ONE DAY | Book Review

Title: One Day
Author: David Nicholls
Genre: Fiction / Contemporary
Published by: Hodder 

Originally Published: 2009
Page Count: 435

Emma and Dexter meet for the first time on the night of their graduation. Tomorrow they must go their separate ways. So where will they be on this one day next year? And the year after that? And every year that follows? 
Twenty years, two people, ONE DAY.

(Source: Goodreads)

My relationship with this book is a rather fond one. It will from now on remind me of long soaks, train rides, and my time in the Lake District last summer. I've been reading it for so long in theory; having had to put it down after I initially started it as it belonged to the cottage I was staying in. 

Although the storyline is one of cliché, I still enjoyed it immensely. The character of Emma is incredibly likeable and reminded me of myself a great deal. It's scary at how much, I just hope I don't have the shitty jobs she seems to end up in, although, I feel that is an inevitable part of my upcoming future. She was fresh and witty, with strong emotions and a definable personality. She has an identity crisis, almost, at the end of the book, which shows how life changes you. Dexter was infuriating at times and sometimes a boring cliché, it was a little predictable the paths he would take. Dexter probably typifies the male lead in this genre of romance or chick lit, but because I've not read much of this genre he's predictable but not something I have encountered often. I can see why avid romance readers are a bit bored of the Dexters in romantic fiction. 

The writing was colloquial and perfect. It wasn't overly pretentious or stupidly simple, it had the right balance that related well to its protagonists. The main issue I had with the book, inevitably, was its premise. It is 'one day' of this couple's life, the same day, year after year. And like normal people, not every day is interesting, it becomes tedious and sometimes infuriating that we did not get to witness the immediate impact of the events. The chapters that stood out came at the beginning and the end of the novel. The book is split into five parts and the last part was brilliant, if not a bit too sentimental. 

Overall, a fun read for someone uneducated in the genre. 4.5 stars. 

FAHRENHEIT 451 | Book Review

Title: Fahrenheit 451
Author: Ray Bradbury
Genre: Dystopian / Sci-fi
Published by: Harper Collins
Originally Published: 1953
Page Count: 211


Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to burn books, which are forbidden, being the source of all discord and unhappiness. Even so, Montag is unhappy; there is discord in his marriage. Are books hidden in his house? The Mechanical Hound of the Fire Department, armed with a lethal hypodermic, escorted by helicopters, is ready to track down these dissidents who defy society to preserve and read books.

(Source: Goodreads)

I've wanted to read this book for a long time. Mesmerised by its beautiful cover and interesting premise it's been a book I've wanted to own since I heard about it. 

The characters in this book are fascinating, while I would argue there is too much detachment from the characters, they still upheld my interest. Montag is a fascinating protagonist, he questions things, his constant paranoia, and his relationships with other characters were interesting. His wife, Mildred, epitomised the typical person that this dystopian world was trying to create, someone who didn't ask questions, someone who absorbed themselves in the world around them. While, the station's chief was also brilliantly written, there was an element of unhingedness that kept me reading. 

The writing was beautiful, it'd be kind of insulting to call it prose due to its poetic nature. It felt rather bizarre to read such a beautiful book in which the characters were actively trying to destroy such a medium of expression. Sometimes I felt the novel didn't quite attain the balance of speech and thought/description, it seemed rather long-winded in its attempts to describe a situation, but juxtaposed to this it also had scenes that were abrupt, which I believe were completely the author's intent, though it still threw me a little bit. 

Overall, it was an enjoyable experience reading this. It didn't live completely up to expectations, but what does? A modern classic that has given me the drive to finally attempt George Orwell's 1984. ★★★★☆

THE YELLOW WALLPAPER | Book Review

Title: The Yellow Wallpaper
Author: Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Originally Published: 1890
Page Count: 21 pages (on kindle)

As a history student it is rare that I get assigned fictional books to read, so when my module for American History (1865-1989) had this as seminar reading I was so excited to finally be able to fully engross myself in the seminar work for once in my life. Even though I study history I do often respond more to fiction. It gives a sense of author's perspective but more poetically and metaphorically, it gives a sense of time, a sense of emotions, and I think a lot of history professors/lecturers overlook that. 

Back to the book - this is a short classic novel documenting one woman's entrapment in a rented-out house's nursery. The character is kept in the room to help her rest and relax, but the story has increasingly creepy elements to it. 

There's only so much one can say in a short metaphorical piece of literature and Gilman seems to do it effortlessly; she offers a stream of consciousness that not only can be seen as one woman's descent into madness or depression but also as a metaphor for feminism. The character is repressed, none more so by her husband, John, a physician. The character begins to see things in the ugly wallpaper, she believes there's a code to it, and suddenly she cracks it and is desperate to break the chains and bars that hold her in place.

The whole metaphor of entrapment and emancipation is documented in its final sentence, an ambiguous yet fitting end. 

I've seen a lot of people wanting to read many 'bigger' books this year, people wanting to read a certain amount of books, and yet my aim is also to read more of these shorter books, especially if they're classics. I want to be able to immerse myself more in 19th and early 20th century literature and appreciate them because it's something I've rarely done before.

And because of that and the story's fantastic writing, there is only one rating I can award it, and that's: ★★★★★