(11/25/2013)
Certainly this novel had some very appealing themes: academic stimulation, freedom to choose when to work and when to relax, escapism and of especially friendship. Will Baker, the protagonist, is immersed in an academic environment studying literature, a topic that he relishes. The author gives us great detail about Will's excitement in studying and learning. He is able to research and write intensely on his own schedule and is also able to socialize, drink, party and have deep involvements with his new Oxford friends and lovers whenever he chooses. Charles Finch does a magnificent job of conveying a young man's daily academic life, exuberant friendship with housemates along with his angst of deep and complicated love for Sophie. The reader is treated to great discussions of the complexity of human interactions. However, the novel is, in the end, a slice of life. The novel tells us of one year in a young American man's life in Oxford, England between 2004-2005. Although the writing was quite good, the descriptions were often long winded. The details of Will's daily life became uninteresting after 2/3 of the novel because there was no significant change or revelation into how the year transformed him. The reader gets the feeling that Will shall forever see the pinnacle of his life be the year at Oxford, and frankly, it really isn't that interesting to the rest of us.