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One Day | 
 enlarge | Author: David Nicholls
Publisher: Vintage
Category: eBooks
This item is no longer available
Rating:  133 reviews
Sales Rank: 106
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Pages: 448
Number Of Items: 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
ASIN: B0036S4CTS
Publication Date: June 3, 2010
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Product Description
It’s 1988 and Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley have only just met. But after only one day together, they cannot stop thinking about one another. Over twenty years, snapshots of that relationship are revealed on the same day—July 15th—of each year. Dex and Em face squabbles and fights, hopes and missed opportunities, laughter and tears. And as the true meaning of this one crucial day is revealed, they must come to grips with the nature of love and life itself.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 133
Cool concept September 4, 2010
bookworm1858 (San Diego)
One Day by David Nicholls
Vintage Contemporaries, 2009
435 pages
Contemporary; Romantic
4/5 stars
Summary: Tracing the relationship of Emma and Dexter over a period of twenty years, checking in on them on July 15 of every year. Following their various relationships, falling-outs, making-ups, and everything in-between. A huge hit in England, where it came out last year before crossing the pond to us this year.
Thoughts: I had basically only heard raves of this book; then I saw some negative feedback but by then I had already gotten the book so I decided that I would take it with me on a trip where I had ample reading time. I ended up finishing it while I was waiting at the airport to go home which meant I had nothing to read on the plane :-(
I was conflicted about this as it has some of the things I don't like in books: casual sexual relationships, smoking (seriously Europe why do you smoke so much? OK that's really only based on this book and Larsson's books but still), and a lot of drinking. I also went through periods where I really didn't like the characters. First I didn't like Dex who's a womanizing alcoholic for much of the book. I understood how Emma could like him because he had this charm and I totally get it but I don't like it. In many ways, they're absolutely awful people, which is understandable as we're just getting snapshots of their life and people have bad days.
I liked the "hook"-it worked pretty well and while sometimes there were huge changes in between years, it was not difficult to follow those changes. Nicholls is a very good writer and created a pretty believable story for these two characters.
I hated the end. Don't want to spoil it but if you know what I generally like in books, you will understand when you read it for yourself. Also note that it is being turned in to a film starring Anne Hathaway (love her! although why not an English actress-I love Emily Blunt personally) and Jim Sturgess. My advice is to read the book first so you can tell everyone about it once the film arrives.
Overall: An intriguing love story with a lot of things I don't like in books.
Cover: I really love that it's kind of like that optical illusion so I think it's quite cool; my friend liked that the title is raised.
 Waterproof Mascara and Lots of Tissues Recommended! September 2, 2010
Ollie's Mum (Cape Cod, MA USA)
I adored everything about this book, even the not so perfect ending. Emma and Dexter are friends who will live in your broken hearts long after you have finished the last page. Would love to see Jennifer Ehle play Dex's Mum in the movie version!
Holy fastness. August 31, 2010
JennySherm
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I feel like I ordered this a second ago, and it's already in my mailbox in excellent condition. Honestly, the items arrived three days before the earliest estimated arrival date...and in plenty of time for me to read the book before my book club. Thanks!
 Realistic but not worth a book August 30, 2010
D. Fletcher (Northern Virginia)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I agree with many of the other reviewers that this book does seem to paint a realistic view of life after college and the struggle to find your place, identity, career, love, etc. but I found NOTHING unique about the characters in this book that would lead me to recommend it to others. Sure, the idea of each chapter taking place on the same day over the course of 18 years is interesting - in fact it was what finally sold me on this book - but it shouldnt have. The banter is witty at times sure, but the characters are not lovable or even unlikable enough to really make a good story or make them characters that will stay with me over time like Cleave's Little Bee. I will admit it kept my attention enough to finish the book - I was intrigued enough to learn how the story of these two would finish but with hundreds of other great books out there - I wouldnt let my friends and family waste their time on this one. I liked this book better when it was called There Should Have Been Castles by Hermann Raucher. It's out of print but you can get it used on Amazon - THAT you will thank me for :)
A "Gimmick" Book That Transcends The Gimmick: Excellent! August 30, 2010
Jenners (East Coast of the U.S.A.)
I love a book with a good gimmick, and One Day has a great one: the story takes place on the same day over the course of 20 years. Each year, we check in with the two protagonists--Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley--on July 15 (which, as Dex tells Em is St. Swithin's Day) and see how their lives and relationship are developing.
The thing with gimmicks, though, is that an author might come up with a great gimmick but not be able to execute it effectively. I'm pleased to report that David Nicholls writes a book that lives up to (and even exceeds) his gimmick.
The easiest way to describe One Day is as a "literary version of When Harry Met Sally" ... if Harry was a handsome TV personality with a drinking problem and Sally was a plain-looking, bookish nerd and the story went on for a few year after the happy ending. The real comparison, of course, is that Dex and Em are meant for each other (the reader knows it, Em sometimes knows it, Dex seems blissfully unaware of it) but--for one reason or another--keep missing each other because life (jobs, relationships, success) constantly gets in the way. Seeing their friendship and lives develop over the course of the book was a true pleasure. I thought Nicholls did a brilliant job of handling the "one day" check-in each year without making it seemed forced. The story develops naturally, and we get invested in Dex and Em and their relationship ... so much so that I was stunned when Nicholls pulled the rug out from under me towards the end.
Nicholl's writing feels genuine whether he is writing from Emma or Dexter's point of view. There are quite a few amusing scenes that had me cracking up, but Nicholls provides emotional heft as well. When reading, I found myself utterly absorbed, and I was always wondering where the next July 15 would find Dex and Em and what they would be doing.
The only real quibble I had with the book is that I wish Nicholls hadn't chosen to give Dex and Em such "glamorous" careers at various points. I didn't think the book needed it to "goose" up the drama/comedy, but it is a minor complaint.
If what I've written so far hasn't convinced you to check this book out yet, how about a few excerpts?
EXCERPT: Emma on being a writer: Sometimes, when it's going badly, she wonders if what she believes to be a love of the written word is really just a fetish for stationery. The true writer, the born writer, will scribble words on scraps of litter, the back of a bus tickets, on the wall of a cell. Emma is lost on anything less than 120gsm.
EXCERPT: Emma on being a writer (again): ... but she was discovering once again that reading and writing were not the same - you couldn't just soak it up then squeeze it out again. She found herself unable to think of a name for her detective, let alone a cohesive original plot, and even her pseudonym was poor: Emma T. Wilde?
EXCERPT: Dexter caring for his baby daughter: How much longer until she can speak? A year? Eighteen months? It's insane, an absurd design error, this refusal to master speech just when it's needed most. They should come out talking. Not conversation, not repartee, just basic practical information. Father, I have wind. This activity centre leaves me jaded. I am colicky.
EXCERPT: Emma thinking about her friends: What has happened to her friends? They used to be funny and fun-loving, gregarious and interesting, but far too many evenings have been spent like this with pasty, irritable hollow-eyed couples in smelly rooms, expressing wonder that baby is getting bigger with time, rather than smaller. She is tired of squealing in delight when she sees a baby crawl, as if this was a completely unexpected development, this `crawling'. What were they expecting, flight?
My Final Recommendation
This deliciously fun and engaging story of a relationship developing over the course of 20 years is told in a "gimmicky" fashion (we check in with the main characters on the same day throughout the book) but transcends the novelty aspect to be a heartfelt, genuine, realistic look at modern life and relationships. An engrossing, fast read that will tickle your funny bone and touch your heart. (How much did that just sound like a blurb on the back of a book jacket? Perhaps I'm turning into a "real" book reviewer!)
Note: This book is already being made into a movie starring Anne Hathaway as Emma and Jim Sturgess as Dexter.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 133
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