People – it is an International Bestseller for a reason.
And I had the pleasure of reading it while I was death sick with a cold at a random cottage for a weekend. I don’t even know where to begin. I guess it really hit home because the story begins with a guy (Dexter) and a girl (Emma) on the eve of their university graduation – and I could feel their sense of possibility; the deliciousness of an unknown future.
At my university graduation, I knew where I was going to work in September, where I was travelling in the summer, who my boyfriend was etc. But I DO remember that feeling of unknown possibilities that I felt in years 1 through 3 and I’m trying to find it again now.
From the beginning, there is an undeniable connection between Emma and Dex, that is so rare to find in life. Period. Add to that the mystery that comes with young attraction and they become addictive to the reader. David Nicholls develops his characters in such a gradual, sharp way that it feels as though they are real life people. I could run into them on the street and have a conversation.
The dialogue is hilarious with Emma as a sarcastic, unconfident, artistic, going-to-save-the-world-one-day goody-two-shoes and Dexter as a lucky, flawed, superficial, fun-loving lothario. The story interchanges between his and her points of view and every chapter occurs one year later on the same date – July 15.
The title of this book could not have been more perfect, since it encompasses the unique structure of the book, as well as the state of Emma and Dexter’s relationship…One Day.
Through their twenties they make questionable decisions, waste time, fall flat on their faces, get closer and farther from who they are but they ultimately survive and evolve as individuals. It gives me hope that I will emerge from my muddled and confusing twenties, a little scarred perhaps, but ultimately on my way.
Their relationship is a prime example of the saying “Timing is Everything” – while men and women come and go from their lives, their friendship is the one constant. And I felt so frustrated with their relationship –a little “Rachel and Ross” if you ask me, but sooo much more affecting. The writing is honest. I can’t tell you how many times I raced through a chapter to find out what happened.
I laughed out loud and I cried hard. I just re-read the back cover of the book and almost started crying. This book made me think about fate, destiny, love, life purpose, happiness, loved ones, death, the insignificant and the significant times. I hope ONE DAY I can write a novel that is even half as good as this one. I think it is age, culture and gender agnostic. You MUST read it. Before the movie comes out with Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess. Le Sigh.
So, what did you think? I’m assuming you’ve read this book.
This is the cover you should be looking for
I would like to point out, that Anne Hathaway, is kind-of-a-‘hauteh’
Even if she cant act outside of Disney movies. I still may watch it (or rather be forced to at some point…)
Hi,
Great to see you blogging! This book is going on my reading list 🙂
I’ve recently started a blog, the information you provide on this site has helped me tremendously. Thank you for all of your time & work.
Thanks for some quality points there. I am kind of new to online , so I printed this off to put in my file, any better way to go about keeping track of it then printing?
Really nice post,thank you, best website ever
@Nikita – Thanks girl! Let me know what you think once you read it.
@college scholar – thanks so much – I’m glad it helped!
@grants – I just figured out how to create folders in my “favourites” section in explorer. Then when you want to bookmark a particular page on a site, you can file it within the site folder. Also, I have an excel spreadsheet where I copy and paste URLs I want to remember in with a brief description.
@Leaona – thanks so much for the wonderful comment. Let me know if there is a particular subject of interest that you want to see more of.
Some people just don’t get it, like my coworker who couldn’t interpret the objective intention of this section on your post for a reason.And I had the pleasure of reading it while I was death sick with a cold at … it also made me think about the day I ran across my long time friend.
Hi there, I’m slightly confused by this comment. My point in mentioning that I read it while sick was because it took my mind off of how crappy I was feeling and made the weekend bearable. Which is another indication of how great a read it was – it had to work harder to grab my attention. Sometimes when I am that sick, I lose the will to even read (so sad!). Does this help?
Valuable info. Lucky me I found your site by accident, I bookmarked it.