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sincerelyadi 's review for:
My Oxford Year
by Julia Whelan
emotional
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Coming to you after watching the movie to give my total review of both.
3 stars for the book
5 stars for the movie
Minor spoilers, around the movie. You’re safe to read on if you’re more curious around the book!
I like a few others wanted to read the book before the movie came out. I also saw that the trailer said the movie was made by the producers of the fault in our stars so I knew I would be done for, so I wanted to mentally prepare myself for reading the book.
I often prefer to read the book before watching a movie if I happen to know it was a book first. Sometimes I don’t find that out until after I watch something and do the reverse. I like that movies these days will often tell you it’s based on a book, allowing you the chance to read it first.
With the book I listened on Audio, which I think distracted me from the beautiful quotes at the start of each chapter. I have a feeling if I read it on my kindle I would have highlighted a lot of them.
I loved that the main characters name was Ella, I was sad that they changed her name in the movie (biased because my dogs name is Ella)
There were minor differences in the book and the movie, but the movie captured the essence of the book and then some.
I did not cry reading the book, again when I listen to a book on audio I’m often multitasking. I think if i were to have physically read the book I would have cried. Maybe not hard core sobbed, but at least would have required a tissue or two.
The get out scene when Ella/Ann walks in wow Corey (the actor who played Jamie) literally brought that seen to life from the book in the most raw and vulnerable way. I felt that deeply.
The dad in the book was way more of jerk in my opinion. In the movie though you could see more the devastation and understand more why he acted the way he did. I love how Ella/Anna so beautifully helped to mend the relationship between Jamie and his dad in the movie.
Ella/Anna’s friends - I just adored them both in the book and in the movie. I think they were perfectly captured in the movie. Charlie hands down was my fave!!
The birthday weekend in the movie, was so lovely. But when Jamie breaks the red car model, I sobbed so hard the last twenty minutes of that movie. Like I’m talking snot, heaving, I can’t hear what’s fully going on because I’m sobbing so hard. Blurry vision because of the constant tears. (But again I read the book so I knew what was going on) maybe because I read the book it hit me harder, but honestly I think without having read the book I would of sobbed just as hard.
The endings of the book and movie are quite similar yet also different. In the book she gives up a political career, and you don’t really see what’s next for her. But in the movie she had a different career she was going after and while she gave that up, she beautifully found a career in something she would of dreamed of doing so I like that she was given dignity in the end.
But back to the ending where they were to travel together and they show two different versions. Whew, that unraveled me uneven more. Which keep in mind, I had already been sobbing for 15 minutes straight prior to this point.
All in all the book was lovely but mediocre at best. (Nothing to me has been able to compare to the fault in our stars and second chance summer. When it comes dealing with losing a loved one to cancer.) The movie in my opinion was way better than the book which I normally don’t think that to be true. The script was beautifully written and the cast was perfectly casted.
3 stars for the book
5 stars for the movie
Minor spoilers, around the movie. You’re safe to read on if you’re more curious around the book!
I like a few others wanted to read the book before the movie came out. I also saw that the trailer said the movie was made by the producers of the fault in our stars so I knew I would be done for, so I wanted to mentally prepare myself for reading the book.
I often prefer to read the book before watching a movie if I happen to know it was a book first. Sometimes I don’t find that out until after I watch something and do the reverse. I like that movies these days will often tell you it’s based on a book, allowing you the chance to read it first.
With the book I listened on Audio, which I think distracted me from the beautiful quotes at the start of each chapter. I have a feeling if I read it on my kindle I would have highlighted a lot of them.
I loved that the main characters name was Ella, I was sad that they changed her name in the movie (biased because my dogs name is Ella)
There were minor differences in the book and the movie, but the movie captured the essence of the book and then some.
I did not cry reading the book, again when I listen to a book on audio I’m often multitasking. I think if i were to have physically read the book I would have cried. Maybe not hard core sobbed, but at least would have required a tissue or two.
The get out scene when Ella/Ann walks in wow Corey (the actor who played Jamie) literally brought that seen to life from the book in the most raw and vulnerable way. I felt that deeply.
The dad in the book was way more of jerk in my opinion. In the movie though you could see more the devastation and understand more why he acted the way he did. I love how Ella/Anna so beautifully helped to mend the relationship between Jamie and his dad in the movie.
Ella/Anna’s friends - I just adored them both in the book and in the movie. I think they were perfectly captured in the movie. Charlie hands down was my fave!!
The birthday weekend in the movie, was so lovely. But when Jamie breaks the red car model, I sobbed so hard the last twenty minutes of that movie. Like I’m talking snot, heaving, I can’t hear what’s fully going on because I’m sobbing so hard. Blurry vision because of the constant tears. (But again I read the book so I knew what was going on) maybe because I read the book it hit me harder, but honestly I think without having read the book I would of sobbed just as hard.
The endings of the book and movie are quite similar yet also different. In the book she gives up a political career, and you don’t really see what’s next for her. But in the movie she had a different career she was going after and while she gave that up, she beautifully found a career in something she would of dreamed of doing so I like that she was given dignity in the end.
But back to the ending where they were to travel together and they show two different versions. Whew, that unraveled me uneven more. Which keep in mind, I had already been sobbing for 15 minutes straight prior to this point.
All in all the book was lovely but mediocre at best. (Nothing to me has been able to compare to the fault in our stars and second chance summer. When it comes dealing with losing a loved one to cancer.) The movie in my opinion was way better than the book which I normally don’t think that to be true. The script was beautifully written and the cast was perfectly casted.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Vomit