One Day

By: David Nicholls

Review by Stephanie Crean

When I received this book as a “blind choice” as part of TPL’s ‘Christmas in July’, I expected it to be a cute, brainless beach read. One Day chronicles the relationship between two people by visiting them on the same day, year after year. Dexter, an affluent, self assured individual struggles with womanizing, drugs, alcohol, and eventually, self esteem. He constantly relies on the kindness and support of Emma, who wishes she could have the Dexter she met in college.

At times this book was disappointing – this guy really became unkind and out of control. It also made me stop and think about people in my own life that I could be there for in spite of their own choices and paths. For her own part, Emma begins the story with little help, low self esteem, and navigates her way through life seemingly solitary. I think Dex may have seen this as a person waiting for him, but I took it to mean that being alone doesn’t have to mean self loathing and the end of the world.

This is a heart wrenching story (as the cover says) and I don’t want to reveal too much. If I had to choose a theme for this story, I would say it’s about finding happiness. While being happy does not require being in a romantic relationship, it does mean you have to be happy with who you are today and you need to allow people into your life to share that happiness in some way.

Even though parts of this book made me sad, this is a nice message to take away from the beach!

Check availability on a copy of One Day:

 Physical book
 Audiobook on CD
 eBook
 DVD

About the reviewer: Stephanie is a mom of two, loves to read and is a school librarian at Ithan Elementary in Radnor. She loves the opportunity summer gives her to read grown up books!

This review is part of Book Your Summer, our 2017 Adult Summer Reading program.