One Day - David Nicholls

One Day is a book that was recently reviewed on ABC's First Tuesday Book Club - it is very interesting to read the presenters different views of the book although I didn't read the transcript until after I had finished the book myself.

One Day follows the main characters of Emma and Dexter, two people who meet at university in Edinburgh and although knowing each other vaguely through their education they only really come together on the night of their graduation - the 15th July 1988. Drunkenly they end up at Emma's flat talking until the early hours;

'I suppose the important thing is to make some sort of difference,' she said. 'You know, actually change something'.

'What, like "change the world", you mean?'

'Not the entire world. Just the little bit around you.'

They lay in silence for a moment, bodies curled around each other in the single bed, then both begin to laugh in low, pre-dawn voices. 'Can't believe I just said that,' she groaned. "Sounds a bit corny doesn't it?'

The book continues to follow the lives of Emma and Dexter on the same day each year and we see them follow their own paths, sometimes coming together and sometimes leading off in completely different directions.

I absolutely loved this book - I believed in the characters even though I didn't always like them - I believed in their believability if that makes sense??!! They were flawed in so many ways which made them so human for me - I cared about what happened to them and their stories. The book is painful and sad in so many places but it is also incredibly funny - both in some of the experiences of the characters but also the writing style and a lot of the dialogue. Above all this is a just a great story of two people living their lives - so simple and yet so effective.