The Book Wench

American Ella Durran has had the same plan for her life since she was thirteen: Study at Oxford. At 24, she’s finally made it to England on a Rhodes Scholarship when she’s offered an unbelievable position in a rising political star’s presidential campaign. With the promise that she’ll work remotely and return to DC at the end of her Oxford year, she’s free to enjoy her Once in a Lifetime Experience. That is, until a smart-mouthed local who is too quick with his tongue and his car ruins her shirt and her first day.

When Ella discovers that her English literature course will be taught by none other than that same local, Jamie Davenport, she thinks for the first time that Oxford might not be all she’s envisioned. But a late-night drink reveals a connection she wasn’t anticipating finding and what begins as a casual fling soon develops into something much more when Ella learns Jamie has a life-changing secret.

Immediately, Ella is faced with a seemingly impossible decision: turn her back on the man she’s falling in love with to follow her political dreams or be there for him during a trial neither are truly prepared for. As the end of her year in Oxford rapidly approaches, Ella must decide if the dreams she’s always wanted are the same ones she’s now yearning for.

My Oxford Year is the kind of book I would have loved…ABSOLUTELY LOVED… to read when I was a high school student. Infatuated with everything English and dying to study in England myself, I would have been enamored to read about a girl achieving all my dreams. As a 35 year-old, married, soon-to-be possessor of a Masters in English…it was a fun read. Entertaining even. But it is not what it would have been had I read it even ten years sooner.

Don’t get me wrong, it was highly entertaining. I loved reading as Ella explore Oxford and learn all sort of English witticisms and make highly American errors (which I also would have made). But there was a disconnect. It felt more like fanfiction than a full novel, with unbelievable stakes thrown right at the reader right out the gate. But then again, what else is fiction?

I can’t really say what it is that holds me back from it. My only real qualms are some erroneous historical facts and that Ella honestly made Americans look really pushy and selfish with how she acted sometimes (yes, I know a lot of Americans are like that, but we don’t want those to be the types we put forth as our book heroines). Unfortunately, Ella also had a whiff of Mary Sue about her…until you hit that “so heartbroken by loss that she’s unable to love” wall that almost immediately gets broken down. I don’t know. There is just something I cannot quite pinpoint that is keeping me from proper loving this book.

It could be my inner child being jealous. Who knows. But please do not take this as any sort of deterrent. The books WAS amusing and entertaining. And I LOVED Jamie’s character wholeheartedly. He was so sweet and adorable and frankly just the sort I would have been dying to meet in England when I was a teenager writing my own stories about traveling to London and falling in love.

Whatever the issue is, I am glad I read the book and I don’t feel for a moment that time was wasted. In fact, I feel like the book could have enjoyed a little more length, as the last 30% felt a little rushed. I would have liked to see more angst, more humanity, more emotional grappling to bring everyone and everything together in a more authentic way.  But I definitely am not discouraging anyone from reading it. I even plan on watching the movie tonight (review on that to come soon)

I wholeheartedly suggest that any readers of the Kindle version (which is what I read) read the little essay the author includes about her adaptation of the book from its original source as a screenplay. It is interesting and has some really engaging lines in it as well. I am not sure if that is present in print or audio versions but if it is, I suggest anyone read/listen to it. I love those sorts of details and “behind-the-scenes” moments, and I think they can bring a deeper gravity to the fictional aspect of the book that might not exist without reading it.

All-in-all, give this one a go.

PS: This book gave me a renewed love for poetry and made me wish that I had studied more of it while working toward my Masters. But, alas