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Yesterday, I wrote a Lunch Date about a novel called One Day by David Nicholls, a literary love story told in twenty chapters spanning two decades. (Each chapter takes place on July 15th of every year between 1988 and 2008.) I said, "There's nothing wrong with a good, page-turny love story every now and again, and assuming that Nicholls doesn't cock up the ending, this looks like a great one."

Last night—well, early this morning—I finished it, and it's definitely a page-turner all the way through. Nicholls doesn't cock up the ending, but—I'm staying spoiler-free, here—the ending is simply not as ingenious as the book's high concept. In fact, it's kind of the standard literary love story ending. I can't call it disappointing, because it's exactly what it claims to be—a funny, sad story of a romance—but One Day had a shot at being a novel that transcended its genre (like The Time Traveler's Wife) and it failed. If you're looking for some vacation reading that satisfies your emotional-rollercoaster needs, One Day will easily do the job. If you're looking for fine literature, you're going to have to keep looking.