What are your impressions of One Day?

What are your impressions of One Day?

I would give this book 2-3 stars out of five. The plot is interesting in the first and last quarters, but the middle half is repetitive and much too long.
The real problem with this book is the poor quality of its prose. A 435 page novel has to offer good writing as well as a good plot. The writing here is uninspired. turgid and flat, so the only motivation to continue reading is the plot, which is also second rate.
The heroine Emma is appealing, but the hero Dexter is a jerk, as are almost all the men in this novel. The women, other than Emma, are no better. .
For the American reader, the only interesting thing about this book is its insights into life in Britain from 1988-2007.
I have a feeling that the film will be better than the book, because it will shorten the amount of time to get the message to 2 hours or less.

I couldn't disagree more! The novel began a little slowly for me, but once it hit its stride, I was involved with the characters, enjoying the dialogue, and intrigued by Nicholl's depiction of the young urban professionals who can't seem to grow up enough to lead adult lives. Emma's dialogue is brilliant, and though I got frustrated with Dexter, which was the point, I found both to be authentic and believable. Primarily, though, the novel captures a generation and its "peter pan-complex" in a refreshing, keen way. I thought at the beginning of the novel that it was going to be a trite, love story, but it ended up being more about maturity, pursuit of happiness, and the courage of living one's own life, then I expected.

I have to agree with yehudif. I wanted so badly for the two of them to really be in love but they never quite connected the dots.

I enjoyed the book very much and was so involved with the characters that there were times I yelled OH NO! out loud when a particular interaction or occurence was distressing. I think we all root for happy endings and hoped they would finally live happily ever after. I did have difficulty understanding Emma's undying love for Dexter since he was so immature and selfish.

I have to say I was very disappointed in this book. I can't imagine that many clueless people would come from a generation! There were too many who didn't seem to know what real life was all about, and the groups they were with just didn't seem real to me. I hope there aren't that many people like that out there.

It was hard for me to finish the book, and I only did because I'd said I would discuss it on here. I'm afraid I have to agree with yehudif. Obviously, we all have different tastes, and this book just wasn't my cup of tea.

As for the movie, the only review I've read was not too encouraging.

One Day was something of a slog. I didn't enjoy spending time with either Emma or Dex. I join dianed, only finished the book because I said I would participate in the discussion. I was interested in the plot device of using one day each year and that worked pretty well. That I finished it at all is a hats off to Nicholls who, it must be said, is a good writer with many deft touches. I just did not believe that anyone could care about Dex who is charmless (although described as charming). What did Emma see in him -- for all those years. Beats me!!

I liked the book more than I thought I would. As others have mentioned, I really wanted Dex to not be as shallow as he was and not to take soooo long to connect with Emma! Her death at the end seemed to me to punctuate the reality of life. Most people experience disappointment, heartache and tragedy. I must also confess that I did not realize until I had finished the book that it was written by a man! I guess I just never thought about it, and as I read it must have felt that it was written by a woman. I think that might be a compliment to the author!

I did not enjoy the book and had little patience with either one of the main characters. I wanted to yell at them: "Don't you realize you're living your lives here? You won't have the luxury of going back and re-doing these years if you ever decide what you think you want to do." Very early in the book, I agreed with Dexter's mother that perhaps things came too easily for him. I felt there was little satisfaction for the reader when these characters finally got together. Maybe that was the point. Was the author telling a story of "too little too late" and showing that these characters should have been more decisively involved in living their own lives as all those years slipped by?

Ultimately, I was disappointed in this book. I liked Emma and although I found her annoying at times, I thought she had redeeming qualities. But I never understood what she saw in Dexter. He was just too self-centered and immature for too long--I couldn't sympathize with him at all. And it seemed to me that the character of Emma existed only to "save" Dexter, but then once she had saved him and they got together, she was expendable. I never expected them to live happily ever after. In fact, I expected them to stay together for 5 or 10 years and then get divorced because I thought that Dexter was incapable of lasting change. It might have been interesting to watch them face difficult issues as a couple. But they never got the chance because, in my opinion, the author took the easy way out. The greatest challenge for Dexter would have been staying in a committed relationship for years and years and dealing with all the ups and downs that are inevitable in such a relationship. But at the first sign of trouble (Emma not being able to conceive), the author killed her off. Frankly, that seemed like a cop-out to me. I could have lived with divorce. But when Emma died, I felt emotionally manipulated and just really, really annoyed. Did anyone else have the same reaction?

I'd give it 3 stars. I really liked most of it. People transitioning. Ups and downs. Promise of university vs. real life. Some of the more gritty parts, like the Mexican restaurant really appealed to me. Watching the characters evolve was wonderful. However, I couldn't shake the feeling that the point of the book is that women can wait for/change any man until he's perfect. And I HATED the ending, and it didn't exactly alleviate my fears. A different conclusion would have made this a great read for me. Still, I loved the writing and would read something else by the author.

Unfortunately, I found this book to be rather dull and unexciting. It took twenty years for these two to decide that were in love and should get married(?) In spite of time frame, I never really felt I could identify with the characters. Some of the vignettes were rather humorous but not enough to carry the story line.

I give this book five stars. It is a wonderful love story and a literate page-turner. The characterization is well-done and I feel like I know Dexter and Emma well. Bonnie Brody

I gave it four stars. I enjoyed this book and it showed the confusion many young adults feel about their lives after college. I was devastated when Emma dies and have to say I did not see that one coming.

I didn't care for the one day every year conceit; it seemed contrived and a bit odd that there wasn't a year when something momentous wasn't happening. I thought less of Emma when she dropped what she was doing in Paris to take up with Dexter; she was so much better than he in every way.

I don't think their marriage would have lasted long term; Dexter was bound to do something to mess it up at some point, probably have an affair.

I did get caught up in the stories, and had to read the end section twice to make sure I understood that Emma had really died. In truth, I thought it should have been Dexter. He was a jerk.

This book will stay with me for a long time. It is a true love story with all the starts and stops that can happen. I loved the concept of seeing their life once a year and looked forward to the changes in their characters and circumstances. But it was so shocking when she died--my heart stopped and I felt lost. I almost wanted the book to end there but would have missed the beautiful love that was revealed after that.

I listened to this one as an audio book, and the narrator's performance was fantastic. She really brought the characters to life. I'm not sure I would have found the print book to be as entertaining because it was quite long and sometimes repetitive. The audio made this one worthwhile for me.

I think Gwendolyn makes an interesting point, there are a great many books that I'm sure I've enjoyed more because I listened to them. I'm not sure if I would have made it through Franzen's Freedom if I hadn't listened to the audio version, for example.

Are the audio books different than the print books? I thought that they just read the books, but it sounds as if that's not the case.

Hi Diane - so we don't take this conversation too far off topic, I've opened up a new discussion on audio books here: http://www.bookbrowse.com/booktalk/messages.cfm?threadid=A68DA7A9-FFAC-581F-C886F1F46A212F65

I had a really difficult time getting through this book as I found it really boring. The plot of one day a year, while at first intriguing, did not reveal enough about these very shallow characters. Therefore, I did not grow to care about them at all. Both Emma and Dexter were just too immature and drifted through life. I kept waiting for them to mature, to turn the corner, and it didn't happen. I did not find it a well-written book. I definitely struggle with it and have no interest in seeing the movie.

I have never read a book where I liked the characters less than Emily and Dexter. If I had them in front of me, I would shake them both. I haven't quite finished reading yet; I am bogged down 3/4 of the way through. I am finding it difficult to ploy forward. Finding I couldn't care less what happens to them both