Loved!! Smart "Caro" goes to Oxford as 18 y/o and becomes a Christian. Lots of friends (incl'g TDH-tall, dark, handsome) and descriptions of Oxford and thought-provoking."conversation" and "conversion" are evocative of each other, …yet separated merely by where you are "at."conversion: from convertere "to turn around, transform"…"to turn and to return"…turning back on something to see it again new or…returning to something from which you turned earlier but understanding it now, returning to it with a new way of seeing it" The portions dealing with life at Oxford are the best part. Weber's spiritual journey is compelling.I would rate this higher except for these things: First, the conversations are stilted. I find it hard to believe that anyone actually talks like this. Memoirs are tricky, of course, trying to reconstruct things that happened in the past is hard enough without trying to piece together long, involved apologia between adults. If Weber was a novelist, I would say that she doesn't have an ear for dialogue. Since she's an academic, writing a personal memoir, I can excuse this fault, at least most of the time.Second: the only character that seems fully drawn and realized is Weber herself. All the others seem like a cast of characters, exactly who anyone would hope to meet and befriend. (The gracious, older woman who provides just the right food and conversation at just the right times; the delightfully disparate set of friends; the tall, dark, handsome and perfect fellow student.)Weber and I would not agree on several points of theology, but it's encouraging to learn there are people of faith, even in the driest reaches of academe.
What do You think about Surprised By Oxford (2011)?
Loved it! Our book club loved it and some read it twice before we met because they loved it so much!
—Abigweenis
I really enjoyed this memoir but then again I am a bit enamored with the whole Oxford experience.
—Leboto
Interesting, compelling, but not the most easy-to-read as far as movement of the storyline.
—JFaulise
