One Plus One

I just loved this story. I read it years ago and it was so good , I wanted to reread it. It is a wonderful combination of funny and sad. The characters are well developed, and you identify with the difficult situation that the family is in. This is a must read.

First off, this book is delightful! I read it from cover to cover on a plane and never once took a break to check out the in-flight movies. I thought it would be a light, sweet read to make the hours pass, and often it was - but be prepared for at least one major gut punch that will make you reassess what kind of book this is. Answer: a better book than I expected. More powerful. Just be prepared, as I didn't expect to be fighting back sobs at 30,000 feet. However, I'm withholding one star because I think there's a big missed opportunity here - and his name is Ed Nicholls. While the other characters are original and sharply drawn, the male lead in this story has all the distinctiveness of an L.L. Bean mannequin. He seems to have an interesting life story, but he doesn't seem interesting enough to be living it. I can't really even tell what he's supposed to be. Computer geek? Bigshot rich guy? Can't say I'm buying either one. Okay, if you've read the book already, I can hear you from here. "He's both!" you're saying. "He's a geek who founded a tech startup, got rich, and hired a trainer and stylist so he could become cool and attract Italian fashion models." Right, but here's the problem: "show, don't tell." The author explains what Ed is all about, but I never see it play out in his behavior. I don't sense the tension between the geek he is at heart and the semi-suave persona he's grown into. I don't sense much of anything. I can't really even picture what he looks like. Is he a delectable hunk barely disguised in Clark Kent glasses, or an okay-looking guy who grows on you as you pick up his endearing qualities? I honestly can't tell. He's... amorphous. With all the possibilities, it's too bad we got stuck with "generic male." Well, I'm only harping on this because the book is otherwise so lovable and absorbing. I recommend it highly. Just don't waste a lot of energy figuring out Ed. There isn't much to figure out. But look almost anywhere else and you will find much to richly enjoy.

I come from a very blended family -- my grandmother remarried, and so did both of my parents -- so the uniqueness of the family in this novel and their quirks was something I instantly identified with. One Plus One really drives home the importance of family. They're the people who will always be there for you even in the most dire of circumstances and have your back no matter what. I saw it constantly through Jess' fierce determination to provide for her children and give them the best life and love possible with what little they had in life. It was demonstrated through Nicky and Tanzie's relationship as brother and sister and their acceptance of one another even though they're both a little different. You even see it in Norman, the giant slobbery dog who is 100% loyal to his people. To put it simply, there is no mold for the perfect family. It means something different to everyone, and the family in this book is simply beautiful, quirks and all! The unlikely romance that develops between Jess and Ed is equally as beautiful as the family element. As always, JoJo Moyes writes characters so real you feel like you know them personally. The romance is a slow build and was one of my favorite aspects of the novel aside from the family growth. I don't see a real point in rehashing the plot, all I can really say is you definitely won't regret reading this. It made me laugh (actually out loud, multiple times) and it made me sad (and then happy again, don't worry) and most importantly when I finished it I felt an even greater appreciation for my big, wonderful, slightly weird at times family. We have been through so much together, quite like Jess, Tanzie and Nicky, yet our love for each other will always ensure we make it through the bad stuff together. There's plenty to love in these pages and no matter what your family situation, I can guarantee you'll relate to plenty here. This is another favorite read for me from JoJo Moyes (I love it ALMOST as much as Me Before You) and I'll be loaning it out to everyone I know.

Habe diese Geschichte von Jojo Moyes mit Freude und grossem Vergnügen gelesen. Eine Art Roadmovie in literarischer Form, wobei auf herzerwärmende und kein bisschen kitschige Weise von den Sorgen einer alleinerziehenden, in ständiger Geldnot befindlichen Mutter erzählt wird, von ihren zwei sehr besonderen Kindern und dem riesigen Hund Norman.. Mit von der Partie ist ein in Schwierigkeiten geratenen Londoner Jungunternehmer, der als ambivalenter Retter in der Not auftaucht und alle auf eine recht bewegte Reise nach Schottland mitnimmt. Natürlich ist das Ganze auch eine Liebesgeschichte, aber mehr noch ist es eine schöne, humorvolle Erzählung von Zuversicht, Zueinanderstehen, Verzeihenkönnen, Nicht-Aufgeben und eben: Liebe. Jo-Jo Moyes gelingt es, dies alles so zu erzählen, dass es keineswegs zu zuckrig wird, trotz einer gewissen Vorhersehbarkeit spannend bleibt und nie ins Triviale abgleitet.

シングルマザーの不安や日々の葛藤が描かれていて(私自身シングルマザーだったので）感情移入して読んでしまいました。世界中のシングルマザーにEdのような男性が現れてくれたら良いのにと思う楽しい結末です。

I loved this book and couldnt put it down...read in two days! I recommend reading it if you enjoy a good love story!

Oh boy, I LOVED this book. In fact, all of Jo Jo Moyes’ stories are absorbing and un-putdownable, even her earlier, more historical genre books. She is such a talented author who presents us every time with credible, interesting characters whom we want to cheer on. What should basically turn out to be a depressing read, featuring a struggling one-parent family, is not. Jess, with her cleaning and bar jobs is just about coping to bring up Tanzie, her talented daughter, a maths prodigy who doesn’t fit in at her tough school. She cares for Nicky too: not her son, but the result of her loser of a husband, and his affair with a drug addict. Said husband, Marty, has also dumped Jess, Nicky and Tanzie for a new woman and offers no support whatsoever. Nicky is another child who is “a bit different”, who needs to find his “tribe”, his own people and in the meantime is mercilessly bullied and beaten up by the loathsome Fisher and his gang. Seriously beaten up. Enter Ed Nicholls, another “different” person, with a clever IT brain and owning a successful software business. Jess and her friend Nathalie clean his swanky, vast house that never looks lived in every week. Materially Ed wants for nothing but his private life is a mess and in a mad, thoughtless, rather naïve and desperate moment, he gives away company information – a disastrous move. He is now at rock bottom too. (And also another lovable character). He becomes entangled in the life of Jess and the plot thickens. No spoilers but the main event is a crazy car journey to Scotland where all these “different” characters, (minus of course the sh**** Marty), plus a lolloping, farting dog called Norman, travel north for hours to get Tanzie to a Maths Olympiad. Bewildered? All will be explained when you read this fabulous book… It’s an intensely moving story and it is also hilarious in parts: a combo hard to pull off, but Moyes does it exceedingly well and I thoroughly recommend this book. I really couldn’t put it down and it’s her fault if my own writing word count has suffered. What a brilliant writer she is. I’d give her more than 5 stars.

Just LOVE Jojo Moyes’s stories. And this one is no different. The ups and downs, fears and hopes of these characters made me cry and not want to stop reading. Listed as my all-time favourite author, I look forward to reading more of her books.