But I Can't Live Forever, I Can't Always Be, One Day I'll Be Sand On A Beach By A Sea, The Pages Keep Turning, I'll Mark Off Each Day With A Cross
--"Calendar Girl", Stars
I finished one of the best novels I've read the other day. One Day by David Nicholls on the surface sounds like something I would've liked if it had been recommended to me. However, I actually heard about it from having read the author's previous effort, Starter for Ten (another good book if you've ever read it).
From the product description:
The whole concept of visiting the same pair of friends on the same day each year just appeals to me. Not only does this afford the author the space to develop his character naturally, with the ups and downs of the awkward period between college and settling down, but it also allows him to gloss over having to detail all the mundane bits in between. Some of the best passages in the book are when some innocuous detail from the previous chapter ends up affecting Dexter and/or Emma for chapters to come without them realizing it originally. Conversely, there are other passages where these same two characters believe they are in the midst of really shaking up their life, only to have it turn out that nothing of much import comes of the big decision they have made. Even if the novel only had its conceit going for it I probably would have read it.
But what the book also has going for it, and what I think is its chief selling point, is that it has two of the brightest, if believably flawed, stars in Dexter and Emma. It's been awhile since I read a book that had two compelling characters at its center. Dexter, with all his boisterous confidence in his twenties who ultimately learns to shed some of his arrogance, and Emma, with her huge dreams and small self-image, are a suited pair. Both the author and audience know that from page one. On the surface the novel is a romance between two people who should've been together from the first moment they met, yet who spend the next couple of decades realizing this for themselves. But beneath this framework is the real theme of the book. The book is less about how these two fall in love and more about the process of merging who they are and who they will become. It's about reconciling all those dreams people have of what their life is going to be like with the realities of what their life is turning out to be. Mostly, it's just years of frustration and second-guessing interspersed with moments of great joy and sadness, all the while relying on your dearest friends to pull you through the malaise.
and I'll laugh about all that we've lost
I'm serious. If you're expecting this romantic comedy like When Harry Met Sally... or Sleepless in Seattle, two films this novel gets compared to, you're in for a shock. One Day is moderately darker than those two stories. There's a lot of heartache, even genuine tragedy, contained in the pages of this novel. Indeed, by the end of the book I found myself in a rather sad state at Dexter and Emma's ultimate fate. It wasn't that I didn't see the ending coming; it had more to do with the angst I felt at the circuitous route their journey had to take. I mean--the novel wouldn't have been half as good if the journey was shortened, but it makes for a very sad tale indeed when one realizes how much time Dexter and Emma waste in acting on their convictions. But, alas, that's the human journey in a nutshell. It's about people who think they know what they want but are clueless about as to how to get there or if even there is worth the trouble.
It goes without saying that I recommend this book. Buy and read it now. Hell, buy two so you can give a copy to somebody you care about. That's what I'm doing.
Yours Swimmingly,
mojo shivers
I finished one of the best novels I've read the other day. One Day by David Nicholls on the surface sounds like something I would've liked if it had been recommended to me. However, I actually heard about it from having read the author's previous effort, Starter for Ten (another good book if you've ever read it).From the product description:
'I can imagine you at forty,' she said, a hint of malice in her voice. 'I can picture it right now.'
He smiled without opening his eyes. 'Go on then.'
15th July 1988. Emma and Dexter meet for the first time on the night of their graduation. Tomorrow they must go their separate ways.
So where will they be on this one day next year?
And the year after that? And every year that follows?
Twenty years, two people, ONE DAY. From the author of the massive bestseller STARTER FOR TEN.
The whole concept of visiting the same pair of friends on the same day each year just appeals to me. Not only does this afford the author the space to develop his character naturally, with the ups and downs of the awkward period between college and settling down, but it also allows him to gloss over having to detail all the mundane bits in between. Some of the best passages in the book are when some innocuous detail from the previous chapter ends up affecting Dexter and/or Emma for chapters to come without them realizing it originally. Conversely, there are other passages where these same two characters believe they are in the midst of really shaking up their life, only to have it turn out that nothing of much import comes of the big decision they have made. Even if the novel only had its conceit going for it I probably would have read it.
But what the book also has going for it, and what I think is its chief selling point, is that it has two of the brightest, if believably flawed, stars in Dexter and Emma. It's been awhile since I read a book that had two compelling characters at its center. Dexter, with all his boisterous confidence in his twenties who ultimately learns to shed some of his arrogance, and Emma, with her huge dreams and small self-image, are a suited pair. Both the author and audience know that from page one. On the surface the novel is a romance between two people who should've been together from the first moment they met, yet who spend the next couple of decades realizing this for themselves. But beneath this framework is the real theme of the book. The book is less about how these two fall in love and more about the process of merging who they are and who they will become. It's about reconciling all those dreams people have of what their life is going to be like with the realities of what their life is turning out to be. Mostly, it's just years of frustration and second-guessing interspersed with moments of great joy and sadness, all the while relying on your dearest friends to pull you through the malaise.
and I'll laugh about all that we've lost
I'm serious. If you're expecting this romantic comedy like When Harry Met Sally... or Sleepless in Seattle, two films this novel gets compared to, you're in for a shock. One Day is moderately darker than those two stories. There's a lot of heartache, even genuine tragedy, contained in the pages of this novel. Indeed, by the end of the book I found myself in a rather sad state at Dexter and Emma's ultimate fate. It wasn't that I didn't see the ending coming; it had more to do with the angst I felt at the circuitous route their journey had to take. I mean--the novel wouldn't have been half as good if the journey was shortened, but it makes for a very sad tale indeed when one realizes how much time Dexter and Emma waste in acting on their convictions. But, alas, that's the human journey in a nutshell. It's about people who think they know what they want but are clueless about as to how to get there or if even there is worth the trouble.
It goes without saying that I recommend this book. Buy and read it now. Hell, buy two so you can give a copy to somebody you care about. That's what I'm doing.
Yours Swimmingly,
mojo shivers
Labels: courage, David Nicholls, One Day, regrets, Stars
posted by mojo shivers @ 2:41 AM
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