Book 53 – One Day

Book – One Day
Author – David Nicholls
Year – 2009
Genre – Fiction
Recommended by Lucie Jordan

If all books were this absorbing then this challenge would be easy.

I mentioned in one of my blogs how lovely it is when people get in contact about The Book Challenge.  So many people have gotten in touch and recommended books that I am having difficulty keeping up.  It is expecially nice when someone who you haven’t seen in ages gets in touch – such as Lucie, a friend from my theatre group at uni who I think I have seen once in the past five years.  She sent me a lovely message and recommended this book – and what a great choice.

The book starts on 15th July 1988 with Emma and Dexter in bed together after their graduation party.  Both are young and massively studenty – albeit in very different ways.  We then fastforward to 15th July 1989 to follow the both of them.  This continues, following the next twenty years, each time looking at the same day.

The characterisation is brilliant.  Within a couple of dozen pages you feel that you are friends with both characters.  Like a big freak, I found myself cheering out loud when something good happens, and groaning with a hand over my face when you see the approaching inevitability of a complete mess up looming.  At one point I had to put the book down to take stock over something happening.  It is pretty rare that it is possible to get that involved in a book, and it is such a wonderful feeling when you actually do.

There are a select little band of books that I feel make a massive impact on you and can be truly described as ‘unputdownable’.  Off the top of my head Game of Thrones, The Time Traveller’s Wife, The Book Thief and more recently How To Talk To A Widower have all done this to me.  One Day is definitely up there now.  If you haven’t read it, do it now!

10/10