One Day

15th July 1988. Emma and Dexter meet on the night of their graduation. Tomorrow they must go their separate ways. So where will they be on this one day next year? And the year after that? An every year that follows? - summary at the back of the book.

One Day by David Nicholls is a story about two people and twenty years into their lives. I have to say that this book started off okay, then it became boring, then slightly good and then it went back to boring. The boring part of the book was really long, I could not read for 5 minutes every time I pick it up. After being determined that I must finish it, I pushed on and when I got to the good part it was just too short. 

It's a book on life more than romance and reading about life is the interesting part for me. You learn about two people who went on different paths and how they try to stay in each other lives for years. I enjoyed the life lessons of the book as it made me realize certain things such as why wait? why so many excuses? and lastly timing is the key to everything. If these people did things differently, I guess we would not have the ending we get. 

I cannot say I love the characters very much because some things that they have done are not in agreement for me but nevertheless the female character is the one that I liked more. The plot regarding their lives are sometimes good, sometimes boring. I just feel that reading one day of every year for twenty years is not enough to know everything about their lives and their interactions with other people. But I think the author did a good job on displaying the characters of their personality even though it's just one day. There's one paragraph that I liked in the book:

'Live each day as if it's your last', that was the conventional advice, but really, who had the energy for that? What if it rained or you felt a bit glandy? It just wasn't' practical. Better by far 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 your passion and your electric typewriter and work hard at...something. Changes 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. 

I don't think I would pick this book up again or even recommend it to anyone as I feel that it's just an okay book as it has quite a number of boring parts. When reading about slice of life titles, I have read better ones and also watched Japan animation that have fantastic plots. Those animation exudes wonderful values and life lessons at the same time which always made me cry. Sadly, this is one book that I might not keep in my bookshelf and would be given away or sold away.