He’s the kind of guy who would actually take the time to wonder that “he wasn’t sure that struggle suited him” when pondering a career path. Dex is the kind of self-involved, pleasure-seeking guy you are meant to love anyway because his charisma is winning and his heart, well, might just be filled with good intentions, even if they rarely-to-never get realized. It’s one thing that some of the minor characters are irritating, but it’s quite another when you just can’t stand one half of your romantic pair. Dexter (or Dex, as he is frequently called) goes from being the person you like “in an ironic, tongue-in-cheek, love-to-hate kind of way” (in the words of his agent) to someone you (or at least I) can’t abide somewhere around the hundred page mark. My main problem with this book is that Nicholls takes the disagreeable components of several characters a little too far.

But if I’m being completely honest I must admit that I am not one of those people, despite the good points I just mentioned. I can certainly see why so many people enjoy this book so very much. His characters screw up (sometimes repeatedly), do unlikeable things (and quite frequently), and so his novel is lifted above standard romantic comedy offerings.

There are plenty of amusing moments and sharp one-liners to be found in “One Day.” Another mark in Nicholls’ favor is that he understands how complicated life can be. To order it send a cheque/PO payable to The Express, to Express Orders Dept, 1 Broadland Business Park, Norwich NR7 0WF, call 08 or order it online at .uk.One thing is certain: David Nicholls is an adept humor writer. If Nicholls’ plot creaks here and there, his well-rounded characters are drawn with deep and affectionate emotional insight and exuberant humour and he writes with such fluency and wit that the pages fly by.Īlthough Us is less high concept and thankfully less haunting than One Day, Nicholls deserves to take those five million readers with him and, even if Us doesn’t replicate One Day’s astronomical sales, perhaps that means fans won’t wait quite so long for novel number five. This awkward trio embark upon a journey both literal and emotional, beset by drama, disaster and some wonderfully entertaining pratfalls.

He loathes his father as much as he adores his mother and, while some reasons for this emerge over the course of the novel, he does feel like a bit of a teenage caricature.

One day nicholls