Us, David Nicholls’s first novel since the hugely successful One Day, is about a couple who have been married for 20 years. Douglas Petersen, the anally retentive middle-aged narrator, never feels like an equal to Connie, his attractive and witty wife. On the opening page, Connie tells him that she thinks she wants to leave him when their son Albie goes off to university. But first they are to take a long-planned family holiday — a Grand Tour of the great cities of Europe. Douglas sees this as his last chance to save his marriage, and also to rebuild his broken relationship with Albie.
In an introduction, Nicholls explains that the inspiration for the book came when he was travelling round continental Europe publicising One Day. At the start, the novel feels like a series of holiday postcards, or more accurately emails, from a witty and self-deprecating friend. There’s more commentary than narrative, the prose is colloquial and there’s a clever lower-case heading for each short chapter.
It’s often amusing but it can feel light.
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