Book Review THE ENGLISH EXPERIENCE Julie Schumacher

Thank you to the author Julie Schumacher, publishers Doubleday, and as always, NetGalley, for an advance digital copy of THE ENGLISH EXPERIMENT. All views are mine.



Jason Fitger is an American professor of English who is essentially bullied by his department provost to accompany several young students on the best "Experience: Abroad" programs to England. Fitger's lack of enthusiasm and general jadedness with being a writing professor to entry level college students provides ample opportunity for wit and dry humor, both of which the author handles adeptly. For my friends on Bookstagram, this book will be a fittingly hilarious read as Schumacher riffs on bad form, both in writing, and also in being bitter about writing, even the imperfect kind.

This book boasts many funny moments, but I'd like to share one of my favorites here, which is one student's letter, an assignment all the students were supposed to write to someone back home about something that happened during the trip. Check it out:

To the guy at the scholarship office. I will look up his name. 

I am angry about my scholarship money. Which you wouldn’t give. My anger is like a red hot iron or very sharp knife . You have never seen anger like this before. I would come to your office to beat the shit out of you but I am in England. loc933

In defense of his letter, the student point out that in his rewrite he had "stuck to the theme of anger" and "cut it into paragraphs. One idea at a time, like you said." loc.933

I love the narrative in this book, but this subplot and this scene really elevated my enjoyment. This student grows so much, and we don't even see it except through the changes in his writing assignment. And his impact on Fitger, which come out of the blue just a bit later, is rather profound.

Highly recommend for writers, educators, and devoted readers! So looking forward to going back and collecting the earlier two books in this series. This can be read as a standalone.

Rating: 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧.5 / 5 Union Jacks
Recommend? Absolutely!
Finished: August 11 2023
Format: Advance Digital Copy, NetGalley 
Read this if you like:
✒️ Writing 
📚 Reading
✈️ Traveling
😂 Comedy
😏 Wit and dry humor

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