Starter For Ten - Nicholls

Starter For Ten

David Nicholls 

(received from goodreads)

Brian Jackson has high ambitions for university. He wants to be brilliant, and have a real girlfriend, and maybe, if he's lucky end up on the University Challenge team. Starter for Ten follows Brian as he lumbers through his first year of school, making friends, not making friends and overall being a self conscious 19 year old.

David Nicholls (One Day) is really good at making full fleshed characters. While I admire this quality in him, sometimes I find his characters a bit trying. Brian Jackson is one of them. Since the story is driven by Brian's life, it's kind of a requirement that he be interesting. For me Brian is that friend everyone talks about behind their back. Sure you'd be there for them in a heartbeat, but you just don't really like them, much less want people to see you actually being nice to them. I spent the entire novel pitting the acne faced protagonist and wanting him to just get a clue.

I probably wouldn't have finished Starter for Ten if I hadn't gotten it for review. For me the day to day activities and sob stories were really dull. This really just wasn't a book for me. It's well arranged, and I genuinely like Nicholls writing style. Really, I feel like if you can relate to or at least sympithyze with Brian you're in for a mostly enjoyable story of unrequited love and teenage oblivion, but if he makes you cringe you're best putting the novel down.

One Day

One Day

David Nicholls

Emma and Dexter meet on July 15th, 1988, the day the graduate from University, and the rest is history. We follow Emma and Dexter on every subsequent July 15th for the next 20 years. We see bad jobs and great vacations, one night stands and sad serious relationships, but mostly we see two great friends trying to live life as best they can.

I had been hearing great things about One Day for a while now and it seemed like the perfect summer read. It definitely lived up to it's reputation. By the end I felt like I had been on a long and emotional journey with a girl not unlike myself and a guy a little to attractive for his own good. Only seeing people one day a year was interesting. It was obvious that things had happened, sometimes big things sometimes not, but regardless we got all the important information without all the little details. It was a great representation of the times it travels through.

My only issues with One Day aren't really plot or structure related. Dexter is pretty self centered and obnoxious and at times it is hard to care for him, but that is kind of his purpose. Never the less it is still a little trying to get through his "I'm only twenty (blank)" phase.

If you've got the time I'd definitely recommend One Day. I feel like I was taught a huge lesson about life after finishing it, though i'm still not sure what that lesson is. This one will stay with you for a while!

My Rating:

4/5