Book #55: Us by David Nicholls
Number of pages: 399
I had been meaning to read this for a while, and finally decided to do so when I realised it was about to be dramatised for television here in the UK.
This felt different from the usual boy-meets-girl format of David Nicholls books; a tragi-comic story where the main character and narrator, Douglas, finds that his wife Connie is about to leave him.
So, he decides to take Connie and their son Albie on a holiday that he hopes will save his marriage, so it starts with a mixture of amusing episodes from their trip across Europe (for example, Douglas having to be rescued from a group of motorcyclists after an embarrassing incident) mixed with flashbacks. Initially, the flashbacks were about Douglas and Connies' early courtship, but later they were about Albie's childhood.
Reading this, I was reminded of another book I recently read, Midwinter Break by Bernard McLaverty, in that nothing much was really happening, but then the real drama started about half way through, when the book went in a completely new direction that I will not spoil, save to say that the second half is the reason why this is my favourite David Nicholls book.
Douglas was an engaging narrator, and a character who I found it easy to sympathise with; I liked how the book studied his relationships with both Connie and Albie, and found some balance by also looking at earlier events from other characters' points of view near to the end. I can see why this was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
Next book: The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye (David Lagercrantz)