One Day! "The one with the most read book on my shelf"

The book is a heart breaking love story of the modern era. A will they won't they scenario. Remnant of When Harry Met Sally, except this wasn't going to be a happy ending. One Day follows Emma and Dexter through their early 20's to their 40's, through ups and downs, love, laughter and tears. 

It is without a doubt the most read book on my shelf, the copy with the original orange cover is dog eared and pride of place for when I feel like I need a trip with Em and Dex, to rediscover what I fell in love with the first time in 2011. 

When I first read the book in 2011, the book had been released two years previously. It was in my last year of university, the book was #1 on the New York times bestseller list and it was all over book shops. 

The film trailer is what ultimately got me interested in the book. I was making a habit of reading the novels before the film adaptations came out, to see what comparisons could be made between the page to premiere of the film on the big screen.  

I was so absorbed in the book and characters that I thought from the trailer alone they had captured all of the plot, characters and feel of the film. Set in the late 80's straight through 20 years of Emma and Dexter's lives to the present day. It seemed to be the perfect adaptation. 

Obviously my expectations aren't everything, you can never expect the adaptation to be dead on perfect, word for word dialogue, plot etc because the reader has such a vastly different view of how the characters should be portrayed or how they should look. 

Whilst the main characters were spot on especially the distinct voices and soul of their characters; the clear plot points that were left out marked a very different type of film to what the book was trying to say. 

The theme that everybody makes mistakes was unfortunately left out of the story. The crucial flaw of Emma's character made her more relatable to how people really live their lives, mistakes and even more mistakes followed by learning from their mistakes to eventual happiness. Emma's affair with the headteacher at the secondary school she taught English at, was one of very little that Emma had done wrong, but nevertheless a crucial turn of events in her life and the growing of her character.

However as the film is marked out in generic terms as a romantic comedy/romantic drama, as there are some dramatic turn of events *SPOILER* (not really). They must have left this out on purpose. Though the screenplay was written by the writer of the novel David Nicholls; it serves up something to ponder quite a bit. Maybe he didn't want to include that part, but for the fans of the original story, the novel holds an insight into two people you feel are your best friends. 

Many flaws are present in the film with Anne Hathaway's incredibly rollercoaster accent, which is meant to be a northern one, possibly Yorkshire, hopefully one of the northern towns. Instead it's a quandary of mixed English accents, posh, with a twang of northern popped in there on occasion.     

It luckily doesn't take anything away from her performance as Emma opposite Sturgess' Dexter who are the will they/won't they couple that many films have mastered before, but British, young and naive.

As a well known bibliophile and cinephile, I chop and change between my love for the books and then my love for the film adaptations. It can be a love/hate relationship, in this particular instance the book outshines the film by far, but having read the book with Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess in my mind as both characters, the film kind of meshes together with the novel.

I haven't revisited the film in a long time and the novel is still pride of place on my shelf, ready to be re-read for the 10th time, but if I had to, the book will be my solace by far.