One Day
Author: David Nicholls
pages [paperback]: 435
memorable quote: “Do you think it’s a conspiracy, people secretly ganging up to be nice about you?”
favorite characters: dex & em
summary:
review:
OH. MY.
I loved this book so much! With the simplistic writing style, fantastic characterization, and gripping plotline, One Day is at times charming and devastating. It had me laughing at the absurd, lovely moments between Dexter and Emma, or either of them and the other characters that populated the novel. It had me frustrated with their quirks and how it kept them apart, had me realizing just how precious time really is. Because although twenty years seems like an extremely long time, this book shows that it can go by quickly.
What I particularly liked about Dexter and Em was that they weren’t sweetened into farces of people, instead of being shown as the unique ones they could be; filled with weird traits and ideas that made them different from everyone else, and made the two of them seem more real. In fact, nearly all of the characters in One Day are like this.
The tone of the novel, which paints everything with a humorous edge and manages to make even the worst of situations have a bright, comical side, was brilliant. Without it, this wouldn’t be the book it is, and would have stayed much more depressing while dragging on and on. Instead, I flew through the pages, wanting to know what each year brought the two, whether they were first meeting, together, apart, across the world from each other . . . It was hard to keep myself away.
One Day is a heart-wrenching, gut-busting must read for those who like romances that aren’t mushy, stories of love and friendship, tales of growing up and finding yourself, or something that has all of the above. This will definitely be one of my all-time favorites, and I’ll be recommending it to everyone.
STRIKING. 5/5 stars
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