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| Photo taken from Goodreads |
Book Info
Title: One Day
Author: David Nicholls
Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks
Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 448 pages
Source: Purchased, National Book Store
Summary
From Goodreads:
"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."
Review
One day, I picked this book up in the bookstore. In one day, I read and finished it. In that one day, I realized that One Day by David Nicholls is a book that will linger in your mind not just for one day.
Okay, pardon that slight bit of melodrama. Let me assure you that this book has none of that melodramatic tendencies, that struggle to make the reader feel as the characters feel. That will just come naturally, given that Mr. Nicholls have perfected the art of evoking a myriad of emotions in just a single paragraph.
One Day is a story of love, friendship, and irony. Love because it documented the slow and arduous pace with which Dexter and Emma's long friendship blossomed into love. Friendship because of course, this started out as a friendship that involved a great deal of joy and adversity. And last, irony because they never seemed to have the right place/right time/right person for anything. Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley met on the night of their graduation day, and have remained friends ever since. This book saw them as they matured and lived year after year on the same day that they first met.
But just because this is a book that is mainly about two people of the opposite sex does not mean that it is just that: a love story. There is more to this than that. This is the kind of book that most writers would dream of writing, as the philosophical and humorous aspects of life are blended to create a memorable modern classic that will be sure to engage any reader. The premise is very exciting, as it is not often that one reads a story in which there is only one particular day every year that is visited to create a continuous, well-paced prose. The voice is genuine and candid, without any flecks of artifice or effort in conveying a believable narrative. Dexter and Emma were wonderful characters to read about, and their yearly antics, shenanigans, triumphs, and failures were very real and simple, yet exciting. Their story had that rare balance between truth and fiction that makes a contemporary book more intriguing than others.
Simply put, One Day is that perfect modern classic you have been searching for all this time. But as much as it could be considered a literary masterpiece, it still gives you the capacity to simply enjoy its story for what it is, get lost in Dexter and Emma's world and become their friends; become this book's friend.
Rating
If you have any questions on this particular rating, please refer to my ratings system here.
Notice
All opinions expressed in this book review are my own and not influenced by any party in any way.
Please contact me for questions, comments, and suggestions.
The Culprit
Ah! I would love to read this book. My eyes played a little trick on me with the cover at first and then i realized it was two people about to go in for a kiss aah!
ReplyDeleteYeah, at first I thought it was something like Across the Universe since it's got almost the same concept.
ReplyDeleteAnd do you know that this is now turned into a movie? Emma is going to be played by Anne Hathaway and Dexter will be played by Jim Sturgess. I can't wait to see it!
I've had this book in my locker at work for ages, have passed it round my colleagues and still not got round to it, but i really want to. It's not my usual sort of read but for some reason I'm drawn to it.
ReplyDeleteGreat review, I think I may move it up my TBR pile now. :D