Das Jahr, In Dem Ich Dich Traf (2000) - Plot & Excerpts
Upon reading the first chapter of this book, I was very impressed with the writing, and I was looking forward to settling into a great read. No doubt about it. Cecelia Ahern can write very well, but the story she told was very weak and quite irritating.The premise is interesting; it is an unusual exploration of the friendship between a man and a woman, with a message that such a platonic love is powerful and meaningful. Unfortunately the man and woman in this case are unsympathetic, and self-involved drama queens, and I felt nothing but sympathy for their unfortunate neighbours. In recent years I've realized that Cecelia Ahern has slowly started to move away from the fantastical into more ordinary contemporary novels. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does make me miss her old work, what with an angel/homeless man showing another man the right path (The Gift), to an exciting place where all lost things go (No Place like Here), to Life paying you a visit (Time of My Life), to falling in love with an invisible friend (If You Could See Me Now), Cecelia Ahern has inspired us time and again with the breadth of her imagination. I fell in love with each and every one of those books.The Year I Met you seemed like the perfect book to end the year with. In fact it was the last book I read in 2014, and I finished it within a few hours of starting it. It was utterly enjoyable, albeit ordinary (in Ahern standards), but I loved the moral of the story. I loved the message that it tried to convey, and I loved that it was written in a way where the protagonist, Jasmine, is speaking directly to Matt, a radio DJ who has his own talk show and is quite famous in Dublin. Jasmine however despises him due to one of his sessions from many years ago where he seemed to undermine people suffering from Down Syndrome, her older sister being one of them. He happens to be her neighbour, and seems to be suffering from wild drunken nights and family problems. Jasmine herself has hit rock bottom when she loses her job and is on gardening leave (meaning she is not allowed to find another job for another year), which drives her absolutely insane and leads her to some actual, literal gardening. When Matt's wife walks out on him, he finds solace in Jasmine's company, even though they spend most of their time bickering and biting each other's heads off. They form a friendship that surprises them, and it surprises me as well. Because this friendship goes absolutely nowhere as they simply remain very good friends, and nothing else.The reason I'm surprised is because reading fiction, chick-lit, contemporary novels - whatever you want to call them - with two protagonists, you simply expect them to end up together. Especially when two people start out hating each other as much as Jasmine and Matt did. And especially when Jasmine is writing the whole story TO Matt. I mean, I was reading it and with every page I turned I was waiting for something to happen. Then Monday shows up. Yes, Monday's his name. He takes her breath away, and I'm a little confused, but I think, of course, a little jealousy, a little rivalry will push Matt to take that step needed for them to get out of the friend zone. Surprisingly, that does not happen. They remain very good, supportive friends, who try to work on their problems and help each other out. And I liked that. I liked that Cecelia toyed with our expectations and changed it up from the overly ordinary, and into something with a little more Ahern in it. It's a really good story. Nothing extraordinary about it, but that doesn't mean it's not a good read. I enjoyed it.
What do You think about Das Jahr, In Dem Ich Dich Traf (2000)?
Another gorgeous book 9/10. for full review see : candysbookcase.wordpress.com
—egression
Good light holiday read which I read in a day.
—Cante
