A Mzungu Oasis by lisa89

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5646527/1/A_Mzungu_Oasis
Word Count: 113,867

Official Description: Edward hasn’t seen Bella in four long years, until they’re seated next to each other on a flight with nowhere to run. The story of how two young adults volunteering in Kenya fell in love and fell apart.

–
LolaShoes says: Like many of you, I’ve read a lot of fic and so it’s hard to find stories that really grab me anymore. It’s harder and harder to do anything really different and have it still feel like Twilight characters, particularly with Edward and Bella stories. Which is why I was so pleased when my Ficstress (Algie) told me she thought I’d like A Mzungu Oasis (AMO) by lisa89. I started it and right away knew she was right – it was smart and sweet, with an adorably irresistable Edward (ahem, Prissward) and a strong Bella.

The story itself is quite simple: Edward goes to Kenya to volunteer in a health clinic. Alice is his host mother (she is a tall Alice! Woot!) and the other volunteers living there include Emmett, Rose, and Bella (for what it’s worth, you will love who Jasper turns out to be in this fic). There is no real central theme other than a glimpse of what it is like to be in a country that is so completely different from what you’re used to. I’ve done a fair bit of traveling (never to Kenya, however) and found that lisa89 captured that initial anxiety and disorientation perfectly. On top of that, she helped me understand what it must be like to visit a country that contains such a confounding mixture of poverty and joy, disease and beauty, hardship and adventure. The story is told in two ways – through present day, when Edward runs into Bella on a plane after not having seen her for four years, and then in the past when they first met in Kenya. We do not know what happened with them in Kenya but things are tense on the plane. Only through reading their history do we understand why.

This Edward is Prissward because he is so unbelievably (and sweetly) uptight. He worries about hygiene, sunblock, the safety of public transportation, the best way to carry money in Africa, and just about anything else one can worry about in Kenya (which is a lot). He is apologetically cautious and protective of Bella, but there is also the element of the adorable wimp in him. Not physically, mind you – this Edward, like all others, is a specimen and doesn’t fully realize it – but he very cutely relies on Bella’s experience in Kenya before him to lead him.

This Bella is adventurous and fun. She keeps things bottled up pretty well, though, and is a hard nut for Edward to crack. Because he respects her privacy and her limits, he never really pushes her to communicate more, and it creates a fun tension because we sense that there is a lot more beneath the surface to her than we are able to see early on.

The relationship that grows between them is sweet and easily pulls the reader in. You are rooting for Edward and hoping Bella opens up more. There are glimpses into how soft she really is when she deals with the patients in the clinic, but something prevents her from opening up to Edward in any sort of real way. The lemons are well done and not gratuitous (heh is there such a thing?), and I swear I learned more about traveling in Kenya than I would have if I read a guidebook.

I will be honest, though. I was disappointed with the end. Although the story is told in third person, it is third person limited without much narrative surrounding what is going on with Bella, and it works. But I really hoped that we would gain more insight into Bella’s mind and what happened between them in a pivotal chapter. In reality, the end left a lot of questions unanswered. Having said that, this type of ending works for some readers who prefer to finish the story in their own mind, with their preferred ending. I simply wanted to understand Bella a little more. Perhaps the truth is that sometimes we do things or behave a certain way when we’re young and can’t even really articulate it even when we know ourselves better. Furthermore, not all of us are epic communicators and if we love someone sometimes we accept what they give us and decide we don’t need the rest.

Regardless, the story is sweet and well-written. The information about Kenya is amazing and clearly the author has been there and knows it well. Prissward is completely adorable – I have always had a thing for sweet and neurotic nerds, I just wanna throw them down and ride them into the sunset, I suppose. In any case, check this one out and let me know what you thought – I’d love to hear your reactions to it all.

MF’er says: Thanks to LolaShoes, and the #readalong girls, I jumped into this story a few months ago. I will admit that the title kind of threw me at first, but… I’ve been wrong before about my assumptions with titles… and this was one of those times.

Why was I wrong? Because the story is wonderful.

Young Edward has just made the biggest decision of his life by choosing to volunteer for a three-month stint in Kenya. What our boy doesn’t know is that no matter how many plans you make or expectations you have… things don’t always turn out the way you think they will. Poor Edward found out the hard way that nothing at all he thought would happen, actually did happen. Sure, he went to Kenya. He volunteered… but in the process? He met Bella.

He fell in love with Bella…

And she broke his heart.

So what does he do when he finds himself, four years later, on his way home to Chicago and the last person he ever expected to see ends up in the seat to his right? He starts to reminisce… and eventually comes to the realization that this is his chance to find out what happened between them. Why she did what she did, and possibly even rekindle the romance that he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about since he returned from Africa.

I’ve got a major soft-spot for a naive and innocent Edward, and that’s just who this one was to me. It’s so rare that he’s characterized in such a… dare I say, dorky… way; it makes him likable and I just want to squeeze him. (And Lisa for writing this story)

It’s complete now, and you’re truly missing out if you don’t take the time to read this story.