One Day by David Nicholls Book Cover
One Day (2009) traces the lives of two university graduates - the funny, intelligent and liberal Emma Morley, and the arrogant, moneyed playboy Dexter Mayhew. The novel opens the day after Dex and Em's graduation in 1988, the pair having just met and spent their first night together, and follows them through the next twenty years, describing just one day each year - St. Swithin's Day. Although they are instantly attracted to one another their lives pull them apart, neither one having the drive or inclination to overcome the hurdles necessary to build a relationship together. And so, for twenty years, jobs, friends and relationships drift in and out of their respective lives; Dexter landing an attractive spot on late-night TV before succumbing to the temptations of alcohol, women and drugs, and losing his youth to a swirl of superficial delights, Emma struggling through a string of low paying jobs and grotty apartments before making progress towards her goal of becoming a published writer. As their lives unfold, seemingly straying further and further apart, the question is: can they find a way to put their baggage aside and rekindle that pure and magnetic attraction they experienced as young graduates?

In many ways the novel is a cautionary tale; an exploration of how we treat, and often fail to nurture, love, and a warning against failing to act from the heart and allowing oneself to be swept up in the triviality of everyday existence, whilst neglecting the most important elements of one's life. In having the novel culminate in the late 2000s Nicholls forces the reader into self-evaluation, and for those of the same generation as the characters, the novel takes on an added significance. Indeed, the novel is very firmly grounded in the time period it depicts to the point, at times, of cliché.

Choosing to focus on just one day each year is an interesting device and one that lends itself well to exploring the evolution of the central characters' lives, however, it also requires a degree of exposition in each chapter, usually via flashbacks, which can irritate a little and provides a strange juxtaposition in a novel that moves forwards so rapidly. The writing though is fresh and flows well, the dialogue evocative of the period described. There are certainly amusing moments; some embarrassing encounters, and witty observations, but too often the novel feels a little dull.

Whilst the over-arching concept is a good one, there are problems. The initial meeting and nurturing of the relationship involves a considerable degree of contrivance given the nature of Dexter's character, and it requires a leap of faith to believe that, whilst moving from one meaningless fling to another, Dexter would go out of his way to draw Emma, to all intents and purposes an equally meaningless fling, into his life. More problematic is one's relationship with the central characters; Dexter is vile for the majority of the novel and, even after becoming a father, shows no signs of maturity and no redeeming features beyond the superficial. Emma on the other hand, whilst being fundamentally a sympathetic character, is frustratingly directionless and one roots, rather than for Dexter to see the light and sweep Emma off her feet, for Emma to treat Dexter as he deserves, and cut the toxic relationship out of her life permanently. These flaws fundamentally undermine a lot of what the novel attempts and, ultimately, leave one a little cold to the novel as a whole.

It's hard to say how I felt about this book; I didn't love it, I didn't hate it. If anything I was indifferent, which is about as bad as it can get really! I didn't like the main characters particularly, I thought the author laid it on thick whenever possible (he really threw the kitchen sink at the plot), and I didn't engage with the book on an emotional level. One Day left me slightly irritated, and fairly disbelieving of the dynamic that drove the book.


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