Nov 19, 2014
Earlier this year I discovered the you-tuber Carrie Hope Fletcher AKA ‘ItsWayPastMyBedtime’. She often talks about books and gives recommendations. In one of her videos she was talking about her favourite books or something like that and she mentioned One Day, among many others. So I got out my notebook, wrote down all the books she mentioned and went and bought some. One Day was one of the first ones I got.
One Day is about Emma and Dexter. Em and Dex. Dex and Em. They meet for the first time, properly, on graduation night, 15 July, 1988. The book follows what each of them does for the next twenty years, but only on that one day. Only on July 15. Sometimes they see each other, sometimes they are apart, sometimes they are fighting, or laughing, or crying. But we only see them on that one day.
This was very interesting for Nicholls to have written a book in this style. It meant he only had one chapter at the start to fully develop the main characters and had to continue to do this for each new chapter – because every time you saw the characters again it had been a year and they had changed again.
It’s a beautiful story. It is full or lots of sweet little quotes and characteristics that I just couldn’t get enough of. Here’s one of my favourites;
Better by far to simply try and be good and courageous and bold and to make a difference. Not change the world exactly, but the bit around you. Go out there with you passion and your electric typewriter and work hard at…something. Change lives through art maybe. Cherish your friends, stay true to your principles, live passionately and fully and well. Experience new things. Love and be loved, if you ever get the chance.
When I first picked up the book, it was the start of exam revision week and I had no time to read at all. It took me two weeks to read the first 1/3 but I read the rest in just a few days. I took it everywhere. I carried it around in my blazer pocket (a little habit of mine, maybe), I even took it to an acting performance (although I had all of ten minutes to read backstage).
I was sitting in an exam hand-back class on Tuesday, waiting for the teacher, and a friend of mine asked me if I’d got to the sad part yet. I hadn’t…until one minute later when I turned to her and could only say ‘What?!’ about one hundred times.
So that’s a little nice taster of what this book has got in store for you…
The only downfall for this book, I found, was the part where my logical mind kept wondering how it was possible that such important events kept happening on that same day and no one batted an eye or even mentioned ‘Hey, isn’t it funny that this happened to be the day we met.’
One Day was funny and sad and seemed extremely realistic. It was raw and reminded me of only best friendships that I hope I have with my friends (maybe without the romance). Loved it so much, still haven’t seen the movie but I will get on to that now that I’ve read the book.
Love,
Audrey xoxo
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