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The Day
Adrift in the recession, Fletcher feels like a relative outsider at his wife's family gathering, seeing the events of the day and recalling the death of his sister, Clare, through the distorting lens of his dislocation
195 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 29, 2024
I can 100% say that I’m giving this book a five star review because Douglas Hobbie is my great uncle, it’s definitely not the best thing ever written but personally it allowed me to understand things a little better.
My grandmother told me that it was a Scottish thing to only hang around people in your family, like a very closed off friend group. This is partially what it was like in the book. I know that I’m more similar to my mom’s side of the family as personality goes and something funny that’s happened a few times is that people have told me that Doug looked a little bit like me.
I didn’t know Doug that well, I only met him once. His wife, Holly was actually famous for writing the somewhat known children’s book series (that then became a show on NatGeo Kids) Toot & Puddle. My grandmother told me that he never really took off as an author because he paid much more attention to the way he wrote than actual storytelling, which was kind of a diss in my opinion because I loved his story, but also I do understand that. He mentioned various authors and writers in his story like Updike, Thoreau, and especially Joyce. You wouldn’t see a looot of authors in the 90s focusing more on rhetoric as NYT best sellers.
His focus on sexuality in the story along with life and death were really beautiful and the family connections were also very similar to the ones I had growing up.
Also, as a fun fact, the little girl in the story is based on my mom and the blonde friend she brought over was based on this girl named Amy Moore, who ended up being my mom’s roommate and dating Rivers Cuomo from Weezer (Peter Kitts, who also went to my moms high school for a short period of time). The song called Paperface is based on her.
My grandmother told me that it was a Scottish thing to only hang around people in your family, like a very closed off friend group. This is partially what it was like in the book. I know that I’m more similar to my mom’s side of the family as personality goes and something funny that’s happened a few times is that people have told me that Doug looked a little bit like me.
I didn’t know Doug that well, I only met him once. His wife, Holly was actually famous for writing the somewhat known children’s book series (that then became a show on NatGeo Kids) Toot & Puddle. My grandmother told me that he never really took off as an author because he paid much more attention to the way he wrote than actual storytelling, which was kind of a diss in my opinion because I loved his story, but also I do understand that. He mentioned various authors and writers in his story like Updike, Thoreau, and especially Joyce. You wouldn’t see a looot of authors in the 90s focusing more on rhetoric as NYT best sellers.
His focus on sexuality in the story along with life and death were really beautiful and the family connections were also very similar to the ones I had growing up.
Also, as a fun fact, the little girl in the story is based on my mom and the blonde friend she brought over was based on this girl named Amy Moore, who ended up being my mom’s roommate and dating Rivers Cuomo from Weezer (Peter Kitts, who also went to my moms high school for a short period of time). The song called Paperface is based on her.
June 24, 2008
This is one of those neglected books--now out of print--which is a small masterpiece of tone and deep feeling. I've been spreading the gospel of Douglas Hobbie for years. If you can get your hands on a copy of The Day you will not be disappointed.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews