'Us' by David Nicholls - a review

I, like everyone who read and enjoyed David Nicholls' international bestseller, One Day, was jumping at the bit to get my hands on this new novel by Mr Nicholls, especially as it was short-listed for this year's Man Booker Prize.

So what did I think?

'Us' is a story of Douglas and Connie, a couple whose only son is about to leave home for college, an event which in turn triggers a crisis in the marriage.

Douglas, a successful scientist, sees a chance to save his marriage to Connie, a failed artist, by taking her and their son on a Grand Tour of Europe. This epic journey, which has been meticulously planned by the obsessively organised Douglas, (laminated maps, hotels and train fares booked well in advance) also serves as a means to regain the respect of Douglas' son, the sullen Albie, whose idea of a good holiday is two weeks in Ibiza with his friends, rather than spending it with his bickering parents.

As you may imagine, the trip doesn't quite go to plan. Already on the train to Paris, Douglas, who has promised himself to be relaxed, becomes annoyed when Albie spends the whole of the journey either taking photos of train tracks, or sleeping, and so missing the whole excitement of the first leg of the Grand Tour. Albie wants to study photography, while Douglas thinks he should take a proper (preferably science) subject and not 'devote his life to a hobby'. It now occurs to Douglas that his son has not once taken a picture of his father, while there are several loving portraits of Connie in Albie's collection.

Soon we realise that it's the relationship between father and son which is the root of the marriage crisis. 

Or is it? 

Opposites attract, they say, and in this honest examination of a modern marrage and parenthood, David Nicholls puts this theory to a test. What if the differences between the couple, which so attracted the pair to each other at the beginning of the relationship, become the bones of constant rowing and dissatisfaction later in life? 

'Us' is written from the point of view of Douglas, so we don't get much of a glimpse into the minds of the artistic, disorganised, lazzer-fair parent, Connie, or the teenager Albie. But what we do get is an almost detached account of the small - and large - tragedies that two decades of marriage have thrown at this couple. And we get a lovely account of a journey around Europe - not perhaps a traditional holiday trip, but there are many beautiful descriptions of classic art pieces. Enough to make me want to take my family on a Grand Tour - or perhaps that's not such a good idea after all...

I enjoyed 'Us', and feel it was properly justified in being nominated for the Booker. Shame it didn't make it beyond the first round.

'Us' by David Nicholls

Published by Hodder Stoughton

£20.00 Hardback

£6.99 Kindle edition

  

My bedside table books

As the season of buying gifts is approaching, I thought I'd let you know what books are on my bedside table, waiting to be read. Books make the best Christmas presents, in my view, so perhaps some of these will inspire you...here are four books that I think could make a perfect gift for almost anyone.

1. 'Us' by David Nicholls, Hodder

The Blurb:

'I was looking forward to us growing old together. Me and you, growing old and dying together.'
'Douglas, who in their right mind would look forward to that?'

Douglas Petersen understands his wife's need to 'rediscover herself' now that their son is leaving home. He just thought they'd be discovering together. So when Connie announces that she will be leaving too, he resolves to make their last family holiday into the trip of a lifetime: one that will draw the three of them closer, and win the respect of his son. One that will make Connie fall in love with him all over again.

The hotels are booked, the tickets bought, the itinerary planned and printed.

What could possible go wrong?

Why did I pick this book?

I, like a few other million people, loved 'One Day', so it was a no-brainer for me to buy the book. Plus, having hosted an event for David Nicholls at England's Lane Books, I know the writer is a really nice person too, so even more reason to read this novel as quickly as possible.

Perfect gift for anyone who loved 'One Day'.

2. 'Three Lives' A Biogrpahy of Stefan Zweig by Oliver Matuschek, Pushkin Press

The Blurb:

"Oliver Matuschek's fine, comprehensive biography of Stefan Zweig fills in all the personal details that Zweig's habitual reserve led him to leave out of his own memoir. Three Lives is a fascinating book."Anthea Bell

Drawing on great wealth of newly available sources, Oliver Matuschek recounts the eventful life of a writer spoilt by success - a life lived in the shadow of two world wars, and which ended tragically in a suicide pact.

Why did I pick this book?

I have loved Stefan Zweig's beautiful, melancholic prose for some time, and his life seems as tragic as the characters of his many novellas and novels, such as my favourite, 'The Post Office Girl'. So, when a few years ago, I spotted this biography in a independent book shop, I had to get it. Sadly, the book has remained unread on my bedside table, but I will make a pledge to read it before this year is over.

This would make a great present for the serious reader - Zweig has cult status amongst the 
literati. 

3. 'Elizabeth is Missing' by Emma Healey, Penguin

The Blurb:

How can you solve a mystery when you can't remember the clues?
What if you could remember just one thing?

Why did I pick this book?

I've been reading about this novel in women's magazines all autumn, and the story of an old woman who is trying to solve a mystery of her friend's disappearance really appealed to me. Especially as the woman is in the early stages of dementia and her mind is constantly playing tricks on her, so that the mystery disappearance she's really trying to solve is one that happened some 70 years ago. It's sad, funny and tragic at the same time. I'm half way through, and loving this novel.

I'm thinking of getting this book for my mother-in-law. She loves books about 'old times', and I know she would also enjoy the thriller side of this novel.

4. 'Clever Girl' by Tessa Hadley, Vintage Books

The Blurb:

Stella was a clever girl, everyone thought so.  Living with her mother and a rather unsatisfactory stepfather in suburban respectability she reads voraciously, smokes until her voice is hoarse and dreams of a less ordinary life. When she meets Val, he seems to her to embody everything she longs for - glamour, ideas, excitement and the thrill of the unknown. But these things come at a price and one that Stella, despite all her cleverness, doesn't realise until it is too late...

Why did I pick this book?

Tessa Hadley is another of my favourite authors who I've also had the pleasure to host an author event for. This is her latest novel, now in paperback, and I cannot wait to get into it!

This is a bit of a girly book, although far from chick-lit, so good for a female friend's Christmas stocking.

Don't forget to pop back to check on reviews of these books in the weeks to come - I also post all of my reviews on Goodreads - click here to become my fan.

David Morrissey and my commute

I do love London, where else would you regularly bump into celebrities on the streets or when commuting on the famous double decker buses or on the (infamous) tube?. 

Although I'm not really obsessed with famous people, the close proximity of some actors does get my heart beating a little faster. Not that I'd ever show it of course, no. We Londoners are cool, particularly those of us with Nordic blood running through our veins.

But there are a few actors who make me really lose my cool and one of them is David Morrissey. I totally loved him in Blackpool where he plays a local arcade owner alongside David Tennant, as well as in State of Play where he played a politician with a guilty conscience. Most recently he starred alongside Sheridan Smith in a mini TV series called The 7:39 about commuter love, written by no other than best-selling author of One Day, David Nicholls. In this role as in most of his roles Morrissey plays the bad guy we cannot help but love; the brooding male every woman would like to comfort. (In my dreams). 

So...last Monday I was running late and caught the tube about half an hour after I usually do. Sleepily standing at the platform, who would pop up next to me but David Morrissey! I very nearly lost my balance and recreated a scene from State of Play where the female love interest falls (or is pushed?) onto the tracks. (This didn't really happen, it's the novelist in me speaking). But, I was sufficiently flustered by Mr Morrissey's presence to step onto the next train not checking if it was the right one...luckily it was.

And you've guessed it, each morning this week, I've magically managed to take a later train to work, and magically Mr Morrissey has been sharing the platform with me. Sadly, though, he's since moved away from me, reducing my contact with him to adoring glances down the platform. (I think he can spot a deranged female a mile off.) 

All this went happily on until today. Same time, same tube station, but no David Morrissey.

I'm devastated.

David Nicholls at England's Lane Books

David Nicholls' latest novel, One Day, has been a huge hit both in the UK and overseas. It's a story of two people who first meet on the last day at university and then have a 'will they, won't they' -relationship for the next twenty years. The book is now being turned into a film, adapted by the author himself, and with Ann Hathaway and Jim Strugess in the lead roles.

Chairs lined up....

When getting the shop ready for this sell-out event, I was thinking that for some reason I always expect best-selling authors like David Nicholls to be difficult to deal with. After all, they have a great a talent and they've earned pots of money. Surely they can't be nice as well?

Books lined up...

Drinks lined up...

But when David walked into the shop, all smiles, looking a little shy, I was again reminded that authors, even the very successful ones, are normal people just like you and me. 

David was interviewed by Dan Carrier from Camden New Journal, who immediately put, not just the author, but also the audience at ease when he said how much he himself loved One Day.

Dan Carrier and David Nicholls.

When he asked David why he wrote a book spanning two decades, David replied that after his first two books, Starter for Ten and The Understudy, he wanted to write 'a more serious novel'. He'd adapted Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles for BBC and was also working on a new adaptation of Dickens' Great Expectations. He was daunted by the task at first, especially writing from a third person point of view, but he didn't want to write another romantic comedy.

It must have helped that David had the plot very well charted before he began to write – he thinks this way of planning the book beforehand is due to his scriptwriting background. As a writer, I felt relieved when he told us he didn't have any particular routine in his writing - he'd tried to wake up at five am and write for two or three hours before his young family woke up, but said he was 'too bloody tired' to get any words out. 

When he began to write One Day, he wanted to use the plot device of one specific day in a year when the reader would meet the main characters. He thought a lot about what day it should be, because he didn't want the day itself to shadow the plot. So a birthday, Valentine's Day or similar was out of the question. When he hit on the idea of St Swithun’s Day, he was so pleased he made it the title of the book. His publishers only convinced him One Day would be a better name a few days before the book went into print.

David chatting to his fans and signing their books.

When at the end of the evening, after having signed a stack of books and talked to many of his fans personally, we asked David to pose for pictures with the England's Lane Books team and he enthusiastically agreed, I felt like giving him a hug (I didn't, honestly).

I hate pictures of myself but I just had to show you this one of me with David Nicholls.

I look forward to David's next book, along with a few thousand (million?) of his other fans.

PS. There's a brilliant short film about the event on the England's Lane Books web site here.