Before you get to the bottom and go “Han, you plonker you told me the ending!” you might not want to read past the “Read More” bit in case I spoil the story for you.
A while back I picked up this book in the second hand store, I love second hand book stores and charity shops with book sections – I could spend hours just looking at the books. Anyway I picked up One Day as I’d read Starter for 10 a while back (about the same time that the film came out I think).
It sat on my book shelf collecting dust (like a lot of my books tend do for a little while!) then when I saw that the film adaptation was coming out this summer I decided that I needed to read it and needed to read it before I went to see the film (I decided to see Eat, Pray, Love when I was half way through the book – I now haven’t been near the book apart from to put it on the bookshelf! I’m rubbish like that lol)
I was prepared for the sad bits and had a box of tissues in my handbag (I was ill last week with a cold so it wasn’t like I went out and specially purchased them.)
I was also prepared that Anne Hathaway’s accent could be questionable. Now having been a drama student I know that accent’s aren’t always that easy. I can do about two versions of an American accent and say “45 minute” in something resembling a chinese accent but that’s about it. I managed to just about get a Texan accent for my A Level drama exam only to then go in my rehearsals and not actually remember how to do it. Anyway back to Anne’s accent. At the beginning when we first here her speak it comes out posh English (like Queen’s English) rather than Yorkshire Lass from T’up North. It does kind of reappear in places on the odd word and she does actually sound like Emma Morley should sound. I was going to say that Anne plays Emma quite well minus the accent but then I realised she kinda doesn’t. Anne is lovely and she’s one of my favourite actresses but I’d always imagined that Emma was a bit of a plain Jane and although she had that thing that made her pretty, Dexter was always looking for the fun factor that Emma kinda didn’t have at first and therefore was always over looked (and regularly Dex put his foot in it because of this “overlooking”).
(One last warning! Actual plot spoilers do follow and I gave you a fair warning!)
Giving Anne wavy hair and geeky glasses were almost a way to try and “geek her up” and make her into that wallflower that Emma is written to be. However you get to the wedding of Dex and Emma’s friend and she’s too elegant, she’s discovered contacts and hair straighteners and she looks like she’s had a Hollywood makeover. I’m not saying that she looks ugly or anything like that more that she’s too “made up” almost. (Does this make sense?!)
But I get this. I was Emma, I kinda am Emma. I’m 25 and I work as a Customer Service Representative and 4 years ago when I graduated university I thought I had some idea of where I was heading and who I was going to be. Emma says something about how London sucked her in and she felt like she wasn’t making a difference and for ages I felt like that – okay minus the London bit, I think I do still have days like that but they are mainly when work has been bad or I’ve started the day on the back foot and felt like I’ve been hit round the head or something.
My main complaint at the end was that the book finishes differently to how the film finishes and this kinda disappointed me. I wanted to see that Dexter was happy again and that he found his way through the grief having lost his Mum and then losing Emma, I did have to point out to my friend that the flashback to when they are at uni is like him remembering the “day after the night before” as it was a little unclear. There was another bit about part why through when it jumps from one year to the next and it’s not clear what’s happened. I liked how the date appeared somehow as part of the shot – in one shot it appears as the screen saver on Emma’s laptop – in an earlier shot it jumps out the toaster with the toast.
I loved the music – JD and Me had a little boogie in our seats and I did whisper/say “TUNE!” when Del Amitri was played and when Fatboy Slim is played a little later on.
All in all I liked it – I might get it on DVD but at the same time Anne’s accent might deter me. The plot is lovely if you like your chick flicks and a sort of happy ending. If you’re looking for something that mirrors Nicholls story then you’re not disappointed until the end when the last chapter or so is chopped off – I’m sure there is a reason for it though.
I think I’d give it a 6 or 7 out of 10.
(P.S. You will need to check with your local cinema but if you go to Cineworld with your Unlimited card and an Orange Wednesday code your Unlimited ticket counts as the paid one then your friend can use the Orange Wednesday Free ticket to get in – (this means that on a busy month mine and JD’s cinema trip can work out at about £2/£3 a trip – however I did have to buy the tickets at lunch time so that we stood any chance of getting into the showing as it was really really busy)
