Us By David Nicholls

[amazon_link id=”034089699X” target=”_blank” ][/amazon_link]’Us’ is the latest book by David Nicholls.

Douglas Petersen understands his wife’s need to ‘rediscover herself’ now that their son is leaving home. He just thought they’d be doing their rediscovering together. So when Connie announces that she will be leaving, too, he resolves to make their last family holiday into the trip of a lifetime: one that will draw the three of them closer, and win the respect of his son. One that will make Connie fall in love with him all over again. The hotels are booked, the tickets bought, the itinerary planned and printed. What could possibly go wrong?

I love David Nicholls and have included ‘One Day as one of my all time favourite books so when I heard he was returning with ‘Us’, I was delighted to see him returning after his prominent absence.

‘Us’ is a story that is seen entirely from the perspective of Douglas Peterson, a biochemist with a literal attitude towards life. But, what he lacks in humour, he makes up in enthusiasm. Married to Connie, she is his polar opposite, outspoken with a zest for life, she is yang to his yang, she is his world. So when, they organised a huge inter-railing trip around Europe just before Albie, their only son goes off to university, Douglas’s life falls apart when Connie announces she wants to have a divorce and that she hasn’t been happy. This trip becomes their swan-song, as they revisit some of the cities that they fell in love with and harbour happy memories off and Douglas has to come to terms with realising that the woman he wanted to die with, no longer wants to be part of his life. As much as tries, Douglas finds it hard to have a proper relationship with Albie, they bicker and his laid back attitude annoys Douglas to the point that Albie runs away during the trip, leaving Douglas to run after him and try to bring him home and to convince Connie that he is a worthy man of her love.

This story is a heartbreaking one, that easily tugs at the heartstrings as we join Douglas on this lonely journey and the world that he adores is being taken away from him. I loved Douglas and my heart genuinely ached for him, he was constantly doing something wrong every time he tried to do something right. Eager and compassionate, he craved knowledge and wanted nothing more to share it with others and it seemed that Connie had grown tired of this. I tried to like Connie, but I found it hard as she was breaking Douglas’s heart but with every hard moment that they shared, there would be a tender one, that lures Douglas and the reader into a false sense of security,

A clever addition to the story, is that it is written in the past and present, so we see Douglas and Connie from the moment that they first meet and join them as their relationship develops, through the ups and downs and gives us a wonderful insight into the couples drama. Another thing that I particularly enjoyed was the information that flowed through the story as they travelled through each city, the history and background, almost like a tourist guide, it was helpful for upcoming adventures!

A beautifully written and poignant story and most definitely worthy of the Booker Man prize nomination, ‘Us’ tells the story of the demise of a relationship in a lighthearted and entertaining way, as we join one dysfunctional family on their road trip and as they try their very hardest to get along, I loved it!

You can buy [amazon_link id=”034089699X” target=”_blank” ]Us from Amazon [/amazon_link]and is available to buy from good bookshops.