Book #109: One Day

Title: One Day
Author: David Nicholls
Enjoyment Rating: 5/10
Source: Kindle for iPad
Referral: Anne Hathaway's interview with Jon Stewart

One Day is the kind of book I probably wouldn't pick up on its own and the kind of movie I might catch on HBO on a night when Eddie was on call, but probably wouldn't see in the theater. But last week when the Salt Lake Tribune came out with its movie reviews, I was really surprised to see this movie get 3.5/4 stars. I'd assumed that it would be one of those sappy romances aimed at teenage girls and not something I'd want to see on my own.

So I decided to read the book. It's no fun to go to a movie based on a book if you haven't read the book first. Because then if the movie is good you can talk about the "fine adaptation" and if it's bad you can whine about how movies about books are never as good as the books themselves (which I think is true as a general rule, but there are some definite exceptions). Anyway, I bought the book and read the book, and it pretty much met all of the expectations I had for it before I read the Tribune article. It was an okay book-- a little sappy I guess, but what do you expect from a book where the story follows two college friends (Emma and Dexter) who almost hook up on the eve of their graduation, and then checks in on them every year on that anniversary for the next twenty or so years. They go through high points and low points in their relationship with each other. Both are quite unlikeable at various times in the story, and both struggle professionally, which I guess makes them realistic characters, but also made their love story a little more prosaic and less romantic than I thought it was going to be. And then the end was sort of a shocker. That's all I'll say about that because I've been known to give away more than I should.