One Day

Below is a chapter from David Nicholls best seller One day, a love story set over twenty years

She thinks very distinctly of two things.
The first is a photograph of herself at nine years old in a red swimsuit on a beach, she can't remember where, Fiely or Scarborough perhaps. She is with her mother and father who are swinging her towards the camera, their sunburnt faces buckled with laughter. Then she thinks of Dexter, sheltering from the rain on the steps of the new house, looking at his watch, impatient; he'll wonder where I am, she thinks. He'll worry.

I finished this chapter which has one more line, and then I cried floods of tears, immense sadness engulfed me and just swept me away. A great book will do that to me, I get lost in the narrative and lose myself into the moment, this book has that power, it's very well written and the prose flows.
 What makes it so special? The first thing you notice is the unusual structure. It starts on July 15 (St Swithin’s Day) in 1988 with the first encounter between two students, Dexter and Emma, in Edinburgh, then revisits these two characters, either separately or together, on the same date for the next 20 years (hence the title).

It could be schmaltzy (Sp?), but in fact it proves to be a superbly effective device, providing you with a series of vivid snapshots of a at times stormy relationship. At the end of each chapter you're left wondering what will happen next, then suddenly a year has gone by and the situation has changed in ways that are often surprising but always entirely believable.
I guess a lot depends on how you feel about the two main characters. Dexter is charming and good-looking, but also lazy, arrogant, selfish and deceitful. Emma is more lovable – cleverer and more honest than Dexter, but prone to stroppiness and self-doubt .I'd guess women with high standards might wonder what Emma sees in him?  
Not exactly a perfect match then, but really who can say that actually exists? Often these days we, through the media, are looking for the perfect man or woman. We are provided with this ideal of what love and romance should be, it cares not for the practicalities of actually fitting two lives into one space and co-existing with a partner you ideally should grow to love. Love at first sight and butterflies in the stomach are all very well if your names Elizabeth Bennett and Mr Darcy is down Ashton Lane of an evening, however that ideal is a little to unrealistic methinks..This book hits the spot as it deals with the modern world and all it's distractions and it's stresses, if you've not read this book, go buy it now, read it and pass it on to a friend.

It wont change your life, but it will make you live in wonder for a while.