One day

by David Nicholls

Paper Book, 2010

Status

Available

Call number

823/.92

Genres

Publication

New York : Vintage Books, 2010.

Description

Over twenty years, snapshots of an unlikely relationship are revealed on the same day--July 15th--of each year. Dex Mayhew and Em Morley 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. Soon to be a major motion picture from Focus Features/ Random House Films.

Media reviews

Svenska Dagbladet

Må bra-läsning i högsta ligan

— 7 more

Dagbladet

Hun vil forandre verden, han vil feie over flest mulig «En dag» anbefales på det varmeste. Dette er britisk vidd på sitt aller beste, som Nina Aspen imponerende nok har klart å presse inn i vårt mer karrige norske språk. Den «Notting Hill»-aktige kjærlighetskomedien er også en vakker

og vemodig fortelling med en overraskende avslutning. Jeg tipper den må justeres litt for det sentimentale amerikanske filmpublikum når boka nå skal filmatiseres.

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Aftonbladet

Boken är slut men svider än I första kapitlet blickar en ung Emma Morley framåt. Resan dit, till den stora fyran och nollan, blir lång och komplicerad för henne och Dexter Mayhew. Det är en av de bästa böckerna jag har läst.

The New York Times Book Review

“Love and be loved,” [Emma] had told herself, “if you ever get the chance.” It’s something you may want to find out this summer at poolside. And if you do, you may want to take care where you lay this book down. You may not be the only one who wants in on the answers.

People

One of the most hilarious and emotionally riveting love stories you'll ever encounter.

The Guardian

Nicholls's first novel, Starter for Ten, was gagtastic and, in a couple of its setpieces, successfully invited comparison with Lucky Jim. His second, The Understudy, was very, very funny. But One Day is funnier still: the headmaster's beard that becomes a balaclava, Dexter's bubbly co-presenter who

talks in capitals and who "would start a letter of condolence with the word 'Wahey!'", Ian's "tracky botts", Ian's ring-in-the-calamari proposal, Ian's relentless patter - indeed, just about every sentence involving Ian.

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The Times

What lifts it beyond genre isn't just the writing - Nicholls's witty prose has a transparency that brings Nick Hornby to mind: it melts as you read it so that you don't notice all the hard work that it's doing - but the richness of its characterisations and refusal to provide any sort of easy

consolation. For, in spite of its comic gloss, One Day is really about loneliness and the casual savagery of fate; the tragic gap between youthful aspiration and the compromises that we end up tolerating. Not for nothing has Nicholls said that it was inspired by Thomas Hardy.

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Publishers Weekly

Nicholls is a glib, clever writer, and while the formulaic feel and maudlin ending aren't ideal for a book, they'll play in the multiplex.

User reviews

LibraryThing member norabelle414

I was all prepared to gush about this book. How it's not like the other books; not Nicholas Sparks or Jodi Picoult or any of that nonsense. It's a great idea, and a great story, with a great writing style. Dexter and Emma become friends on the day after their college graduation, July 15, 1988, and

they have strong romantic feelings for each other, but the situation isn't right for them to get together. (As is so often true in life). But, they manage to stay friends. Through years and years and jobs and emotions and relationships and breakups and gains and losses. It's not easy, and they are both far from perfect, and they fail (a lot), but they manage. And that's the most beautiful thing I can think of. Dex and Em, Em and Dex. Best friends, estranged friends, bickering acquaintances, completely in love but never talk about it because the situation isn't right. I won't lie and tell you it hasn't made me want to call my own "Dexter", and tell him I forgive him for not calling me on my birthday two years ago, and I'm sorry I told him to f*** off the last time he drunk-dialed me. Because neither of us is perfect, but if someone wrote a book about one day of my life every year, I'd want him to be in some of them.

The format of the book is magical. There's one chapter per year, the events of July 15, every year. And nothing in between. The story moves a long at a faster pace that way, because you're eager to find out not just what happens that day, but also what has happened in the past 364 days. Sometimes the chapters end with a little teaser, since the reader will never directly know what happens the very next day. But the answer is easily deduced from the next year's chapter. It even has repetition (which I love when done correctly) to emphasize the ways in which their lives are the same for multiple years, and the ways in which they come full circle.

And then I got to page 348, at which point the book became complete shit. And stayed complete shit through the end. Why can't authors understand that a book doesn't have to end in both romance and horrible, shocking tragedy? The contrived scenarios are unrealistic, and if I'm going to read a story that is unrealistic why would I read one that doesn't make me happy? (And doesn't have dragons in it?) Life, love, relationships, and friendships almost always, like the world, end not with a bang but with a whimper. This novel had the potential to reflect that, but fell short.

This is a book about growing-up, and the difficulties of friendship, and the difficulties of ordinary life (not contrived tragic life) in general. I recommend it to anyone who wishes that [The Unbearable Lightness of Being] didn't suck so bad.

But for the love of all that is holy, STOP READING AT THE BOTTOM OF PAGE 347.

Please PM me if you would like my address to send me your copy of the book, so I can glue pages 348-435 together and return it to you.

I'm not joking.

The End.

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24 more

LibraryThing member Cait86

One Day is the story of the friendship between Dexter and Emma, two college students in Edinburgh who meet on graduation night. They have an instant connection, and spend the next day, July 15, together. The book then jumps one year in the future, again to July 15. Dex and Em are still friends,

writing letters and postcards to each other, Emma working a crappy job in a Mexican restaurant in Covent Garden, and Dexter traveling the world. Each consecutive chapter picks up on their lives every July 15; sometimes, this day is momentous, and other times it is just a normal day. Emma's life slumps after college, and she has a few years of boring jobs and zero romantic success. Dex is instantly successful, and becomes a TV presenter on an entertainment show. Women throw themselves at him, and he has a string of beautiful girlfriends. Eventually, their lives switch positions - Emma becomes a teacher and writer, and Dexter succumbs to alcohol, loses his job, and is one of those people who used to be famous.

Both main characters are wonderfully drawn, with their good and bad qualities. Dex goes through several years as a self-indulgent ass, and Em's lack of confidence in herself is frustrating. Their friendship is never perfect, but it is always entertaining. Of course, I knew how One Day would end from the first page, because all books about two totally compatible people always end the same way, but this did not detract from my enjoyment of the story.

One Day is better than your average romance; I wouldn't give it any literary awards or anything, but its structure does make it more ambitious than I expected. It was compelling enough that I read it in two sittings, and I wouldn't hesitate to pick up another novel by Nicholls. One Day is a quick, quirky summer read that is better than typical beach novels, and I'm glad I read it.

Oh, and the movie, starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess, looks really good, and I think David Nicholls adapted the novel himself. It opens August 19, and I will definitely be seeing it!

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LibraryThing member sithereandread

ONE DAY, by David Nicholls, is a uniquely structured romance that focuses on July 15 of every year starting from 1988 through the early 2000s. July 15th 1988 was the beginning of the tumultuous Em and Dex (Dex and Em; those who read the book will get the phrase) relationship. This was the beginning

and turning point of their lives that caused these two weave back and forth through each other's lives.

At times I forgot that this book was written by a male author. He completely understood Emma and created a hilarious and real character that I bonded to immediately. Her sarcasm and self-consciousness made her endearing and I wanted to jump into the book to give her a big hug. This is the type of girl I would be best friends with in real life.

And then there is Dexter...oh Dexter. Drop dead gorgeous model looks, womanizer, self-absorbed typical male. As with most women, Em was completely smitten with him. But as Dexter filtered through his girlfriends, Emma was always the constant in his life. She was never afraid to call him out and I yearned for the day that they would both be together.

As much as I liked this book, there were times that the long descriptions of the past years events got to me. I felt discouraged and if this wasn't for the book club I would have stopped reading halfway through. But for those who are discouraged, do not stop! There was a lot of day to day activities in some of the years July 15's but I think that was the point. The same day every year is not a monumentous occasion but it was nice to sometimes get filled in on the past year. At the end of most of the chapters I really wanted to know what would happen July 16.

Overall an awesome book. I was happy this was suggested to me because I can't imagine having not read it. This story lingered long after the last page was read and having Em and Dex in my thoughts makes me not take any of my relationships for granted.

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LibraryThing member seekingflight

I was originally attracted to this novel because I’d heard of its interesting structure – it tells the story of the relationship between Dexter and Emma by recounting the events of one day in each year, the 15th of July, from the first night they spend together after their graduation, in 1988,

for a span of 20 years, until the present, 15 July 2007.

I found myself forgetting the premise while reading, and just enjoying the story, which is perhaps a good indicator that I found this a story well told. It was interesting the way in which key events in the lives of the protagonists took place ‘off canvas’, and were alluded to only in passing when one or the other of them remembered them on the day in question.

I had thought that this would be nothing more than a pleasant light read, but found some of the observations about life and relationships quite profound and hard-hitting. I was challenged by some, and laughed out loud at others.

It was nothing like I’d expected, but nevertheless a very enjoyable (and perhaps also sobering) read about the gap between what we hope to achieve with our lives, and the places we end up ...

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LibraryThing member ReginaR

This book is really hard for me to review. The two main characters are characters that I really enjoyed reading about. I may not have liked Dexter, but reading the dialogue and interactions between him and Em throughout the years was fun and emotional. I absolutely did not like the downward spiral

of Dexter's life and how he essentially dragged Emma down with him. I could not stand his self indulgence and his over the top arrogance -- oh and also his complete self focus. If I knew Dexter, I wouldn't have known him or associated with him for very long. What kept me reading? The pop references were fun and so familiar, it was like a trip down the path of nostalgia for me, I kind of wonder if that alone is what kept me going. The male/female friendship aspect also was compelling. Perhaps since I have moved on in my life and spend so much time with my kids and husband now, I have long since stopped spending alot of time with close male friends - like I had and did when I was in college and the years after college. So reading those scenes was very nostalgic for me. Many parts of this book were painful for me to read, some truly sad things happen to the lives of Emma and Dexter. They each start their lives with so much hope and so much potential, but they both are limited by their own personality quirks. I admit to skimming parts of this book -- particularly the scenes of Emma and other people and Dexter and other people, those were just not as interesting to me and really completely uselss toward the point of the story. Just boring parts. The ending of One Day is extremely extremely sad. I cried for probably 10 minutes. The day after finishing the book I kept thinking about Emma and Dexter. Would it have been different if Dexter wasn't such a self centered and self indulgent loser? If not for that, Emma and Dexter could have had years of happiness together. Dexter was completely unaware of how he negatively effected those around him -- for example his "girlfriend" Suki or the horrible scene of the first time Dexter is left alone with his daughter Jazmine. I suppose there is an argument that if the letter from India had just made it to Emma AND IF she had gone to India to see Dexter, maybe just maybe their years of pain could have been avoided. But at any one time, Dexter could have stepped outside of himself. It is just sad that he did not. I don't see this as a tragic or beautiful love story, but truly tragic that Emma could not move on past Dexter. I also don't buy it, I don't believe that two people could have unrequited love for each other for twenty years and spend so much time together. I just do not buy it. I think that time and people have a way of working these things out if they truly love each other and are meant to be.

I rated this book 4 stars for the emotional effect on me, because I could not put it down, and because I did enjoy reading about Emma and Dexter. But I have some major issues with the storyline and Dexter's choices and actions. I have heard that this storyline is compared to When Harry Met Sally, I see why the comparison is made but it really is not the same story. But, I gotta say that I prefer the relationship between Harry and Sally

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LibraryThing member bkwurm

This is the story of Emma and Dexter, two people who meet at university in 1988 and become... friends. Their story is told by checking in on them only one day each year--June 15th--for 20 years. The two are sometimes together, sometimes apart; sometimes lovers, sometimes friends, sometimes

estranged. Through these 20 years we get to see how each of them struggle with growing up, finding careers and families, and finally make peace with accepting who and what they are.

I enjoyed the book very much, although there were a few times when I was a bit bored with the repetition (Dexter being a drunk f*%k-up got old after a while); and I find that the book improves upon rumination. The more I think about it the more I like it. One of the things I liked so much about it is that there is no traditional happy ending. Truth be told, this both pleased and disturbed me. Like life, we have happy resolutions, but those are always just one part of the whole of our lives. While one thing is going well another is falling apart. I liked that we got to see beyond the happy ending, into the disappointment and hopes of people in their late 30s and 40s, even when they've achieved everything they always thought they wanted.

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LibraryThing member karieh

It’s impossible for me to avoid a “When Harry Met Sally” comparison when reviewing “One Day”. This, too, is a story of two people meeting, connecting. Becoming friends, then not friends, then more than friends, then not…the ebbs and flows of Emma and Dexter knowing one another for

decades.

We get to know Emma and Dexter far better than we do Harry and Sally, though. Mostly because this is a novel and that was a movie, but also, I think, because we learn more about them as they seek to establish who they are and what they will do with their lives. We get more of their youth, of their individual selves, instead of just the moments they are together.

The premise of “One Day” is to take a day, the same day, out of each year of Emma and Dexter’s lives and use it as a snapshot of where they stand in their lives. (July 15th – I kept wondering what the significance of that day was to the author.)

I am an easy target for that type of thing, and it didn’t hurt that the time frame of the book was one that was a close match to my life. As said before, I think the strongest part of the book was the beginning, where the author establishes Dexter and Emma on the day they graduate from college and start to realize that the rest of their lives is ahead of them. Some of the descriptions of that time of life, that college feeling, were particularly well done.

“In his last four years, he had seen any number of bedrooms like this, dotted round the city like crime scenes, rooms where you were never more than six feet from a Nina Simone album, and though he’d rarely seen the same bedroom twice, it was all too familiar. The burnt out nightlights and desolate pot plants, the smell of washing powder on cheap, ill-fitting sheets. She had that arty girl’s passion for photomontage too: flash-lit snaps of college friends and family jumbled in amongst the Chagalls and Vermeers and Kandinskys, the Che Guevaras and Woody Allens and Samuel Becketts. Nothing here was neutral, everything displayed an allegiance or a point of view. The room was a manifesto…”

The ups and downs of each of their lives provide interesting contrast and as a reader, I went back and forth on whether I wanted these two people to get together or not. I gnashed my teeth when I felt they were making terrible choices, or when they were making choices that would have made all the difference if only they knew what the other was thinking.

One day, one moment, can make all the difference in a person’s life…or in this case, two people’s lives. This story of Emma and Dexter is an enjoyable and touching one…and in the end, the reader comes away feeling s/he experienced far more than just numerous July 15ths with them.

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LibraryThing member triscuit

Lad lit at it's best but the characters not sympathetic enough to root for.

LibraryThing member idroskicinia

Some months ago I had the opportunity to see this book at a bookstore but with a different cover, and I admit it! I didn't pay any attention to it. I remember that I read the synopsis but it didn't catch my attention, this book didn't seem to be a book I would enjoy, so I continued with my search.

A few weeks ago, I found it again, but this time was the Movie Tie-in Edition, and OMG! I fell in love with it and I couldn't resist the temptation so I bought it. (You can see how much power a beautiful cover has over me. Hurrah for awesome covers!!)

"One Day" talks about the life of two different people, Emma and Dexter who met the last day of College, and we will have the opportunity to meet them again and over again the same day, July 15th during a period of 20 years. Every year we will find out how is their life going, if they are happy or unhappy, or if they are in love with someone or not. Also, we will see how their relationship is developing.

I must say that I was in love with the book when I started reading. C'mon, that was the first time I was reading a book like that. It's something unusual to find a book that the story takes place the same day during 20 years! But… (Yes, there is always a "but"!) But after reading some pages (200 to be exact!) I found out that this book wasn't what I was expecting, or what I wanted to read.

I'm not saying that I didn't like the book or that I didn't enjoyed it, because I was reading it and I wanted to know what was going to happen, and I couldn't put it down until I finished it, but I was expecting something else, more development, more story, more feelings. I mean, we are talking about 20 years, and there are a lot of stuff going on in 20 years, don't you think? And that is when I found myself reading about trivial things like the difference between the main characters' beds! Hello? Some things are good to know when you're reading a book, like for example important details that make you understand how are the characters and why they behave in the way they do, but I think that in this book there were a few details that were not so important.

Instead, I felt that there were a lot of things missing. Some parts of their life were missing, too! The romance… oh, God, I just don't understand it. Because they liked each other, but at the same time they wanted to be apart or with somebody else… and I just don't want to talk about the ending! I better avoid it because I will finish giving this book a rating it doesn't deserve at all.

Conclusion:
This book is easy to read, and like I said before, I read it in just a few days because I wanted to know really bad what was going to happen at the end. The ending for me was a deception, or should I say a "disaster"? I know that there are a lot of people who loved this book, and I understand it, because it's really easy to like. I can tell you that I liked some parts, but of course, I hated others. I recommend this book to those who are NOT waiting to read a great romance story, or a funny love story, or a happy ending. Maybe you will like it better that I did.

Happy Reading!

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LibraryThing member laphroaig

"One Day" is a stop-motion image: every year we catch-up with Dexter and Emma, from their first meeting at university graduation and then on each anniversary after that.

Proudly advertising praise by Nick Hornby and Tony Parsons, this novel falls squarely within a "bloke lit" category. If that makes

anyone uneasy, it shouldn't: Nicholls' style is self-assured, fluid and easy to read and his characters walk in and out of scenes without the sense of the author giving them their prompts.

Yet what elevates "One Day" over another well written relationship novel is its sharp notes of emotion. Emma and Dexter's banter and the generally witty tone is punctuated by occasional and touching insights into the lives of its characters, as we catch-up with both their highs and lows. ("And it's such a nice feeling, making someone laugh, that maybe you get a bit reliant on it," observes one character sadly in the middle of a disasterous date.)

While the pedantic may find "One Day" a little too scripted, a little too commercial, there is little doubt that it is excellent read, one which left me with an odd sense of loss when it came to an end.

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LibraryThing member Lillput

David Nicholls does one-line wit in dialogue in much the same way that Aaron Sorkin does. It's dialogue that sounds spontaneous but you know no one would ever really say it. Nevertheless, that made for the odd smile.
Sadly, though, that was the one and only highlight for me - I found the plot leaden

and contrived, the characters at once mostly unbelievable and largely tiresome.
I finished it because it was a World Book Night read and I felt obliged.
Clearly the Times, Marian Keyes and Nick Hornby found something in it that I couldn't see.
Never mind

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LibraryThing member HeikeM

Dreadful. Stupid people with no common sense doing stupid, senseless things, wasting their lives away. Dreadful. Utter dribble. Did not like it.

LibraryThing member MickyFine

Dexter and Emma encounter each other on July 15, 1988, the day after their graduation from college. But that one day serves as the foundation for a relationship that will last over twenty years. Growing up, finding careers, and drifting apart and back together, their friendship and potential

romance is the point to which they keep returning.

Essentially a novel of snapshots, each chapter takes place on July 15 stretching over the period of 1988 to 2007. In them, we watch these two main characters struggle with life, their identities, their decisions, and where they're going. An intriguing narrative style, this decision to only reveal one day in each year challenges the reader to deduct and speculate at the events that take place in the intervening time. While I found Emma more sympathetic than Dexter, the two characters are equally interesting and I definitely was rooting for them to make it through all of their bad phases to a better place in their lives. I particularly love that the ultimate theme and reasoning for the style of the novel is revealed in an epigraph that alters the reader's perception of the entire novel. A fascinating character study and a narrative style highly worth experiencing.

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LibraryThing member cathymoore

This was fantastic. Just really bloody brilliant. Emma and Dexter hook up after graduating from Edinburgh university. The story then visits them on the same day of each subsequent year through their twenties and thirties giving us just a snapshot of their lives and how they remain intertwined as

they progress through time. Hilarious and heart-breaking in equal measure. Will Emma ever manage to change the world? Will Dexter ever really grow up?

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LibraryThing member tipsister

I had high hopes for One Day, by David Nicholls, and most of them were met. The story is about a man and a woman who meet on July 15, 1988. Every chapter takes place on July 15, year by year, for twenty years. Emma wants to be a writer who changes the world. She's a bit of an idealist at times.

Dexter just wants to have fun. He wants to travel and do things that are exciting.

Despite their differences, their friendship thrives. They have years where they don't talk at all. They have years where they lean heavily on each other. There are some chapters when I hated Dexter. I hated that he drank too much, partied too much, and didn't realize that Emma was there for him. There were chapters where I hated Emma. She was too complacent and accepting of her dull life. I, being the hopeless romantic, wanted them to fall in love from the start.

As frustrating as the story was at times, I couldn't help but want to know what was going to happen next. A year in their lives would go by as I moved to a new chapter, but talented writing filled in the gaps. Ultimately, the book left me heartbroken - but in a good way. I miss Dex and Em. Em and Dex. I look forward to meeting them again in the upcoming movie.

One Day is a very high concept novel that really works. It's just right.

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LibraryThing member nancyewhite

Two young people, Em and Dex, have a one night stand on their last day of college in 1989. This book follows them through the next couple of decades with the conceit of looking in on their lives on the same day each year. Growing up proves challenging and mistakes are made. Much like real life,

they each do despicable things, have successes and, inevitably, failures. We follow along waiting to see if they ever simultaneously realize that they love one another. There is the inevitable comparison to When Harry Met Sally which the book pulls the rug out from under by being smart enough to reference the movie, but this novel is grittier and more realistic. It is also very dryly funny and anyone who came of age in the late '80s will find it well-observed and sometimes cringe-worthily accurate. All told, I found it hard to put down and finished it in a couple of days.

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LibraryThing member michaeldwebb

For the first few chapters I thought this was going to be the worst book I'd ever read - a soppy, charmless romance, chick lit lite or something. But it gradually won me over, and be the end it was actually quite moving.

One Day is the story of two friends, Emma and Dexter, told by narrating one day

a year over a twenty year period, from the age of 20 to 40, charting the ups and downs of their careers and love lives.

In the early part, I found Dexter particularly dislikable and Emma shallow and one dimensional, but gradually, they became fleshed out, more realistic, and by the end I was pretty attached to them, and found myself rooting for them. Some of the support characters don't really work (particularly Ian the wanabe comedian, Emma's husband at one point), but overall, worth picking up if you want a light read.

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LibraryThing member dawnlovesbooks

i have to admit that i shedded a few tears near the end of this book and felt quite depressed when i finished. then again, those are the kinds of books i adore, that really get to you! i really enjoyed the author's writing. the book was funny, sad, heartwarming and heartbreaking. i was rooting for

emma and dexter to get together the whole time and let's just say the ending wasn't at all what i expected!

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LibraryThing member kjarvinen

So simple set-up and fairly polarised/stereotyped characters, yet a very compelling read. Like a TV drama series you don't quite understand why you like but you do (Desperate Housewives, for me). Includes genuinely funny witticisms.

LibraryThing member tashtashtash

I'm not sure what all the fuss is about with this book, although the idea behind the book is a good one. I couldn't connect with the characters at all, and their dialogue was just embarrassing. The way they talked, thought and just their whole characters reminded me of an embarrassing parent trying

to impress their teenager by pretending to know what words and phrases are 'in'. I know it is set over a long period of time so therefore fashions and slang change, but honestly, some of the things the author came out with for them just made me cringe.

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LibraryThing member jcwlib

My bookclub picked this book for February due to the focus on a romantic relationship. When the book was initially described to me, I thought the concept of following a couple throughout many years but just focusing on one specific day was an unique premise.

It was hard to relate to the Emma and

Dexter. I found myself loving them one chapter and being bored by them in the next chapter. The book definitely reads well and I can see how Nicholls is compared to Nick Hornby. In a way, each chapter was like an episode of a soap opera, but not as far fetched as a soap opera plot.

When the significance of the day highlighted throughout the book is revealed, I was shocked (actually reacted with a sharp intake of breath). I did find myself guessing what the significance of the day was as I read through the book. In fact trying to figure out the mystery might have pushed me through this book.

This book was a good read and I'm curious to see how the book adapts to the big screen.

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LibraryThing member ELEkstrom

This book surprised me many times - it became another book I couldn't put down. I loved an hated Dex and saw a bit of myself in Em. I felt it was more Dex's story than Emma's and at times I remembered my own twenties and saying and doing things like Dex and Em an Em and Dex. I was not expecting the

ending, though. Now I'm waiting for release of the movie and hoping it does Mr. Nicholls' work proud. I've already recommended this book to several friends.

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LibraryThing member cliffagogo

It's becoming increasingly hard to knock David Nicholls. I'd hoped that the decent quality and originality of his first novel (Starter For Ten) was a fluke, that his second book would fall into the lazy lad-lit of so many of his contemporaries such as Tony Parsons or Mike Gayle, for instance. Then

I could get all high-and-mighty, pretentious even. Sadly, this novel is even better - outstanding, even. I'm not a fan of this genre in the slightest, but found myself hanging onto every word. Spanning twenty years, it charts the friendship (and love affair) of Dexter and Emma, and within a couple of chapters you're completely immersed in their world. Thoroughly, unashamedly enjoyable from beginning to end.

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LibraryThing member miralaluna

This book is very over-hyped. I found the protagonists to be flat, as they tend to be described rather than doing anything to demonstrate their characters, so I never really felt any affection for neither Emma nor Dexter.

Nicholls also failed to convince me of why two such people would ever cling

onto one another for so long, especially after only spending one brief night together.

I also found the very false-sounding and cliched dialogue to be irritating.

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LibraryThing member flydodofly

great read, good sense of humour - really enjoyed it

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