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A review by niamhreviews
You Are Here by David Nicholls
3.0
I was very kindly given an e-ARC of this book via Netgalley and W.F.Howes Ltd.
I'm struggling with what kind of rating to give this book. I think I'm going to settle on a 3.25.
'You Are Here' is a very simple novel at its heart. Its two protaganists - Marnie and Michael - are both stuck in their various situations and end up on a walking holiday through the North of England in an attempt to get out of those sticky situations. And, as you can perhaps inevitably draw the conclusion of, things spark between them. Nicholls writes romantic books, this a romantic plot - it doesn't take a rocket scientist.
And I really enjoyed the beginning. The chapters are short and sharp and Nicholls is a master of dialogue and character, constructing scenes that are funny and witty and charming. But I felt as things began to get a bit unravelled as we hurtled towards the ending. The holiday kept getting extended and so, it felt like, did the book. I got a sincere sense of deja vu as they got into the Yorkshire Dales...I also came to kind of dislike both of the characters as we got stuck into the third act. It's like the two most annoying people you know finding love with each other. The self-deprecation, the inability to step forward despite having tromped through Yorkshire in the rain - it didn't feel like these characters had changed suitably enough to warrant us following them for 300 pages. It also WILDLY jumped the shark at two separate moments producing scenes that were so wildly off-kilter tone wise that I had to go back and double check that I'd actually read the right thing.
Like a ramble, 'You Are Here' is gentle - is sweet, it's overwhelmingly British and will likely be seen on beaches across the summer alongside the new Marian Keyes. And I definitely enjoyed myself while I was reading it -it pulled me out of a bit of a slump. Maybe I'll even read more David Nicholls now, who knows? I also read this on audio and thought the narrators were really lovely to listen to, so kudos to them too.
'You Are Here' will be available from April 23rd.
I'm struggling with what kind of rating to give this book. I think I'm going to settle on a 3.25.
'You Are Here' is a very simple novel at its heart. Its two protaganists - Marnie and Michael - are both stuck in their various situations and end up on a walking holiday through the North of England in an attempt to get out of those sticky situations. And, as you can perhaps inevitably draw the conclusion of, things spark between them. Nicholls writes romantic books, this a romantic plot - it doesn't take a rocket scientist.
And I really enjoyed the beginning. The chapters are short and sharp and Nicholls is a master of dialogue and character, constructing scenes that are funny and witty and charming. But I felt as things began to get a bit unravelled as we hurtled towards the ending. The holiday kept getting extended and so, it felt like, did the book. I got a sincere sense of deja vu as they got into the Yorkshire Dales...I also came to kind of dislike both of the characters as we got stuck into the third act. It's like the two most annoying people you know finding love with each other. The self-deprecation, the inability to step forward despite having tromped through Yorkshire in the rain - it didn't feel like these characters had changed suitably enough to warrant us following them for 300 pages. It also WILDLY jumped the shark at two separate moments producing scenes that were so wildly off-kilter tone wise that I had to go back and double check that I'd actually read the right thing.
Like a ramble, 'You Are Here' is gentle - is sweet, it's overwhelmingly British and will likely be seen on beaches across the summer alongside the new Marian Keyes. And I definitely enjoyed myself while I was reading it -it pulled me out of a bit of a slump. Maybe I'll even read more David Nicholls now, who knows? I also read this on audio and thought the narrators were really lovely to listen to, so kudos to them too.
'You Are Here' will be available from April 23rd.