Julsbookdiaries

I was in a little bit of a reading rut after starting this book. I started a lot of other books right after starting to read this, which didn’t help. I was getting a little overwhelmed with my “currently reading” list, so I decided I would start checking them off by finishing “One Day.”

When I first started reading “One Day,” I was having trouble with it because it was putting me back into a headspace that I experienced months ago. It was difficult to continue with it, or want to continue reading, because of how I had emotionally connected to the characters from my real-life experiences. Luckily, I’m in a better headspace now, so it was easier once I picked the book back up, determined on finishing it. 

Now onto the actual book content:
There were a few differences I noticed in the book from the series that I wasn’t loving. The book didn’t give Emma and Tilly, former roommates, a close relationship, which was the case in the series. While reading, I thought about media from different perspectives and through different lenses, thanks to my Gender Media class that I took recently. I know the author of the book is a man, so I was wondering if the director of the series wasn’t because I felt like I connected to the series more. After a quick Google search, I found out the director of the Netflix series is a woman, so maybe shooting a movie about a lifelong romantic connection between friends looks different from a woman’s perspective. Who knows? But it is definitely something to think about. 

***SPOILERS***

You’ve been warned!!!

Something that was definitely the same in both the book and the series was Emma’s abrupt death. When I first watched the series, I didn’t know it was coming. She was just riding her bike along the rainy road, going to meet Dex for a house showing (yes, they eventually get together, get married, live together, and want to have kids!!). Then about three seconds later, she’s dead on the road after a car hits her…. Yeah. I stared at the screen, honestly annoyed. I thought to myself, “What was the point?” What was the point of all of it? What was the point of their initial romantic spark? What was the point of sending postcards back and forth through their travels? What was the point of loving each other as friends for all of their lives, then finally getting together, just for her to die right before their life together really started? As I’m writing this, I am realizing they still did spend their lives together, just in different ways, loving each other from a distance. But it was really just a punch to the gut. 

And of course, this abruptness was reflected in the book with the single line, “Then Emma Mayhew dies, and everything that she thought or felt vanishes and is gone forever.” *Cue end of chapter.” Yep, that’s all she gets. Also, yes, “Emma Mayhew”, married to Dexter Mayhew <3. I felt like both of them deserved more than that. Are they fictional characters in a book? Yes. But that doesn’t matter!!! 

Anyway, the rest of the book goes on, flashing back to the first day Emma and Dex spent together and showing the grief Dex and the rest of the characters experience years after Emma’s death. I enjoyed the book but liked the series better, which I don’t often experience. Usually, a book that a series or movie is based on gives me more insight into the characters or adds scenes that I missed out on, but I didn’t feel that with this book. I just really wish Em and Dex got their happy ending together.