July book review: 'Us', by David Nicholls

Book: Us, David Nicholls


Publication Date: 2014


WCRG Meeting: 22 July, 2015


Group Rating: 7.2


The Book Group met on Wednesday 22nd July 2015 to discuss Us by David Nicholls. There was largely consensus on the amusing nature of this book, with members of the group finding it laugh-out-loud funny. It is a story of a disintegrating marriage but it is also about the male narrator, the husband of Connie and father of Albie, Douglas Petersen. Douglas is a scientist who is happiest studying the fruit fly. Unexpectedly he meets and marries Connie, an artist and a troubled but happy-go-lucky woman, in his twenties. She is just emerging from an abusive relationship and the steady and rather boring Douglas appears to provide the stability that she needs. And as pointed out, opposites attract. However, many of the group felt that it was a marriage doomed from the beginning, and the fact that 25 years later she returns to the abusive boyfriend, (now much changed), is significant.

Douglas’s attempts to bond with his teenage son, who resembles his mother more than himself, is at the heart of the book. These attempts are the funniest sections of the book but are also the most heart-rending as he so often misses the point of the relationship between parent and son. For example his frustrations at the young Albie making lego models just to gleefully destroy them. Douglas spends a whole night making models and gluing them together. Not surprisingly it does not go down well.

All readers found the research and detail of the European cities fascinating, especially the detail of the art that Douglas encounters. Douglas is keen to show his understanding of art, as this is his wife’s territory, and perhaps he has this wrong. Would it not be better to allow her control over this area and just take his cues from her? But, again, Douglas wants to control – not in an aggressive way but rather because he likes order. He is escaping from his parent’s marriage and his father whom he always found distant. Douglas’s marriage survives the death of a first child but this is always present and even Albie feels he cannot measure up to the image of the baby sister who never grew up. These are the most poignant parts of the book.

The book is mainly constructed of set pieces throughout Europe as Douglas attempts to find his son after having betrayed him by apologising for his behaviour to some industrialists who specialise in selling arms. Many noted and approved the shortness of the chapters and the fast pace of the narrative. We all liked the way Nicholls writes dialogue.

One reader, interestingly, found a religious theme within the book – betrayal/redemption; father/son. Although it was enjoyed by many, some readers felt that we were only being presented with half the story and would have liked to have seen it presented from Connie’s point of view. Should it truly be called Us one person wondered, rather than Me? There is some attempt at the end to address this, but it was felt that it was too little and too late.

Overall an enjoyable read but we felt that possibly Nicholls could have rounded out the other characters a bit more. Many would certainly read other books by David Nicholls. It received a very creditable score of 7.2.