ICYMI: Pete's Review Of Us, the Much Anticipated New Novel by David Nicholls

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Us

A novel by David Nicholls

At times we remember, even fondly, the vacations we’ve taken where everything’s gone wrong rather than right. The lost luggage, the rude waiter, the strange hotel, the unexpected illness. We’re able to laugh about it now because we’ve survived our travel experience and made it safely back home. But in Us, a new novel by David Nicholls, the safety of his character’s home rests on shifting sands.

Douglas Petersen’s beloved wife, Connie, announces her intention to leave their marriage, but only after the family fulfills its prior summer vacation plans to see the great art museums of Europe. Compounding this dilemma, the Petersen’s only child, Albie, also intends to leave the family after vacation to attend university.

Another problem: Douglas is a scientist while Connie works in the arts. Their personalities are polar opposites. And, despite Douglas’s prodding, Albie takes after his mother 100 percent. So our travel triangle becomes two against one in almost every conceivable situation. As expected, the vacation threatens to implode, and it’s up to Douglas (as he sees it) to salvage the trip, to salvage his family, and find some way to literally survive in a world that’s eating him up.

I have to say that Us is one of the best novels I’ve read about the father/son relationship, where, with much chagrin, the son isn’t exactly ‘a chip off the old block,’ but his own emerging person -- warts and all. As written prior, Douglas loves his wife and son dearly, but they are opposites, and what happens after ‘opposites attract’ becomes nothing more than a trite saying?

I became a fan of David Nicholls after reading his earlier novel, One Day, and eagerly awaited his new work. Upon finishing (in record time for a slow reader such as myself), I am pleased to report that there was no let down whatsoever in Us. In fact, I believe this book touched me more. Nicholls has the unique ability to transition from humor to sadness to exasperation to anger to love and to happiness in seemingly one sentence to the next. And just when you think you’ve got one character pegged as this way or that, they totally surprise you.

I urge you to read Us if you’ve ever seen something on a museum wall and thought, What the hell is that? Please read this novel if you’ve ever been on a family vacation where one or all suffers a complete melt down. Please read this as a travel advisory of what not to eat or where not to swim. It occurred to me at the climax of this novel that the Us the author writes about is not his three person family, but all of us, everyone…Us.