoy!

Please check out my novel, In Fashion's Web on Amazon.