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A review by pk4
My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
read like me before you (2014) kind of. i honestly didn’t know about this book until i saw sophia carson’s press tour begin earlier this summer and thought i’d read it ahead of the netflix release. side note: did we know the book was based off allison burnett’s screenplay and isn’t technically an adaptation ??? (https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/my-oxford-year-sofia-carson-release-date-photos-news) idk if i’ve ever seen that happen before.
anyway, i like endings like this where there’s a lot of ambiguity and it’s up to the reader’s interpretation to make sense of the conclusion. i also really enjoyed the element of forcing the readers to understand the importance of poetry, literature, and the arts through her educational route. however, there was just too much disconnect between the romance plot and the underlying oxford academic setting. i really didn’t love how undeveloped ella’s character was. her ambition in government and education policy could have been better fleshed out because she clearly possessed strong skills communicating with janet. i would have appreciated more continuity in her political side quest because her promotion to the deputy political director after janet won the primaries just didn’t make sense with the handful of calls she had with gavin.
so much was explicitly outlined and left little to the readers to fill in the lines. i also found the family dynamics to be a little uncharacteristic considering jamie’s tense background and character arc but whatever i now get to watch the movie
anyway, i like endings like this where there’s a lot of ambiguity and it’s up to the reader’s interpretation to make sense of the conclusion. i also really enjoyed the element of forcing the readers to understand the importance of poetry, literature, and the arts through her educational route. however, there was just too much disconnect between the romance plot and the underlying oxford academic setting. i really didn’t love how undeveloped ella’s character was. her ambition in government and education policy could have been better fleshed out because she clearly possessed strong skills communicating with janet. i would have appreciated more continuity in her political side quest because her promotion to the deputy political director after janet won the primaries just didn’t make sense with the handful of calls she had with gavin.
so much was explicitly outlined and left little to the readers to fill in the lines. i also found the family dynamics to be a little uncharacteristic considering jamie’s tense background and character arc but whatever i now get to watch the movie