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One Day

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    #32
    Zxc
    Registered Users Posts: 134 ✭✭Zxc


    Amazotheamazing wrote: »
    Interesting book, but did anyone else think the characters were just a little unlikeable? I didn't get the elements that were meant to make them attractive to people.

    As I wrote earlier in this thread, I loved this book, which I read some time ago now.
    I thought the two main characters were quite flawed but very well created and all too human. Emma is down to earth, intelligent, unsure of herself, unworldy but gradually grows in to the world. I loved Emma's self-deprecating humour. Some of her lines had me laughing out loud, and you know the ability to make someone laugh is a very attractive quality. Dexter is priviledged, narcissistic, a bad boy, a bit of a pr*ck but his eventual maturing, even if just a little bit, makes him more endearing.
    The format allows readers to see the evolution of their lives and their characters as the years pass and is one of the successes of the book.

    By the way, I would tend to agree with an earlier poster here who likened some of the book to a screenplay though I dont really have a problem with that. Indeed the book has some screenplay-like qualities. But isn't real life less a series of richly detailed narrative prose and more a collection of short scenes and (ideally) sparkling dialogue?


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    #33
    emeraldstar
    Registered Users Posts: 5,383 ✭✭✭emeraldstar


    Amazotheamazing wrote: »
    Interesting book, but did anyone else think the characters were just a little unlikeable? I didn't get the elements that were meant to make them attractive to people.

    Yes, I agree. I thought that because we were following their lives over twenty years that eventually there'd be something that would deepen my attachment to the characters, but no. I didn't not like them as such, but just stayed very indifferent to and detached from them.
    Emma's death
    had zero impact on me whatsoever.


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    #34
    E.T.
    Registered Users Posts: 1,170 ✭✭✭E.T.


    I agree with you there Amazeotheamazing and emeraldstar. I don't think I'd even remember reading the book if there wasn't so much discussion about it, it fits in my "readable but not memorable" category.


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    #35
    joeyshabadoo
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6 ✭joeyshabadoo


    I liked it. Some memorable passages. Was expecting better given all the hype and reviews.


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    #36
    Amazotheamazing
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,048 ✭✭✭Amazotheamazing


    emeraldstar wrote: »
    Yes, I agree. I thought that because we were following their lives over twenty years that eventually there'd be something that would deepen my attachment to the characters, but no. I didn't not like them as such, but just stayed very indifferent to and detached from them.
    Emma's death
    had zero impact on me whatsoever.

    One thing I didn't like was the feeling of utter futility about growing up. Emma fairly much wasted her life from 22-35 and Dexter seemed to have nothing left to look forward to. Odd book. Maybe life is that awful and I've just been lucky so far.


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    #37
    point7
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12 ✭point7


    Amazotheamazing wrote: »
    One thing I didn't like was the feeling of utter futility about growing up. Emma fairly much wasted her life from 22-35 and Dexter seemed to have nothing left to look forward to. Odd book. Maybe life is that awful and I've just been lucky so far.

    Not one for chicklit books and personally I didn't take to Nicholls other book 'Starter for Ten' (was a bit try hard)... I was v sceptical when it was picked for our book club.

    I have to say though I did enjoy it. I've since recommended it to people who are looking for a chicklit read - saying this is better. It's an easy read with good pace

    But in comment to the above - I geniunely related to the characters... if anything this book had a complete grasp on reality. I actually lived in London for 7 years, so maybe that's just the way it is there. It's a tough city, while I could totally relate to Emma in an emotional way, it was Dexter's industry that I actually worked in. It's not so much 'wasting' life but still finding yourself. I'd like to think for some it may take a while to get there.

    It's not a literally read by any stretch and I wouldn't be bothered with the film. But I'd still recommend it.


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    #38
    jcsmum
    Registered Users Posts: 3,156 ✭✭✭jcsmum


    I was a little bit disappointed after reading this book. It's a nice easy read but that's it. I loved the idea of revisiting the characters on the same day every year over a 20 year period or so, but the story was just flat for me.
    Em is a pretty nice character but I couldn't see any attraction in Dex and not sure what she saw in him to be honest. The ending for me was also disappointing.
    Will be interested to see the film though, Ann Hathaway will do a good job I think.


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    #39
    coconut5
    Closed Accounts Posts: 696 ✭✭✭coconut5


    Amazotheamazing wrote: »
    One thing I didn't like was the feeling of utter futility about growing up. Emma fairly much wasted her life from 22-35 and Dexter seemed to have nothing left to look forward to. Odd book. Maybe life is that awful and I've just been lucky so far.

    I just read the book, and I thought it was really brilliant, I read it in two days. I don't think the point was that she was 'wasting her life', or Dex was wasting his, but I thought it really captured that panic after you finish college and nothing is like what you thought it would be. I'm 25, and I found it really comforting that they are both as mixed up as I am at that age.

    I didn't think the ending was that sad, but I thought some of the passages were so funny, particularly at the beginning. It got a bit darker then for sure.


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    #40
    Mister Dread
    Closed Accounts Posts: 382 ✭✭Mister Dread


    Amazotheamazing wrote: »
    Interesting book, but did anyone else think the characters were just a little unlikeable? I didn't get the elements that were meant to make them attractive to people.
    They had their likeable points and unlikeable, just like in real life.

    I thought it was excellent and I was highly skeptical at the start.


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    #41
    Mister Dread
    Closed Accounts Posts: 382 ✭✭Mister Dread


    Amazotheamazing wrote: »
    One thing I didn't like was the feeling of utter futility about growing up. Emma fairly much wasted her life from 22-35 and Dexter seemed to have nothing left to look forward to. Odd book. Maybe life is that awful and I've just been lucky so far.
    I think everybodies life has the potential to be awful even when it looks like it is going ok. The film "Another Day" also shares the theme of wasted lives. Both can be horribly bleak but I think no more than life itself.


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    #42
    pq0n1ct4ve8zf5
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,070 ✭✭✭✭pq0n1ct4ve8zf5


    I was very pleasantly surprised by this book really, I mean it wasn't the best thing I've ever read but it was a good concept and genuinely funny. Didn't see
    her dying
    coming at all, at the time I thought it was just a kind of cheap shock thing to try and make the book seem more serious or something, but thinking on it further it was the best way to wrap up really
    if that hadn't happened where would he have ended it? It would have been a day in each year of the rest of their lives and been a very very long and quite schmaltzy book


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