This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.
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. Us 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. And in David Nicholls's gifted hands, Douglas's odyssey brings Europe from the streets of Amsterdam to the famed museums of Paris, from the cafe's of Venice to the beaches of Barcelona to vivid life just as he experiences a powerful awakening of his own. Will this summer be his last as a husband, or the moment when he turns his marriage, and maybe even his whole life, around?… (more)
Us is the story of a long-term marriage that seems to be coming to an end. Douglas is a scientist married to former artist Connie. As their lives are about to move to the empty-nester stage, Connie announces that she is considering leaving Douglas when their son Albie leaves for college. In a bid to save his marriage, Douglas takes his wife and son on a European Grand Tour, but his over-bearing manner only makes things worse, with both Albie and Connie leaving him in the middle of the holiday. Doug resolves to do everything in his power to track down Albie and pull his family together.
With its trope of an awkward scientist in an unlikely relationship with a beautiful bohemian girl, Us is quite reminiscent of The Rosie Project in some ways. It lacks the unique narrative voice of Rosie, and Douglas is a far less appealing character than Don Tillman. After all, Don has a reason for his societal awkwardness; Douglas just comes across like a complete boor a lot of the time. It's very hard to sympathise with a character whose awful behaviour is the author of his demise, and this weakens the book. None of the central characters are all that likeable, and at least half the book feels to be just going through the motions. Some of it is so unlikely and contrived as to be ridiculous. It's hard to believe that this unexceptional novel made the Booker longlist. ( )
I found this novel a fabulous read. It made me smile and weep as I travelled alongside Douglas and experienced his marriage and family life. Douglas and Connie have been married over 20 years. In the dead of night she announces that their marriage has run its course. Douglas is not ready to face this and they embark on a family holiday of a lifetime, a grand tour of Europe by train, visiting the galleries of different cities to show great art to their son, Albie, who is interested in photography. This is a grand tour that is doomed from the beginning and I cringed at the tension between Douglas and Albie. The reader is with Douglas, it is his version of events we hear and it is occasionally painful and often funny and sometimes both. In the short chapters he tells us about the holiday and also reminisces about how he and Connie met and married and had a daughter who died and then Albie. Some stories, such as when Douglas sat up until late into the night glueing together Albie's Lego bricks into castles etc is touchingly tender. He did this for love but his son and wife were astonished and horrified. And then, after he has publicly insulted Albie, their son heads off on his own and Douglas decides to search for him using scientific principles. There are plenty of amusing adventures until the end of the book. The story is told sympathetically, about what may not ordinarily be a sympathetic character. Douglas is difficult to like at first but he grew on me. ( )
Slickly put together so it kept me turning pages, itching to know how it all turned out. But all the characters were totally insufferable, especially the protagonist.
Thou only has taught me that I have a heart — thou only hast thrown a light deep downward and upward into my soul. Thou only hast revealed me to myself; for without thy aid my best knowledge of myself would have been merely to know my own shadow — to watch it flickering on the wall, and mistake its fantasies for my own real actions.... No, dearest, dost thou understand what thou hast done for me? And is it not a somewhat fearful thought, that a few slight circumstances might have prevented us from meeting?
Nathaniel Hawthorne, a letter to Sophia Peabody 4 October 1840
Dedication
In memory of my father, Alan Fred Nicholls
First words
Last summer, a short time before my son was due to leave home for college, my wife woke me in the middle of the night.
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. Us 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. And in David Nicholls's gifted hands, Douglas's odyssey brings Europe from the streets of Amsterdam to the famed museums of Paris, from the cafe's of Venice to the beaches of Barcelona to vivid life just as he experiences a powerful awakening of his own. Will this summer be his last as a husband, or the moment when he turns his marriage, and maybe even his whole life, around?
)
)
)
Google Books — Loading...
(3.75)
2014 Booker Prize longlist: Us
Wikipedia in English (1)
6
With its trope of an awkward scientist in an unlikely relationship with a beautiful bohemian girl, Us is quite reminiscent of The Rosie Project in some ways. It lacks the unique narrative voice of Rosie, and Douglas is a far less appealing character than Don Tillman. After all, Don has a reason for his societal awkwardness; Douglas just comes across like a complete boor a lot of the time. It's very hard to sympathise with a character whose awful behaviour is the author of his demise, and this weakens the book. None of the central characters are all that likeable, and at least half the book feels to be just going through the motions. Some of it is so unlikely and contrived as to be ridiculous. It's hard to believe that this unexceptional novel made the Booker longlist. (