Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize
David Nicholls brings the wit and intelligence that graced his enormously popular New York Times bestseller, One Day, to a compellingly human, deftly funny new novel about what holds marriages and families together — and what happens, and what we learn about ourselves, when everything threatens to fall apart.
Douglas Petersen may be mild-mannered, but behind … apart.
Douglas Petersen may be mild-mannered, but behind his reserve lies a sense of humor that, against all odds, seduces beautiful Connie into a second date… and eventually into marriage. Now, almost three decades after their relationship first blossomed in London, they live more or less happily in the suburbs with their moody seventeen year-old son, Albie. Then Connie tells him she thinks she wants a divorce.
The timing couldn’t be worse. Hoping to encourage her son’s artistic interests, Connie has planned a month-long tour of European capitals, a chance to experience the world’s greatest works of art as a family, and she can’t bring herself to cancel. And maybe going ahead with the original plan is for the best anyway? Douglas is privately convinced that this landmark trip will rekindle the romance in the marriage, and might even help him to bond with Albie.
Narrated from Douglas’s endearingly honest, slyly witty, and at times achingly optimistic point of view, Us is the story of a man trying to rescue his relationship with the woman he loves, and learning how to get closer to a son who’s always felt like a stranger. Us is a moving meditation on the demands of marriage and parenthood, the regrets of abandoning youth for middle age, and the intricate relationship between the heart and the head. And in David Nicholls’s gifted hands, Douglas’s odyssey brings Europe — from the streets of Amsterdam to the famed museums of Paris, from the cafés of Venice to the beaches of Barcelona — to vivid life just as he experiences a powerful awakening of his own. Will this summer be his last as a husband, or the moment when he turns his marriage, and maybe even his whole life, around?
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I loved this book. It is well written and the author has a sense of humor. I couldn’t put it down once started. It would make a good movie.
I loved this book. It’s a poignant but humorous first-person account of a “nerdy” middle aged man faced with the prospect of being left by his wife and teenage son. He’s utterly clueless as to why his wife wants out of the marriage and why his son is so distant, but tries to fight to win them back. I enjoyed his self-deprecating voice. A nice …
A simple, plain man is on a mission of saving his family. He blunders about without much hope even though he plans everything with military precision. I am relishing this book – still reading and re-reading it.
It isn’t a book that you must finish quickly – rather savour it slowly and enjoy every gem of his wit and style. You will be taken on a …
Excellent, thoroughly enjoyable! Clever writing, rich, relatable characters
I really just wanted to give the protagonist the biggest hug, considering the roller-coaster we went through
It was rather predictable. Fun easy read but would’t read it again. Didn’t really enjoy the story of the main characters but this is personal. I don’t personally agree with their actions.
Seems like the author took a trip to Europe and wanted to count it as a tax write-off. The characters, particularly the protagonist were mostly unlikeable and whined a lot. The ending was unsatisfying and the whole thing seemed pretty pointless.
Enjoyed it immensely
B-o-r-i-n-g. Had to skip to the end when I was half-way through the book.
Favorite Quotes:
“’Now that Albie’s leaving, I want to feel this is the beginning of something new, not the beginning of the end.’ The beginning of the end. Was she still talking about me? She made me sound like some kind of apocalypse.”
“Albie was standing in the doorway, wrapped in the hotel dressing gown, demonstrating that unique ability he …