nathalialvs's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Terminal illness and Cancer
Moderate: Death and Car accident
kb33's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.5
Graphic: Grief, Terminal illness, Cancer, and Death
Moderate: Car accident
Minor: Pregnancy, Death of parent, and Suicide attempt
kaytrain's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Cancer
Minor: Death of parent, Alcohol, and Car accident
theespressoedition's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
After reading (and adoring) Thank You for Listening, I picked this up with excitement, wanting to delve into the author's work even more. However, where TYFL brought immense amounts of joy and hope, My Oxford Year was really quite sad and frustrating.
The beginning was really enjoyable! I loved Ella's somewhat chaotic introduction to Oxford and the lifestyle there. Her rag-tag group of friends was fantastic and even the start of her "relationship" with Jamie was filled with humor, awkward moments, and sweetness. Around the halfway point, however, everything took a depressing nosedive.
Spoiler
Jamie’s illness was so miserable, but also felt forced, uncomfortable, and handled somewhat terribly. While I would've anticipated for Ella to be angry about him not telling her sooner, the initial reaction was awful and from there on out, I felt a heaviness to the entire story. There were all of the issues with his father, the really icky feeling of never knowing if he would live or not, and then finally, a very open ending. I’m sure this was meant to provide hope for the reader so they can make the assumption that there was a HEA, but I would’ve just preferred an on-paper HEA rather than one I had to make up for myself.It all left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. What could have been a really creative and cute romcom turned into something melancholy and heavy. I walked away from it feeling drained rather than refreshed, which is not what I prefer after reading this kind of book. Definitely not my ideal style, unfortunately.
Graphic: Death, Grief, Death of parent, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Classism and Toxic relationship
Minor: Car accident and Sexual content
anbieker's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Graphic: Terminal illness, Cancer, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Car accident
Minor: Suicide attempt and Vomit
taylor13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Cancer
Moderate: Car accident
novellybritt's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Cancer and Chronic illness
Moderate: Death of parent and Car accident
awilliams47's review against another edition
3.75
Moderate: Cancer
Minor: Car accident