Author: David NichollsTitle: One Day
Publisher: Vintage
Pubish Date: 2009
Buy: Amazon
Book Blurb: 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.
Review: My BFF loved this book and was super excited to see the movie. I was super excited to read the book when she loaned it to me. It has taken me almost 6 days to read 420 pages. ARGH!
I wanted to love this book. Really, I did.
Sadly...I just feel a bit meh about it. I couldn't connect with Emma or Dexter. In fact, I found I couldn't like either of them. Emma, because she let Dexter walk on her, as well as her strange ideals. Dexter was just a wanker. Even when he was less unlikable, he was still a wanker, and a total screw up.
I spent a good deal of my reading time wanting to reach through the pages and choke him.
The whole book seems to filled with Em and Dex and their road to togetherness. It takes forever for that to happen, and when it does, it is hard to fathom why Em still loves him, because Dexter is a drunken jerk.
And to make matters worse, this book is a tear-jerker. These two can't live happily ever after.
*SPOILER ALERT*
Em freaking dies!
This is where I wanted to throw the book out the window, or at least stick it at the bottom of one of my cat's litter pans.
Really, Mr. Nicholls, you couldn't let these two obnoxious characters live out their lives together?
Well, screw you!
Then the book has to go on for more than 30 pages after that..with anniversaries and parts of their life that weren't told previously.
This book drove me mad! Em and Dex were well written characters, how could they be anything else when they inspire such strong emotions from a reader? The plot had promise, but the characters annoyed me so much, I couldn't feel happy for them when they got together..and most of the time, I wished they'd grow up or get a grip...or SOMETHING!
I can't fathom what the movie was like, and after reading this, even the beauty that is Jim Strugess, probably couldn't coerce me into watching it.
Rating: 2 flowers
2 comments:
I was beginning to think it was just me! I wasn't crazy about this book either. Like you I wanted to like it.
I completely agree with you on this - Dexter was obnoxious and Emma was weak. Two characters it was very difficult to warm to. The book didn't even come close to living up to the hype for me, so thanks for setting the record straight.
My review: One Day by David Nicholls
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