oliverlewis's review against another edition
Incredibly interesting and definitely something to reference in the future :)
amberinhonduras's review against another edition
4.0
Hilarious and packed with information I didn't know I needed to know. Very quirky and fun and probably only appealing to certain people.
snoakes7001's review against another edition
5.0
Genuinely interesting and never ever dull or dry, this should be required reading for anyone who loves words.
Perfect for dipping into - it's been my bathtime companion for the last couple of weeks.
Perfect for dipping into - it's been my bathtime companion for the last couple of weeks.
richiew3's review against another edition
1.0
Not as advertised. There is no "how" anywhere in this book. It just a bunch of definitions of rhetoric terms and lots of examples where great writers of the past have use them. It also loses points for the fact that the writer seems really full of himself, and to prove it he wrote each chapter using the literary technique he was discussing, which seemed interesting at first, but got really old, really fast. The few bits of humor were also only at conservative, non-British folks. So, all in all, great book if you are a liberal, British, english student.
mc_moose's review against another edition
5.0
Entertaining, informative and very clever. Giving it 5 stars as I’d love to reread it a couple more times.
Only disappoint was unnecessary use of bad language in a few places, which sadly limits its appropriateness to teens. It would otherwise be an enjoyable read for school-age English language studies.
Only disappoint was unnecessary use of bad language in a few places, which sadly limits its appropriateness to teens. It would otherwise be an enjoyable read for school-age English language studies.
a_ab's review against another edition
5.0
I did not expect to laugh out loud so much. This book was a lovely surprise and a jolly good fun. It's not particularly useful or practical, but it works beautifully as pure entertainment.
juliwi's review against another edition
3.0
s you may know, I was an English student and thus spent much of my time reading English literature. Through the years you learn how to read books in such a way you both analyse their style and get a sense for their "feel". What are they trying to tell you and how. Forsyth's book is a great guide for learning how to do the latter. Thanks to Netgalley and Icon Books for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The point of The Elements of Eloquence is not, necessarily, that you sit down with a pen and paper and make furious notes so you remember all the names of the different literary devices Forsyth describes. Rather, this is a book meant to open your eyes to the possibility of language but also to how you yourself are affected by language. As you read through the different literary devices and realize that most of your favourite lines, whether its from books or songs, actually have some king of literary device behind them, you can't help but admire your favourite writers even more. It takes some skill to be clever with language but the first thing to do is enjoy language. Forsyth makes it very easy to both understand and enjoy the different literary devices in his book.
Forsyth's The Elements of Eloquence is very enjoyable, especially if you already love language. It's the kind of coffee table book that'll make you forget there's guests for coffee. And with some luck you'll walk away from this book being able to write like Shakespeare!
For full review: http://universeinwords.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/review-elements-of-eloquence-how-to.html
The point of The Elements of Eloquence is not, necessarily, that you sit down with a pen and paper and make furious notes so you remember all the names of the different literary devices Forsyth describes. Rather, this is a book meant to open your eyes to the possibility of language but also to how you yourself are affected by language. As you read through the different literary devices and realize that most of your favourite lines, whether its from books or songs, actually have some king of literary device behind them, you can't help but admire your favourite writers even more. It takes some skill to be clever with language but the first thing to do is enjoy language. Forsyth makes it very easy to both understand and enjoy the different literary devices in his book.
Forsyth's The Elements of Eloquence is very enjoyable, especially if you already love language. It's the kind of coffee table book that'll make you forget there's guests for coffee. And with some luck you'll walk away from this book being able to write like Shakespeare!
For full review: http://universeinwords.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/review-elements-of-eloquence-how-to.html