"Destined to be a modern classic"
Fantastic Labour boom-years comedy"
"Incredibly moving"
"Warm-hearted , funny, endearing"
"You´d be hard pressed to find a sharper, sweeter romantic comedy this year than the story of Dex and em".
Just a few of the many quotes which adorn the cover of the paperback.The book is called One Day. Reader, I abandoned it at page 69. It is based on a good idea. Snapshots of two people on the same day of the year, over a period of 20 years.
My problem is that I can find no sympathy for the characters. A silly, conceited man; an intelligent woman, not unattractive who falls for him and appears to remain in that condition, losing sympathy and credulity in the process. I revel in the moment of freedom -I should add that I seldom abandon books half way through - which follows my decison to stop reading this acknowledged best seller, just made into a film!
On the seafront a Jack Russell pushes a ball with its nose controlling its direction with the skill of a professional footballer over about 50 yards Throw a ball to one of this breed and it will hare after it and catch it on the first or second bounce like a cricketer in the outfield. But to see one dribbling with the certitude of a great winger on the right side of the touch line, is something else. Then I remember that the best football team in the World, Barcelona is just down the road.
As we negotiate a roundabout on the outskirts of East Grinstead the taxi driver says: "Some useless information for you: the Greenwich meridian passes through the middle of this roundabout." As a collector of useless information I copy it straight into my note book and from my notebook to this post, an inspiring beginning to a change of scene.
3 comments:
It says something about my regard for your literary taste that I find myself wanting to read One Day - but only as far as page 69 (is there some significance in this page?) - hoping to arrive at the same judgment on that self-same page. In fact I'd be very disappointed if I found myself wanting to turn onto page 70. I wouldn't say that your disrecommends are as important as your recommendations but I fear I'm always fascinated by well-argued antipathies. Needless to say, Mrs BB has read the book and when I asked for her opinion she came quite close to damning it with faint praise.
Bad books do provide the benison akin to that of stopping using a hammer on one's cranium although in my case I make the decision rather earlier than you've just done. The Beach, for instance, lasted three pages but then I suspect I've always been less charitable than you have.
Couldn't imagine where your post title was leading. Enjoyed each bit as well as BB's comment.
;~)
BB Pay no attention to page 69. I think it was 69 where I gave up. I am a little ashamed of my impatience, a sign of age I think. It did occur to me that, given the same theme you would have done much, much better. The 20 years which the book spans are the 20 years between 1989 and 2009, years which I remember with special interest, which makes me feel all the more betrayed. As I try to be positive in these posts, the only thing I could focus on was the decision to abandon book. "Put it in a drawer for someone else to read," said Heidi and I did. I can´t bring myself to open it again for the sake of precision. I hope you fare better than I. The fault is mine I am sure.
CC You should try the book and prove me wrong. I take no pleasure in disliking it, merely in being free of it, which is a different thing.
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