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TheSite.org Book Club: Discussion on October's book - 'One Day' by David Nicholls.
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Hello, my name is Franki and I am forgetful and rubbish.
Anyway.
I know we are now half way through October, but I forgot about posting this until last night (which is actually when I finally got round to finishing the last 5% of the book gah).
So, what did we think?
I am indifferent, I have to say. I was expecting to either love it or hate it, but I found it very...eh. The story was solid, the writing was (for the most part) good, and I liked the character development, but something about it was off.
I am a bit of a chick-lit junkie. I have more Jodi Picoult books than any literature student should REALLY own, because they're easy reading and mostly they are entertaining and well-written (Jodi Picoult fangirrrrrrrrrl). At first 'One Day' was the same, I found it easy to read and the relationship between Emma and Dexter was realistic, funny and painful in equal parts. I spent a lot of the first half going JUST GET NEKKID ALREADY AND STOP DANCING AROUND IT. But then I thought it just got overly long and I found parts of it to be a bit pointless. Why, for example, did Emma go to France? What purpose did that serve? Aside from the part where they hadn't seen each other for however-long, but that could have been done another way.
The ending bored me. In fact, everything from where they got together bored me except for the bit right at the end where they go up Arthur's Seat. The bit where he takes Jasmine up there? Cliché. I mean, I get it, but eugh. I felt a bit sorry for Maddy, too, because even though it's obvious she understood, it must suck to still be second place.
I thought the Ian/Emma relationship went on for too long - it was obvious that it wasn't going to last from the beginning and I think it was dragged out for longer than it should have been. The Sylvie/Dexter relationship never made sense to me (I don't know how he fell in love with her? She always felt a bit entitled and cruel to me). I found Emma/Phil to be a bit off as well. I can't really explain why, though.
I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it, and it would be a stretch to say I feel much of anything towards it. My sister said it's supposed to be, "the romance novel of our generation" but I don't see it. There was never a point where I felt I couldn't stop reading, it didn't keep me overly interested for very long, and honestly I only finished it because of some weird sense of obligation.
DISCUSS.
Anyway.
I know we are now half way through October, but I forgot about posting this until last night (which is actually when I finally got round to finishing the last 5% of the book gah).
So, what did we think?
I am indifferent, I have to say. I was expecting to either love it or hate it, but I found it very...eh. The story was solid, the writing was (for the most part) good, and I liked the character development, but something about it was off.
I am a bit of a chick-lit junkie. I have more Jodi Picoult books than any literature student should REALLY own, because they're easy reading and mostly they are entertaining and well-written (Jodi Picoult fangirrrrrrrrrl). At first 'One Day' was the same, I found it easy to read and the relationship between Emma and Dexter was realistic, funny and painful in equal parts. I spent a lot of the first half going JUST GET NEKKID ALREADY AND STOP DANCING AROUND IT. But then I thought it just got overly long and I found parts of it to be a bit pointless. Why, for example, did Emma go to France? What purpose did that serve? Aside from the part where they hadn't seen each other for however-long, but that could have been done another way.
The ending bored me. In fact, everything from where they got together bored me except for the bit right at the end where they go up Arthur's Seat. The bit where he takes Jasmine up there? Cliché. I mean, I get it, but eugh. I felt a bit sorry for Maddy, too, because even though it's obvious she understood, it must suck to still be second place.
I thought the Ian/Emma relationship went on for too long - it was obvious that it wasn't going to last from the beginning and I think it was dragged out for longer than it should have been. The Sylvie/Dexter relationship never made sense to me (I don't know how he fell in love with her? She always felt a bit entitled and cruel to me). I found Emma/Phil to be a bit off as well. I can't really explain why, though.
I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it, and it would be a stretch to say I feel much of anything towards it. My sister said it's supposed to be, "the romance novel of our generation" but I don't see it. There was never a point where I felt I couldn't stop reading, it didn't keep me overly interested for very long, and honestly I only finished it because of some weird sense of obligation.
DISCUSS.
Post edited by JustV on
0
Comments
It's clever, but I found it a bit too self-consciously clever. The storyline didn't hold me in thrall, and although I grew to like them I hated both Em and Dex to begin with.
Meh out of ten.
I thought it was trying to be clever and falling slightly short of the mark. They referenced a lot of people and books that would probably make some people think it WAS clever, but I thought it was all a bit too clichéd (Wuthering Heights (it was that, right?)? REALLY?).
I found Dexter's character more interesting as he got older and generally more realistic and less cliched. I found Emma to be frustrating and I wish she got with the french man at the end instead of Dexter. Not sure what kind of ending that would have made...but still.
I also really disliked both characters at the start and felt like I was reading about people I knew from a previous life - there's realism and there's just familiar to the point of boredom.
Anyhow - would be really interested to hear from some One Day full-on fans. I can recognise lots from recent generations but just not convinced there was anything truely romantic about it - mainly just depressing. :chin:
I wondered if this reflected that the author was a thirty-something man...