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David Nicholls 'Us' may just break your heart

David Nicholls's exploration of the fragile, unpredictable nature of love in Us may just about break your heart.

Douglas Peterson feels he has always done his best for his family - wife Connie and son Albie, nicknamed 'Egg'. So when Connie, after 20 years of marriage, announces one morning that she wants to leave him, his reaction is understandably one of disbelief and extreme sadness.
Being a scientist and, by default, a man with an extremely practical and analytical mindset, he cannot understand the logic behind Connie's reasons for splitting them up after so many years together and feels their upcoming European tour as a family should help fix things.
David Nicholls, who we'll always be thankful to for penning the brilliant One Day, tells the poignant yet humorous story of a fractured marriage in Us, a tale that can be mirrored in real life all too often.
Us, which was longlisted for the 2015 Man Booker Prize, makes you reflect on, among other things, the extremely fragile and unpredictable nature of love, its longevity (or lack thereof), and why, ultimately, breaking up may be the best and most courageous way forward.
But Douglas, who was, is and seemingly always will be madly in love with his wife, needs time and the eye-opener of an unpredictable trip through Europe to come to the conclusion that going his own way may be the best and most honest thing he's done in a long time.
So we just gave away the one (and only) spoiler in the story - but honestly it's not hard to predict from the first chapter itself. Connie and Douglas, as revealed in a series of flashbacks, are polar opposites - one a man of science, possessing a temperament reflecting his vocation, the other a bohemian artist, whose lifestyle, thoughts, eclectic tastes and lenient approach to parenting are not exactly compatible with her partner's.

Which brings us to the question - do opposites really attract, and if they do, how long can such an attraction sustain itself? In Douglas' case, he seems to have adored Connie enough to do absolutely anything for her, including developing a taste for the kind of art, music and films that she loved, over a period of time. The sad part is we don't see Connie reciprocating; in fact, she and her son Albie form a kind of team that makes fun of Douglas and his simple, 'mainstream' tastes.
The author turns out to be an expert at milking an unfair situation for humour. Here is a glimpse of Douglas musing on the difference between his and Connie's artistic tastes: "Clearly I was out of my depth. Irony, was that the difference? My own cultural tastes were fairly unsophisticated but at least they were sincere, and how was I to tell the good kind of bad taste from the bad kind of bad taste? How did one listen to a piece of music ironically? How did one adjust one's ears?"
Douglas' well-meaning, 'cool' wife and distant son tend to take all the ribbing a bit too far, however. It's not funny all the time, to us as readers, and I'll bet it wasn't to him either, even though he constantly put up a brave face. But maybe this is what the author intended us to feel - conflicting emotions: compassion for the underdog, the nerd, the quiet hero? And at the same time, to have a bit of a guilty laugh at his insecurities?
I found myself sympathising with Douglas throughout, seeing in his character something of myself from my younger years. I can totally relate (as I imagine many people can) to the awkwardness, the hesitation in approaching someone, to use a colloquial phrase, 'way out of your league'. Sadly, that hesitation does not disappear with the passing of one's teenage years but continues to haunt you throughout adulthood. In Us, this universal issue is approached with sensitivity and humour, reinforcing the fact that sometimes even if you're in a social situation that's dire, the only way out is to laugh at yourself and move on. That's a lesson we could all take away from this brilliant novel by David Nicholls, who comes across as something of an expert on matters of the human heart. We can't wait for his next.
enid@khaleejtimes.com