One Day in December

Jack O’Mara is a young man trying to find his path in the radio broadcasting industry. He is ambitious and driven but also wants to be perceived as kind and compassionate. Losing his father at an early age cements in Jack a desire for a solid life, but his twenties are rife with development and worry. Even though the novel is told mostly through Laurie’s point of view, many first-person narrations are told from Jack’s point of view, offering insight and inviting empathy from readers.

Jack is more afraid of his feelings for Laurie than he lets on; he cannot admit that he recognizes her from the bus stop until the very end of the book. Even when Laurie tries to be honest with him, he withholds his whole truth from her. This is because Jack is very concerned with being perceived as a nice guy and is hard on himself when he thinks he’s hurt someone’s feelings. Jack is rarely the cause of someone else’s hurt, with the exception of his post-accident depression. When Jack is struck by a car, he loses the hearing in his right ear, breaks some bones, and becomes unemployed. The accident results in a major loss of self for Jack, and he doesn’t let people in to help him. Accustomed to being the one others rely on for comfort and support, Jack feels unmoored by the physical and emotional irritations his post-accident life inflicts upon him. When Jack gets himself out of his depression, it is because he cannot forgive himself for the depth of his cruelty to Laurie. It is often Laurie’s opinion that matters the most to Jack, and even when they get older and distance comes between them, he is continuously thinking about her.

Jack and Laurie are alike in many important ways. They both would rather hurt themselves than others, they both go on a journey away from home to find themselves, and they both try to make their life work even when a deeper problem is too obvious to ignore. They both describe their growth through trials in their lives as “swimming,” as if they’re fighting a physical battle that, if lost, will result in drowning. They both lose their fathers, and they both find themselves in other romantic relationships that are good but not good enough.

Although Laurie initiates the final get together between Jack and Laurie, it is up to Jack to make the reunion real by admitting he remembers her from the bus. Laurie has been more emotionally prepared for Jack than Jack has been for Laurie, but neither of them can get past their poor timing. When both are finally single and the betrayal of Sarah is long behind them, Jack is grown up enough to make himself vulnerable for Laurie. His phase of finding himself through career and women is over, and he and Laurie can start anew together.

Sarah is the third angle of the triangle that is Sarah-Jack-Laurie. She is Laurie’s best friend but fills the role of sister more aptly than any of Laurie’s other friends. They go to university together, live together, support one another, and rely on one another. Unbeknownst to Sarah, their friendship is challenged when Sarah starts dating Jack, who turns out to be the mystery man from the bus stop Laurie is in love with. Sarah, gregarious and confident, pursues Jack in a way that Laurie did not have the courage to do.

What unfolds is three years of a relationship that is tinged with dishonesty. Sarah pushes Jack and Laurie to be friends with one another, and eventually the three become so close that when Sarah and Jack break up, she still asks Laurie to remain friends with him. The character of Sarah creates a situation of dramatic irony: The reader knows the entire time that Sarah is being deceived by Laurie and Jack. When Sarah finally discovers the truth on the eve of Laurie’s wedding to Oscar, she becomes so upset that she skips the wedding. Eventually, Sarah and Laurie repair their friendship, but Sarah will continue to aggressively pursue her career dreams and love interests with zeal, leaving Laurie behind. Sarah’s purpose as a secondary character is to bring Jack and Laurie together.