ONE DAY: DAVID NICHOLLS

Spoiler Alert on Review

I loved this book...there, I said it.  Perhaps I'm a sucker for romance,  but this book swept me away,  then dropped me so abruptly that I had a difficult time recovering my equilibrium. Rarely have I  felt so emotional about a book.  It reminded me at the start of those great TV dramas like Cheers and The Office, where the give and take between Sam and Diane, Jim and Pam becomes the center of the show.  Nicholls is the master of this kind of dialogue, yet it rings true.  Emma or Em has just graduated with double honors in English and History from Edinburgh.  Graduation night, she meets Dexter (Double two's in Anthropology), the campus fop and Lothario at a party.  They end up getting drunk, spending the night together mostly talking, playing around some, but never consummating the relationship.  The next day, though both don't want to admit to being smitten with each, they make a pack to be 'just friends,' much like Harry Loves Sally.

And the novel begins, alternating back and forth,between each characters point of view.  It follows the early difficulties Em faces, not being well connected, coming from a middle class home, as well as being an aspiring writer.  To support herself, she ends up being a waitress, then teacher, eventually becoming a success in her 30's writing young adult fiction.  Dexter, in contrast, because of his charm, connections, good looks, and luck, ends up becoming famous as a presenter on television, hosting silly game shows.  For awhile, as Em struggles, he's a success.  But as he ages, as his audience becomes younger, as he becomes more and more dissolute, his success begins to fade just as Em's begins to rise. In my mind's eye, I picture the actor Dudley Moore in the 1980's movie Arthur playing Dexter.   Through all of this, they remain friends, taking trips together, writing letters (Em), postcards (Dexter) and talking to each other on the phone.  Whenever one has a problem, they can always count on the other to be there.  It's clear that Em loves Dexter, warts and all, but she never admits it to him.  And Dexter longs to talk with Em, to be with her, though he doesn't know it, as he's often drunk, on drugs, or chasing the ladies.  They both have lovers, Em has Ian, a stand up comedian that she doesn't find funny.  And Dexter after many years of debauchery, ends up marrying Sylvie, of his class, has a child but ends up divorced within the year.  He of course turns to Em for solace and though she vows to stay friends, they end up with each other, living in a garret apartment in Paris for a few months.  They return back to London, end up living with each other, and slowly Dexter realizes that he has never been happier and Em begins to have enough confidence in herself and Dexter to contemplate marriage.  They end up getting married,to their  friends knowing smiles.  They begin their life together, like all couples, happy in their middle age lives, as things slow down, activity as well as passions, but they are content.  The one thorn, Em's inability to have a child quickly enough, seems to be there only problem.  After going over the despair of this one morning, they kiss and make up.  Both go off to their jobs, Em as a writer, Dex to his job as owner of a gourmet food store/cafe f.  They happily agree to meet at 5:00 for dinner.  After doing some writing, paying some bills, Em hops on her bicycle, heads home through the rain and is hit by a car and killed.  I still find it hard to write!

The last section describes Dexter's mourning, his spiral into drunkenness and self pity.  He is saved by his ex wife, his father and, Ian, Em's old boyfriend, who writes Dexter a lovely letter about how he felt when Em left him but he 'continued on' and eventually found love and a family.  Dex is rescued, finds a female friend, but each year, on the date of Em's death, he calls his friends and talks about her.  In this section, Nicholls cuts back in time, fills in the details of their first day together after graduation, and they are reunited, at least in the readers' minds for a bit.    They picnic, climb a mountain, have lunch, return to Dexter's apartment only to find his parents are waiting for him.  "And then it was over.  'And so I will see you around, he said walking slowly backwards away from her.  I hope so, she smiled. And I hope so too, Bye Em.  By Dex.  Goodbye.  Goodbye Goodbye." And it ends.

Em and Dexter, their characters, are the center of the book.  You like both of them,  Em more at first but you can also see why she likes Dexter.  Beneath the fop there's a good guy, compassionate, unhappy and confused.  And you never stop loving Em but with Dexter, the affection slowly develops as you see his struggle with his demons, finally overcoming them as he becomes a warm, loving human being.

It's being made into a movie with Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess, to come out in May.