An account of a young English undergraduate from the provinces, this portrait of Oxford during the war is now regarded by many critics as a classic of its kind.
Advantages: Interesting and unique, superb writing and characters Disadvantages: Not for you if you prefer plot to character-driven stories
...harmless, but then John sees Jill one day, when browsing in an Oxford bookshop, and things take a more troublesome turn.
Jill could be viewed as a coming-of-age story, a fragment of time in the early years of the war just before classes were supposedly shattered and working-class people found it easier to succeed, but it is much more than that: it is about getting to know oneself, who you truly are. John constantly tries to deny his background, ... ...Self-discovery is deeply enmeshed in Jill and this especially applies to writing - John struggles to encapsulate the personality he has created, but can never quite get the wording right. When he is struck by a flash of genius, someone interrupts him and he forgets it. He doesn't fit in with either Warner or Whitbread, who is disgusted by 'social climbers' who try to better themselves, but instead of finding people who he does fit in with, John bounces ...
DoubleFantasy11 08.12.2006
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