Saturday, July 17, 2010

Read It!: One Day by David Nicholls

I had one of those experiences last night of reading a book that really touched me and broke my heart. It is rare that a book will give me this feeling, usually it is a movie or tv show episode.

The book: One Day by David Nicholls:





The book follows two people Emma and Dexter who spend a night together the last night of college, each acknowledges (without telling the other) that they feel attached to another, and then go there separate ways in life while maintaining a friendship that borderlines on spilling over to a love relationship. If they would just talk and have their lives collide at the right time without pushing each other away.

The story is told on one day (July15th), every year, for twenty years. It seems like that couldn't possibly work, just dropping in on both characters on one day every year, but it does. It works very well. Throughout the time they live very different lives but rubber band back to their friendship over and over. Always doing the dance of attraction and the hurt of not connecting on that level due to life (and themselves) preventing them from exploring it.

You come to really care for the characters despite Dexter becoming a bit of a semi-famous, party boy and Emma having her own life troubles. The connection between them fairly crackles with life on the pages. And the ending, I won't say anything except it broke my heart.

It was a surprise I liked this book as much as I did since it has been featured in a lot of publications getting rave reviews. I usually don't connect with books that the masses and critics like. Instead of going "Eh" like I usually do after reading a book that everyone says is good, it left me sobbing like a silly girl and thinking about my life. I definitely recommend it and strongly encourage EVERYONE to read it.

So, definitely a book to check out, especially if you like fiction that explores relationships between people and is all about "not seeing what is right in front of your face" when it comes to emotions/love.

Read it!

2 comments:

WendyB said...

I did read it in one day! Excellent book.

SnapandPrint said...

I am glad to hear someone else enjoyed it as well that I know!

It really made me a sobbing mess and heartbroken. That is a sign of a good story written well.