This past spring, I had my first experience with a Jojo Moyes novel. Everyone had been recommending Me Before You, so I finally picked it up and then completely devoured it (see my review). So when I was given the opportunity to review her latest novel, One Plus One, I had some high expectations in place. I'm glad to say that Jojo surpassed these expectations...and then some!
Suppose your life sucks. A lot. Your husband has done a vanishing act, your teenage stepson is being bullied, and your math whiz daughter has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you can’t afford to pay for. That’s Jess’s life in a nutshell—until an unexpected knight in shining armor offers to rescue them. Only Jess’s knight turns out to be Geeky Ed, the obnoxious tech millionaire whose vacation home she happens to clean. But Ed has big problems of his own, and driving the dysfunctional family to the Math Olympiad feels like his first unselfish act in ages...maybe ever. (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)
Right from the beginning, I was completely drawn into the story. The characters were so compelling and I love that it shifted between viewpoints, even giving us access to Tanzie (math whiz) and Nicky's (teenage stepson) minds. Jess's life seems like a total mess in the beginning, but she's tough and I love that about her. And Ed just seems more human than Jess is initially willing to give him credit for. It's easy to get emotionally invested in the lives of all the characters and feel their highs and lows. The dialogue and interactions are genuine and fit really well into the concept of the story.
The only thing I had trouble with was that the timing of events became confusing since there was so much going on during each day. There also seemed to be an excess of vomit during the road trip, which was unsettling to visualize.
One Plus One was a memorable story that was incredibly hard to put down once I got going with it. I have been recommending it to everyone and will continue to do so!
I recently found out that New Line picked up the rights to adapt this fabulous novel into a movie. I hope their casting director is reading this review because I have some suggestions!
Jess: Emily Blunt
Ed: Hugh Dancy
Nicky: Jonah Bobo or Ezra Miller
Thanks to Viking (Penguin) for the book in exchange for an honest review.
More by Jojo Moyes:
2 comments:
This sounds like it would be an interesting read. I had to laugh about the vomit part during the road trip. It brought back memories of trip from Texas to New York when I was little. Me and one of my sisters always got motion sickness. I can laugh about it now, but it wasn't fun back then.
Melissa, I second your casting ideas. I thought the characters were well developed and especially liked Tanzi
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