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    Us: A Novel
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    Us: A Novel
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    Us: A Novel
    Ebook446 pages7 hours

    Us: A Novel

    By David Nicholls

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Now a PBS Masterpiece television miniseries starring Tom Hollander and Saskia Reeves

    “I loved this book. Funny, sad, tender: for anyone who wants to know what happens after the Happy Ever After.” — Jojo Moyes, author of Me Before You 

    David Nicholls brings the wit and intelligence that graced his New York Times bestseller, One Day, to a compellingly human, deftly funny 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 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. It 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. 

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 28, 2014
    ISBN9780062365606
    Author

    David Nicholls

    David Nicholls is the bestselling author of Starter for Ten; The Understudy; One Day; Us, which was longlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction; Sweet Sorrow; and You Are Here. He is also a screenwriter who has also written adaptations of Far from the Madding Crowd, When Did You Last See Your Father? and Great Expectations, as well as his own novels, Starter for Ten, One Day, and Us. His adaptation of Edward St Aubyn's Patrick Melrose, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, was nominated for an Emmy and won him a BAFTA for best writer. Nicholls is also the Executive Producer and a contributing screenwriter on a new Netflix adaptation of One Day.

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    Reviews for Us

    3.5/5

    434 ratings42 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I haven’t fallen this in love with a work of fiction in a long time. The main character was particularly lovable. He’s sweet and smart, but shy and socially awkward. He’s also really funny and (bonus!) he’s a biochemist. I realize this might not appeal to every reader, but as a scientist myself, I enjoyed that a lot. The author had clearly done his research about biochemists. The main character describes what he does in a very believable way and spends a lot of time thinking about science in relation to his life.

      Even more important than the details of the character was the way the author brought his emotions to life. The emotional scenes weren’t sappy. They weren’t big or demonstrative or flashy. The language wasn’t flowery or sentimental. Somehow, without any of that, the author just slowly, softly built up the main character’s everyday emotions until I ached for his heartaches and celebrated his happinesses. The ending was perfect for this beautiful, believable story. Although it was bit predictable, it wasn’t too neatly wrapped up but it did leave me with a hopeful feeling that made me happy. This book was blurbed by Jojo Moyes and I’d definitely recommend it to her fans, as well as anyone who just wants a book that will leave them smiling.

      This review first published at Doing Dewey.
    • 2/5
      Light fare...
    • 3/5
      This is the story of a family. Douglas, the father, is of that repressed and careful character that is a staple stereotype of English men. He loves his wife and son, he really does, but he shows it in reprimands and awkwardness. He's also a biochemist who is frustrated and confused by his seventeen year old son's love of photography and sloth. He doesn't mean to be unsupportive, but he does think that Albie should really look for a field of study that he is more likely to be successful in than photography. His wife, Connie, had seen him at the beginning of their relationship as reassuring, like the Shipping Forecast, but now seems to regard him more as just dull. She has suggested that they separate when their son leaves for university, but not earlier. Leaving them to face one last family vacation; a Grand Tour of Europe. David Nicholls, like Nick Hornsby and Helen Fielding, writes entertaining books that aren't quite literary fiction, but also aren't easy to dismiss as trifling. Nicholls has an easy style of writing, which allows him room to explore difficult themes and ideas lightly. Here it's the end of a marriage, the inability of people who love each other to communicate, even when they truly want to. This should be dire, but it's enjoyably readable. There's also a great deal about art, from the point of view of someone who has a hard time seeing more than what is concretely on the canvas, who has the misfortune to travel with two people who have made visual arts their primary interest. There's a fair bit of slapstick comedy here, but it doesn't overshadow the heart at the centre of this story.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book. I empathised with the lead character in lots of ways and I loved the use of the Grand Tour with extensions to. Madrid and Barcelona as the setting for the current day story. I loved the interweaving of the past with the present and the discussions of parenting. Unlike another recent read I can see why this is a best seller. I have enjoyed all David Nicholl's books to date and expect to read a few more in the future.
      I should add that I loved the use of the Philip Larkin poem to precede the final section - so right!
    • 5/5
      Brilliiant! Unequivocally a 5-star book for me. It took me three months to get through it but I only listened to it when I was walking at night listening to classical music on the radio and some long boring piece came on that I couldn't bear. And I had a couple of weeks of surgery and time in hospital in which I did no reading. So the long reading time was a joy rather than being a burden.I felt that Nicholls provided a very astute observation of a family in crisis - what led to the situation, how the different family members contributed to the problems or solutions, and how things end up. I listened to the audiobook version and I reckon the narrator, Justin Salinger, contributed a lot to my positive feelings about the book. He is perhaps the best book reader / narrator I have heard. Every character in the book behaved in a way and talked in a manner that really rang true with me - with one exception. In Chapter 112 the main character, Douglas, says "If I ever find a piece of music that is depressing beyond belief, I assume that it is Bach." How anyone can say that is just impossible for me to understand, and especially the Douglas character. I guess no book is perfect :-)
    • 4/5
       This is a sad book as it deals with the potential breakup of a marriage, but it is well-told.
    • 4/5
      A good character study of a man's relationship with wife and son. Douglas the scientist, his wife the artist and their son that plans to go to college to be a photographer. Douglas loves his family but has connection issues. The story goes back and forth in time to paint the family picture.
      Laced with humor, the story was good, but hit too close to home on some of his character flaws.
    • 4/5
      The 'two cultures' reset in the relationship of Douglas and Connie: he is neat, orderly, and square, she spontaneous and emotional. He is the hero or at least narrator, but his temperament proves the more testing, as he effectively loses both wife and son, without gaining too much from the self-awareness this brings. He and we do learn snatches of interest about our European art heritage from the rebooted Grand Tour he hauls us through. And we can all appreciate the kindly and good-humoured tone of the relationship that he seeks to revive, spanning those two cultures; "at least it's not burglars," he quips at the outset, when the abyss of a possible breakup first presents itself.
    • 4/5
      Douglas is a blissfully oblivious scientist who is taken by surprise to learn that his wife, Connie, is planning to leave him, right before their 17 year old son is planning to leave for college. Douglas and Albie have never had a very good relationship and he is generally unable to see things from Albie's perspective or see his lazy, drug-abusing lifestyle as something he and Connie should be encouraging. In a last ditch effort to repair his damaged relationship with Connie, Douglas plans a long European vacation for the three of them, hoping that the art and cultural experiences will somehow draw them all closer. This plan, not surprisingly, veers sharply off-course when Albie ditches his family to live a homeless lifestyle with a female street performer. Although Connie immediately ends the vacation to go home and wait for Albie to return, Douglas is determined to find Albie and repair their relationship, as the fate of his marriage depends on his success.This novel is fairly predictable but generally enjoyable. I liked reading about the family's travels through the European cities more than the conflict, which never seemed to resolve. I wanted to smack Douglas in the head on a number of occasions, as he just couldn't seem to stop himself from upsetting his wife and son through his critical statements. It was nice to see his growth over the course of the novel, as he became a little more flexible and less judgmental. Overall, I would think this would be a good vacation read.
    • 4/5
      Now that's what I call a good read. I'm often at a loss when people ask my opinion on a good "holiday" book, probably because I'm a bit of a book snob/geek and can't imagine that the kind of stuff I usually enjoy would make for fun, light reading. This one succeeded in keeping my humour and intellect engaged while carrying me along effortlessly through a tale that not only makes sense from start to end but is insightful and often a riot along the way. Also, the ending is pretty much perfect. Another author to keep my eye on!
    • 4/5
      Douglas is a middle-aged scientist living in England, married with a 17-year-old son. The novel begins with his wife, Connie, telling him that she thinks their relationship has run its course and that she doesn't think she wants to be married to him anymore. Douglas is basically blindsided by this, loves Connie very much, and is devastated. The family of three had planned a summer holiday in Europe prior to this revelation, and rather than canceling the trip, they decide to go anyway, as a last family outing before their son Albie goes off to college. Douglas sees this as an opportunity to change Connie's mind and is anxious to set out on the holiday.This novel moved slowly for me at first, and I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy it. The pacing is somewhat slow, but there is enough humor to keep it moving along. Douglas is a relatively serious character, offset by his more easygoing wife and teenage son. His relationship with his son Albie has always been somewhat strained, and this is brought to a climax at one point during the story. My feelings for Douglas as a character fluctuated throughout my reading. At times I felt sorry for him and at other times he frustrated me immensely. But even more so, I could relate to a lot of his personality traits. The story moves back and forth, beginning with the present-day European holiday trip, alternated with flashbacks recounting the story of Douglas & Connie's relationship as it developed and evolved throughout the years prior to and during their marriage. It's a bittersweet story, but one that is quite easy to relate to and reflect upon. There were quite a few laugh-out-loud moments, with typical British humor interspersed throughout. I didn't love this book, but I enjoyed it because of its realistic examination of a marriage in today's world.
    • 4/5
      I cannot tell a lie -- I liked this book much more than I expected to, given my rabid hatred of One Day. Us isn't a great book, but it is gentle and charming and witty, the kind of book you can read on a Saturday after a long week of work. The stakes are fairly low, the book proceeds pretty much the way I expected it to, there's a little sting at the end but nothing too terrible. I liked the characters, but I never really worried about them; I had every confidence that no matter what happened they would be OK. This isn't one of my favorite books of the year -- I'm surprised to see it on the Booker list -- but this was a pleasant enough diversion for a few days.
    • 5/5
      Douglas Petersen may be mild-mannered, but behind his reserve lies a sense of humor that seduces beautiful Connie into a second date - and eventually into marriage. Now, almost three decades later , they live more or less happily in the London 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. 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 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.
    • 4/5
      This novel kept me in suspense and at the same time made me marvel at its nuances. I found the writing to be appealing; simple and profound at the same time. It was also entertaining and painful at once. I could see myself as both characters, the man and the woman in the relationship and this intrigued me as a reader and a writer.
    • 4/5
      I went into this one with low expectations, given my general dislike of One Day. Despite my reservations, I thoroughly enjoyed Us. Several of Douglas's inner diatribes - the general nastiness of public beaches, pessimism about the future - were eerily similar to my own thoughts. As a parent, I saw glimpses of myself in both Douglas in Connie and became both endeared/frustrated with all three characters at one time or another.
    • 5/5
      "Us" is reflective look at a marriage after 25 years by the protagonist Douglas. The story alternates between the current Grand Tour holiday that he has embarked on with his wife and son in an effort to save the marriage and past memories that provide a history of how he and his wife met and the ensuing years. This was a wonderful book to listen to; the narrator did a wonderful job and added quite a bit to the character.
    • 5/5
      An entertaining, funny, insightful, sad, moving and ultimately satisfying reed. David Nicholls is one of the best around when it comes to writing about relationships
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed Us, and I enjoyed the narrator of Us. That being said, throughout the entire novel I alternated between feeling sorry for Doug, and wanting to scream at him. Which, I think, proves how well-written the book was. I think if we're honest with ourselves, many of us are like Doug--aware of our flaws, even as we put them on display and are unable to refrain from correcting them.

      I liked the structure of the novel, with the plot alternating between Doug and Connie's early days, and then to their Grand Tour in the present day with their son. I felt the book was realistic. It didn't idealize things, nor did it take an overly negative view of life--the characters felt real, with their admirable qualities and their flaws, and their misunderstandings of one another. And while there was a lot of sadness throughout the book, there was also growth, and hope.
    • 5/5
      I'm not sure there is any better author than David Nicholls when it comes to portraying real life and all its imperfections and disappointments while still making us laugh. This was a tremendously entertaining read, centring on a family on the brink of breakup - teenage son off to college and mum wanting a separation from dad. A final 'holiday of a lifetime' touring European art galleries with these characters could have been a bore-a-thon in the hands of a lesser author, but this sparkled from start to finish. I particularly liked the portrayal of Douglas; as a socially awkward person myself I sympathised with him a lot. The chapter about the quiz night was wonderfully cringe-making: I could see that he was in the wrong in a way, and yet I would have behaved exactly as he did. And as for the chapter about the future, and how we are all going to hell in a handcart - it was so well written I wanted to read it again and again, yet it was chilling too, albeit finished off with a line that gives the reader a good chuckle. Great book.
    • 3/5
      Really not sure about this. A mixture of brilliant observations, funny situations, heartbreaking and maddening moments, make this a very up and down, story jarring my emotions constantly. The narrator was a bit of a dullard, but, which made the novel more interesting.
    • 4/5
      Delightful, alive, very funny, very true. I have enjoyed it from beginning to end.Quotes:- Perhaps this was why those museum audio-guides had become so popular; a reassuring voice in your ear, telling you what to think and fell. Look to your left, take note, please observe, how terrific it would be to carry that voice with you always, out of the museum and throughout your life.- Light travels differently in a room that contains another person;...- Alcohol loosened inhibitions, and inhibitions were worn tight here.- Perhaps they were a perfect match, like a pair of drumsticks.- There's a saying, cited in popular song, that if you love someone you must set them free. Well, that's just nonsense. If you love someone, you bind them to you with heavy metal chains.
    • 4/5
      I love how David Nicholls tells a story. His humor and his delivery are exceptional. His characters are relatable and I find I am vested in the story and don't want it to end.
    • 4/5
      A good argument against giving yourself 25 pages to decide if you like a book, or however many pages old you are, or whatever rule you use. I had commented that it looked interesting when a friend at work was reading it, so a few months after she pressed the book into my hands I figured I'd give it a go, with a little trepidation. And in fact it struck me, at first, as one of those domestic hapless-man-in-crisis sagas, a literary kind of emotional slapstick—and with a distinctly mopey British tone, to boot. It took me a good 75 pages to find that it had a decent plot and, more important, the family dynamics were three-dimensional and actually touching underneath the witticisms. And it's self-aware, which I always appreciate in a book if it's not too unbearably self-conscious—Nicholls called it out for what it was, a three-pronged coming of age story, and in the end I liked it quite a bit.
    • 3/5
      This novel would flip flop for me: often fun and then dull; sometimes eye-rollingly histrionic, sometimes pleasantly rom-com-ish. Even though it has some of the effervescent qualities that made David Nicholls’s earlier book, One Day such a compulsive, enjoyable read (e.g., the zingers in the dialogue; startling deep insight about the failings of love and friendship; the right balance of humor and tragedy), it just never really popped or surprised.Us is about a failing marriage told from the perspective of the husband. Douglas and Connie are a middle-aged couple whose marriage is on the rocks. With them is their sullen, mouthy 17-year old teenaged son, Albie. Douglas and Connie have completely different parenting styles, a source of the tension between father and son, a tension that has amortized badly over the years.Us takes place over two timeframes: the past and present. The present is dreary: a strained family trip through Europe, where everything in the characters' interactions feels forced and pulling-teeth painful. The past is a little better (but doesn’t the past have a bit of a shine to it, anyway?). As they go about their “Grand Tour” of Europe, with Douglas reflecting on his troubled marriage, it triggers memories for him of how he and Connie met and how mismatched they were (the couple here, as in One Day, is never really a fit and follow the opposites-attract rule) and it forces him to analyze where the cracks might have started.These two narratives are expertly braided together, showing off Nicholls's skill as a writer. You have this train wreck of a vacation, where the reader is constantly wondering, “will they make it or not?”; and at the same time, the past casts its long shadow, and each hitch in the trip becomes more glaring and painful the more we know about the past. Douglas, in his priggish fixed thinking, is unable to let irritants be or to let bygones be bygones. His biggest flaw? That he “reeked of disapproval.” Through the grand cities of Europe, Douglas manages to grate on his wife and his son a little more each day, but the full brunt of their alienation from him doesn't come to a head until his appalling behavior in front of a table of business travelers at his son's expense. But for all of Douglas’s annoying qualities, he is also enormously self-aware of his flaws and this lends him an endearing humanity (Nicholls seems to have a knack for making his male leads simultaneously odious, clueless, and charming.) He is also incredibly funny. The running dialogue in his head about his actions and the going-ons around him are some of the best.But the funny moments aside, for me, one of the more interesting things in the novel is how Nicholls treats time and memory in the narrative. Nicholls is one of the best writers out there when it comes to pacing (always pleasant and sprightly) and working with past-present narrative shifts, able to weave the big themes of time and memory without a trace of heaviness or pretension (this ain't Proust). "Imagine time as a long strip of paper. This is not the shape of time of course. Time has a no shape being a dimension or conceivably a direction or vector, but imagine for the purpose of the metaphor that time can be represented as a long strip of paper or a roll of celluloid perhaps. And imagine that you are able to make two cuts in the strip, joining those ends to form a continuous loop. This strip of paper can be as long or as short as you wish, but that loop will roll forever. For me, the first snip of the scissors is easily apparent and comes about halfway across London Bridge on the night I first met Connie Moore. But the second cut is harder, and is that not the case for everyone? The edges of unhappiness are usually a little more blurred and graded than those of joy. Nevertheless, I find my scissors hovering…”Still, in the end, Us was disappointingly predictable, replete with all the familiar beats of what you might expect of a marriage doomed and the ‘deserted’ spouse trying to make sense of it all and seeking some sort of redemption. You can almost tick off the five stages of loss here; Douglas goes through the various shades of denial, anger, bargaining, depression and finally acceptance. Us is a well-crafted, fun read but had none of the magic and charm I came to expect from the author of One Day.
    • 4/5
      Gut eingeteilt mit Stand- und Rückblick geht Douglas mit seiner Frau Connie + Sohn auf Europareise von London über Paris, Amsterdam, Venedig, Barcelona durch Museen, Situationen...und beschreibt sein Leben, wie sich die Beziehung entwickelt hat. Nicholls hat ein gutes Gespür es interessant und mitfühlend zu beschreiben.
    • 5/5
      I loved, loved, loved, loved this book narrated by a man trying to hang on to his family after his wife unexpectedly tells him she wants a divorce, on the eve of the family's grand tour of Europe.Douglas Peterson is the nicest fictional guy I've met in years. But he is also, and this is a word I haven't used in perhaps 50 years, a square. From the very beginning of their courtship, his wife Connie has been more bohemian, adventurous, creative, and she just gets bored and exasperated by Doug's staid ways. In Europe, with their sullen son Albie, Douglas is the one who studies the guidebook, and Connie is the one who looks forward to the legal weed in Amsterdam.Most of my pleasure in the book came from my sympathy for the protagonist. Doug's voice is intelligent, often very funny, self-aware, fearlessly honest about his own failings, and more than generous about those of his wife. (I'll let readers form their own opinion of Connie and Albie.)A added pleasure was the European setting. It's the tourist-view of Europe, and since I'm a tourist I just loved the descriptions of the various sites I've seen.
    • 5/5
      Douglas, a slightly Pooterish sort of scientist, and his artistic wife and teenage son go on a European tour. Told from Douglas's point of view, interspersed with recollections of moments in his 25 year-old marriage. David Nicholls skilfully and sympathetically draws Douglas as a nice, well-meaning man who inadvertently exasperates his wife and son. A funny, humane and involving novel, which also had me googling the paintings being viewed on the 'grand tour'. I loved 'Starter for Ten' that had as it's main character a socially-awkward, teenage-Douglas type male. Was severely disappointed by 'One Day', so delighted to pick up on a similar character in middle-age - who is still causing a ruckus at a quiz.
    • 3/5
      Scientist Douglas Peterson, a conservative, nerdy, unimaginitive "fuddy duddy", meets Connie, an attractive, adventurous artist, and surprisingly they fall in love and marry.The story opens when they have been together for twenty years and have a 17 year old son, Albie, and are planning to take him on a "grand tour' of Europe, before his departure to University. All plans have been made when Connie tells Douglas she is tired of the marriage and wants to leave h)im. (Why it took her 20 years to decide this is beyond me, 20 days with him would have been too much for me)However as everything has been booked and paid for, they agree to still go on what will be "their last trip as a family" As no doubt every reader predicted, the trip is a disaster, especially for their teenage son. Albie (not a very likeable17 year old) treats his father with disdain and Douglas is completely incapable of trying to understand him and just wants him to conform.Douglas has pre-planned the trip right down to the very last detail and soon becomes over-run with his eager organisation. It all comes too much for Albie who "takes off" on his own after an argument with his father and without telling his parents where he is going. His father in an uncharacteristic departure from his normal behaviour sets out to find him and Connie goes home.The book is at times hilarious and at others quite heart wrenching as we follow these three 'misfits"Whether it has a satisfactory ending is for the reader to decide.This is not by any means one of the best books I have read, but I quite liked the writing style and found it quite a good read for the summer holidays.
    • 4/5
      In seinem neuen Roman erzählt David Nicholls die Familiengeschichte von Douglas, Connie und Albie Petersen. Eines Nachts verkündet Connie ihrem Ehemann nach zwanzig Jahren glücklicher Ehe sei nun der ideale Zeitpunkt für eine Trennung und einen Neuanfang gekommen. Die geplante Reise durch Europa wollen sie dennoch unternehmen. Unterwegs erinnert sich Douglas an ihre zahlreichen Erlebnisse und an die verschiedenen Phasen ihrer Beziehung. Gleichzeitig hofft er seine Frau auf dieser Reise zurückzugewinnen und zugleich die Beziehung zu seinem Sohn vertiefen zu können.In den kurzen Kapiteln erfährt man einerseits mehr über die Vergangenheit der Familie. Zum Beispiel wie sich Douglas und Connie kennengelernt haben bis hin zum Heiratsantrag und die Geburt ihres Sohnes. Andererseits wie die Reise durch halb Europa nicht immer nach Plan verläuft.Ein humorvoller Roman mit Douglas Petersen welcher als ambitionierter Ehemann und Vater alles versucht die Familie zusammenzuhalten.
    • 5/5
      Us is a book that, at first sight, has a very well used subject at its core – married couple, mid-life crisis, marriage breaking down once the kids have left home. It’s a tale that’s been told so many times you’d think there was nothing new to say about it. However, David Nicholls effortlessly bats away such concerns and envelops us instantly and entirely in the life and love, the thoughts and deep angst of his central character stuffy, uptight, nerdy scientist Douglas Petersen. Douglas’ wife Connie has told him she wants to leave him, just as their only son is about to leave for university but their proposed summer holiday, the Grand Tour of Europe, has already been booked and paid for and so all three of them embark on what is likely to be their last trip as a family. Douglas hopes to use the break to win back Connie and avoid the breakdown of everything he cherishes.There’s much to love about this story, narrated by Douglas, as he unfurls for us in exquisitely wrought details the twists and turns of a life; the choices made and the consequences that follow, the joys and the tragedies that shape and mould personalities and relationships. There is so much to tell too, that we can’t help but feel we know these people personally; their penchants, their eccentricities. By the end of the book we certainly know Douglas inside and out; his self-confessed inadequacies, love of order, his logical mind that won’t let him feel the art, his earnest attempts at intimacy with an artistic and impenetrable son with whom he can’t seem to get to grips, all make him sweet and endearing, despite his tightness. The trip becomes overrun with his eager organisation, to make things better and fumbling attempts to hold onto the woman he has loved for twenty years.Us is a book that really makes me think about individuality. How different our own children can be and not necessarily a cute combination of all the best qualities of each parent. How difficult some parent-child relationships end up and while we might want to plan for that child’s best interests, the choices ultimately have to lie with them if they are to be happy. Just because someone doesn’t follow our suggestions or advice doesn’t mean they don’t love us. The key to Douglas finding peace was in allowing people to be themselves without having to control and direct them.There is an emotional roller coaster running through the book, Us is at once funny and heart wrenching, while having a slapstick quality in parts; the scrapes Douglas finds himself in at times made me laugh out loud. It is primarily a book about change and notably Douglas does change once he is off on his own and plays to his strengths in the midst of a very stressful (but at times very funny) sequence of events proves to be a turning point. When he forms a tentatively romantic connection with a Danish tourist called Freja, I began to see a definite glimmer of hope in the darkness for him and I relished the possibility that an improved and stronger Douglas might exist post-Connie.A bonus feature of the book was The Grand Tour itself and Nicholls’ descriptions. The Grand Tour of the Victorian age harbours such overtones of wild poets and Gothic romance for someone like myself who lives on the other side of the world and can’t just hop on a ninety minute flight around Europe to any of its centres. So it was good to read Nicholls’ characters battling with the heat, stomping along the well trodden tourist paths, endless queues for all the high spots, and the blasé way the modern age takes travel for granted, while priceless Roman antiquities are just more things to be ticked off a list.Many people will have read One Day, David Nicholls’ ultra-beloved best seller from 2009, and be wondering if this book will be able to live up to that legacy. I believe it has done so. Us is an emotional, funny, touching, revelatory look at relationships, at what makes us imperfectly human and the many different types of love of which we are capable.