Saturday, January 7, 2012

One Day by David Nicholls

I was initially drawn to this book by the concept of portraying two people through the happenings on only one day per year (15th July) over a span of twenty years. I was wary that plot holes or a lack of understanding of the characters might develop from the leaps however on the contrary, the record of them over such a long time made me appreciate them, their choices, and their relationships all the more. Nicholls knows how to weave a plot - ending chapters with cliffhangers such as "Don't worry about a thing. Tomorrow. We'll talk properly tomorrow," leaving the reader for several chapters before they are fulfilled with the knowledge of what was discussed "tomorrow" - now about three years ago. I greatly admire how Nicholls has portrayed failure in the novel - throughout it the reader feels the longing and embarrassment of Emma and Dexter and becomes so used to their perspectives of the world that the gaps of time between chapters are easily filled by reader rationale. Despite sometimes being distracted by the lengthy amounts of dialogue (perhaps reflecting Nicholls' background in script writing), I found One Day an enjoyable leisurely read. 

6 comments:

  1. Love how you've photographed this. Is the lantern from Ikea? If so, I've got the same one in gold and red!

    I've only really heard about One Day from the movie reviews... and that didn't do much to spark my interest. The way you've described the book sounds really interesting. Might just need to add it to my reading list. xx

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  2. Hey there! Thanks for your comment!! I haven't read One Day but I saw the movie and it was just wonderful...
    As for books, I don't know ti depends on what you like to read! Lately I read a lot of fantasy or children's fiction and some classics!

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  3. i just purchased this at the airport this morning!

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  4. the cover does look intriguing, I think I'm gonna look for it too.. you made me want to read it.. plus, this photo is beautiful

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  5. I really liked the book, but when I saw the movie I was pretty disappointed.. (which, okay I know, happens a lot in books turned into movies).

    The book does indeed portray the 'failures' in their lives pretty good! But I was really tempted to just stop reading some pages before the last after what happened! I was so shocked and bummed! It's a good story nonetheless.

    Aaand I like the photo, nice colours.

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