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    The Last Enchantments: A Novel
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    The Last Enchantments: A Novel
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    The Last Enchantments: A Novel
    Ebook371 pages6 hours

    The Last Enchantments: A Novel

    By Charles Finch

    3/5

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    About this ebook

    The Last Enchantments is a powerfully moving and lyrically written novel. A young American embarks on a year at Oxford and has an impassioned affair that will change his life forever

    After graduating from Yale, William Baker, scion of an old line patrician family, goes to work in presidential politics. But when the campaign into which he's poured his heart ends in disappointment, he decides to leave New York behind, along with the devoted, ambitious, and well-connected woman he's been in love with for the last four years.

    Will expects nothing more than a year off before resuming the comfortable life he's always known, but he's soon caught up in a whirlwind of unexpected friendships and romantic entanglements that threaten his safe plans. As he explores the heady social world of Oxford, he becomes fast friends with Tom, his snobbish but affable flat mate; Anil, an Indian economist with a deep love for gangster rap; Anneliese, a German historian obsessed with photography; and Timmo, whose chief ambition is to become a reality television star. What he's least prepared for is Sophie, a witty, beautiful and enigmatic woman who makes him question everything he knows about himself.

    For readers who made a classic of Richard Yates's A Good School, Charles Finch's The Last Enchantments is a sweeping novel about love and loss that redefines what it means to grow up as an American in the twenty-first century.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateJan 28, 2014
    ISBN9781250018700
    Author

    Charles Finch

    Charles Finch is the USA Today bestselling author of the Charles Lenox mysteries, including The Vanishing Man. His first contemporary novel, The Last Enchantments, is also available from St. Martin's Press. Finch received the 2017 Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing from the National Book Critics Circle. His essays and criticism have appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Washington Post, and elsewhere. He lives in Los Angeles.

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    Reviews for The Last Enchantments

    3/5

    7 ratings9 reviews

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    • 5/5
      There’s always a bit of anxiety when a favorite author departs from their established genre and dabbles in a new one. When I heard about Charles Finch’s THE LAST ENCHANTMENTS, I didn’t have those feelings because I knew he would take care of me. That being said, this is the hardest review I’ve had to write as a blogger and it’s not because I’m a fan of his, but rather I don’t know what to say other than to use shouty capitals: GO BUY THIS BOOK AND READ IT NOOOOW! After John Kerry loses the 2004 presidential election, William Baker decides to pursue a postgraduate degree in literature at Oxford University. Leaving behind political dreams he soon finds himself immersed in academic life and contemplating his future. Will isn’t prepared for the experience and through a series of missteps finds his life changing. Along the way, Will reminds us what it means to be human and to have the world at our feet.Character development is strong and we’re introduced to several secondary characters who play a vital role. Before I talk about them I want to take a moment to discuss Will. Oh Will…what a love / hate relationship I had with him! It was difficult at times to like him because he is in many ways selfish without knowing it. Although several people have pointed out Will’s infidelity and how fast it happens (less than a week in Oxford), that tells us something about his relationship with Alison. And as the novel progresses especially when Will talks to old friends and acquaintances that served on political campaigns with him and Alison, it’s the way his relationship with Alison is addressed that says a lot. I’m not defending Will’s decision to be unfaithful, but I’m okay with it because Will was done with that relationship. His decision to attend Oxford was his way of getting out of it even if he doesn’t realize it at that moment. As I mentioned, we have secondary characters who are key players. There’s Tom, the first person he officially meets at Oxford. Then we have Anil from India who quickly becomes a favorite character despite his love for gangster rap and his, “haters gonna hate,” phrase. It’s Sophie that remains the most enigmatic character and at the end of THE LAST ENCHANTMENTS, I still couldn’t understand Will’s fascination with her. Other characters included photographer and Medievalist Anneliese, Jess who works at a local tea shop, and Timmo who dreams of being on BIG BROTHER.Narration is first person via Will and this is his journey. As a narrator he’s trustworthy and as I mentioned he’s difficult to like. What I really admire about Will is how unapologetic he is about his actions and he’s the first to admit to his faults. Though at times he was a bit inconsistent or at least it felt that way. Here we have a character who comes from money and yet loathes Bush because of what he represents (the rich and elite). We’re often reminded which political spectrum Will identifies with and yet when he’s offered a lucrative job at a bank without having the qualifications, I wanted to shake some sense into him and remind him that he himself has now joined the ranks of a group he dislikes.What I loved about THE LAST ENCHANTMENTS is how it reads like a love letter to Oxford. Finch’s admiration for the city and university clearly shows and it’s one any reader can fully appreciate. If Oxford could compile a list of books to use for a travel campaign, it’s easy to imagine them using THE LAST ENCHANTMENTS. While I’m not a fan of first person narrative, I can’t imagine this written any other way. We get to walk alongside Will and he makes us want to text our friends, “Hobnobs!” and pray they will understand what you’re talking about (or just craving them as we read). Most importantly, Will’s friends become ours as well. One reason it took me so long to finish reading THE LAST ENCHANTMENTS was because I didn’t want it to end.Overall, I just adored THE LAST ENCHANTMENTS! If you’ve ever studied abroad you’ll easily identify with the nostalgia and the longing of a time that upon reflection we’ll never get to experience for the first time again. A few years ago, Peter Jon Lindberg wrote a piece in TRAVEL + LEISURE about revisiting London something like ten years after he moved back to New York. One quote from that article that has always stayed with me, “Long after we stop haunting the places we loved, the places we loved keep haunting us.” As I read THE LAST ENCHANTMENTS I kept thinking about this quote and it sums it up. I believe Will would agree with me and Finch had me longing for Glasgow. It was easy to substitute parts of Oxford for Glasgow and Finch made me wish I had experienced more. I easily associated with Will and the academic woes of working on a master’s abroad and trying to figure out what to do afterwards. Will often questions if he has what it takes to work in academia and that resonated with me because anyone who has embarked on a postgraduate degree program has had these exact thoughts. As I read, I was happy for the characters that stayed behind to work on a doctorate and yet it was easy to feel a bit envious that they got to do it.Charles Finch’s THE LAST ENCHANTMENTS is lyrical, beautiful, and evocative. If you keep up with the world of publishing, you’ve probably heard the term “new adult” and it’s often defined as, 18-26 year old protagonists finding themselves through college or shortly afterwards with the whole first job / first apartment thing. Though these new adult novels tend to be found primarily in the romance genre, Finch’s THE LAST ENCHANTMENTS is everything I want a new adult novel to be and one new adult authors could definitely take a page from.If you read only a handful of books a year, this is one you won’t want to miss. I always enjoy Finch’s Lenox novels, but I truly can’t wait to read his next non-Lenox novel.
    • 4/5
      A love story told from a man in his late 20s. At this point in life, he loves many things but mostly he loves Oxford. Finch really captures this point in a person's life when there are so many choices, emotions are high and all seems possible. Very well done.
    • 3/5
      What Will hopes for at his graduate school year at Oxford, is a chance to enjoy the last of his youth, before returning to America, settling down with his girlfriend and plunging into the adult world for read. Instead he finds himself caught up in the turmoil and lives of the other scholars. He experiences fun with new girlfriends and sees what life is like in romantic, literary, elite Oxford. At the end of his year, he decides to stay in London and take a job in banking, that is until the firm’s bankruptcy and he heads back to America and working in the job he loves, political campaigns. Coming of age and the angst that goes along with it are the main thoughts I take away from this book.
    • 3/5
      Wow...it took me almost a year to finish this book. I started it, but got distracted, and started again...
      Anyways, this book was not too bad, this genre was a huge change from what I normally read, so I think three stars is reasonable.
      So. This story is mainly about Will, who moves to another country, away from his girlfriend, Alison, to go to a school called Oxford. While there, he meets a lot of new people, most of them befriends him. He also starts to fall in love with another girl. Uh oh. Problem is, she has a boyfriend. Another uh oh. I just realized, that this book has a lot of relationships. Meaning, there are lots of mini plots where Will's friends become couples. They all have their own small stories with problems, resolutions, and their own happy endings, kinda. Will also has to make a lot of big decisions about his life. He had to choose whether or not he would go back to New York, after a year of staying in Oxford, where he will be reunited with his girlfriend, or stay in Oxford.
      I got a bit bored in some parts of the book, I actually skimmed through most of the parts that didn't include any conversations, of course, there were some parts where I was very interested, and read every word, but I feel maybe this book could be a bit shorter, without a lot of the of explanation parts. But that's just me (it probably is) I usually don't pay much attention to description, once I have a good idea of where the story takes place, I focus more on the conversations.
      I hope there is a sequel, I don't think I'm quite satisfied with the ending I got.
      I received this book from Goodreads First Reads
    • 3/5
      The Last Enchantments by Charles Finch is beautifully written and filled with descriptive enough prose that one easily can see oneself in Oxford. However, I did not entirely care for the book due to the political leanings, which is a personal quirk of mine, and the fact I felt as though I was reading a 20 something’s memoir. This was the first book I have read by Charles Finch and even though The Last Enchantments was not exactly what I look for in a book, the writing style is and therefore I will be trying one of his Charles Lenox mysteries.
    • 3/5
      Although the writing and description of college life hooked me right away, this book was to much politics, very dry. I thought it might lean towards relationships of certain friends like Rules Of Civility did, one of my favorite books. Oh well...
    • 2/5
      A warning first - the two star rating may be more reflective of the reader than of the book. As someone who slogged through an engineering degree, I was unable to empathize with characters who spent afternoons punting and late nights making the rounds of local pubs. I was reminded of my similar dislike for the characters in James Michener's The Drifters and was left feeling a bit like Nick from The Great Gatsby, wondering what to make of the lifestyles described in the book. Surely it's no coincidence that Nick Carraway and I both have Midwestern roots. Having said that, I admit that Charles Finch does have a way of capturing the essence of a moment with a beautiful phrase. One of my favorites from the book: "It was more realistic to hope in blurry outlines than for anything specific." I also loved the discussion about the novel as an art form: "The novel was where our deepest correspondences called out to each other. It was how we moved each other into a recognition of ourselves." Although the book did not work for me, it might be just what you need if you have fallen in love while studying abroad, if you remember college as an idyllic time, or if you enjoy fiction about young people on the cusp of adulthood.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Will Baker, a political worker smarting from the Kerry loss, takes the opportunity to go to Oxford for a year leaving behind his life in politics as well as his girlfriend, Allison. While at Oxford, his life intertwines with fellow students. This paean to one final youthful fling had its moments of insight, but the repeated parties, drinking, and hookups far overshadowed the insights leaving me mostly with exasperation for the cavalier ways these people hurt themselves and others. Ultimately, I couldn't find any of the major characters admirable making my time with them tedious by the end of the book.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 1/5
      This book was not the least bit enchanting. Will is incredibly self-absorbed, and unable to commit to anything other than completing his degree. Can’t commit to his chosen job path, or to his girlfriend, or to his hookup, or to his new job, or his new new job, or even to the crush he’s obsessed with. He changes his mind at the slightest whim, without any thought to how anyone else may be affected.And he’s a jerk! He guilts his EX-girlfriend into not seeing anyone else (or at least, not telling him about it), even though he’s the one who strayed. And he treats most of his friends like they are below him, though I confess that some of that feeling may be because of how the author treats them. Frankly, Anil and Timmo are his most interesting friends, but they are treated as jokes.Oxford is the most compelling character in the book. Learning about the school and how it is set up and operates was the only part of the plot that was actually interesting. And speaking of the plot, oh my god I kept waiting for something to happen. Especially because the author continually seems to foreshadow some sort of major happening, but I never figured out what it was supposed to be. Other than his friend Tom’s family tragedy, the only thing tragic about this story is the praise it has received.If people like this are the result of “grow(ing) up as an American in the twenty-first century”, then we are in a lot of trouble.

      1 person found this helpful