Book Review: One Day In December by Josie Silver

I finally read this book after it sat on my shelf for close to a year, I believe. Yeah, I bought the book because I loved the synopsis and then just never got around to it until now not realizing how much I missed out. The book reminded me of a lot of soap operas I used to watch growing up.

Some of the main things that I loved about this book was how it went from warm and cozy to sad and heartbreaking in the next. Silver does an amazing job with her choice of words as always. Her ability to move back and forward between different perspectives with ease and everything just flowed so well, one chain link hooking on to the next. Every single obstacle and event in the book drove the story well.

One thing I admit that I never saw coming was the fact that in less than the first 100 pages, I was completely mind blown by what happened. Now, remember I haven’t read the synopsis for close to a year and just randomly decided to read this book. When Sarah introduced Laurie to Jack as her boyfriend, that scene made me stop and go: Wait… what? By that point, I pretty much knew this was going to be a complete spiral downward. The three main characters were standing at the edge of a cliff and then pushed over to fend for themselves from that point forward. It was going to end bad either way it went and at that point I raced through the book dying to know what happened next.

My heart never stopped racing nor hurting on every single page throughout the entire book. This book in my opinion is better than The Two Lives of Lydia Bird. That’s not fair. Let me put it softly as each had their own pros and cons but if I had to pick one over the other definitely One Day in December wins. 

The theme of time is used very well in this book. I love how the book is divided into years and every chapter is dedicated to a certain month and date. Each year gives a good amount of what has happened and that allows the story to progress quickly. I don’t mind the writer dumps it all on you. She eases you in through dialogue and showing which is a very smart way to not bore the reader. The start of each chapter is started with dialogue mainly or a very touching scene. 

Love and friendship play such a huge role in this book. It drives the story so powerfully that I felt I was in Laurie’s shoes right there with her the entire way from beginning to finish. Sarah is portrayed as the perfect girl, as a friend and lover to Jack and Laurie and Jack and Laurie’s every move and decision is based on that. They refuse to acknowledge they knew each other before Sarah introduced them until much later in the book which was heartbreaking to watch. Laurie’s level of endurance and tolerance is extremely admirable. She won’t hurt Sarah and that was that even if it meant she had to sacrifice much more and travel halfway across the world to get away from Sarah and Jack. 

Laurie’s trip to Thailand starts the talk of the theme of marriage in the book. She’s the first to get married out of the three to Oscar. Her relationship with Oscar to me wouldn’t be considered a filler. Because Oscar and Laurie were actually in love, just that I felt it would have been better if they never went back to London. The marriage was more of a wake up call due to certain events in the book for Laurie to realize she still loved Jack yet she chose to let go of him for the sake of Sarah. Think of the love between Laurie and Jack as the entire underlying foundation of the book- it never goes away from beginning to finish just buried for greater purposes and benefits for everyone. That’s the tragedy right there. And Jack has always been there for Laurie more than Sarah has at some moments through the thick and thin of this book. 

Marriage is never as easy and as lovely as people may think and Silver does a good job in showing that. We could see how happy and excited Laurie was to marry Oscar but Oscar’s mother and Laurie didn’t get along at all. Lucille thought Laurie was not Oscar’s equal in terms of career, wealth or place in society. This is very typical with in-laws throughout the world and it does not help that Oscar doesn’t stand up enough for Laurie. I thought the idea of Oscar wanting to tie Laurie down with having a baby after knowing Jack still has feelings for Laurie is very typical for married couples. Watching Laurie struggle to try to conceive a child and being heartbroken when she doesn’t, trying to live up to being the perfect wife, and getting along with his mother was the most aggravating part of the book for me. But it was depicted perfectly nevertheless. 

The character development in the book was very well written for all three main characters. They go from innocent and carefree characters into mature and independent adults in a span of four years during their time in the real world. As Laurie put it they had to start learning to stand on their own than rely on each other. 

I love this book to death. I am not a huge romance book reader but this one holds a very special place in my heart. It has been a fun ride from beginning to finish. A powerful book about growing up, love, loss, friendship, family, marriage, and life.  This book will definitely be on my mind for a while now.