liamroush's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
mundinova's review against another edition
2.0
Incredibly boring.
Every chapter consists of the same thing:
1. personal story from the author
2. excerpt from a novel or short story
3. author summarizes the excerpt with minimal insight (the WHOLE purpose of the book is lacking)
4. repeat
Summary: I'm not a fan.
Every chapter consists of the same thing:
1. personal story from the author
2. excerpt from a novel or short story
3. author summarizes the excerpt with minimal insight (the WHOLE purpose of the book is lacking)
4. repeat
Summary: I'm not a fan.
2001astaceodyssey's review against another edition
3.0
This is another one of those books that had been on my TBR list for years and years, picked up and attempted to start numerous times only to put it down for something more exciting? appealing? interesting? Maybe all of the above. I started this time determined to make it all the way through to the end, beginning purposefully at the end of the year with hopes of using what I learned to fuel more thoughtful and conscientious reading in the coming year. I wanted it to help me better examine, appreciate and/or understand the texts I read in a better way.
While reading this book did make me feel better about my slow reading speed, overall I’m pretty disappointed with the experience. It was difficult to get through and inadvertently caused a bit of a general reading slump. I got through very few pages at a time, either getting distracted by other things or falling asleep. It felt too textbook-y, too list-y so much of the time. I wanted Prose to do more with the examples she presented, to use more of her own stories to tie the passages together, more of her unique anecdotes and not just example, example, example. (For this reason, my favorite chapter was the one on Chekhov. I wish the rest of the book had been more like it.)
I found myself wishing that more of the references came from more recently written books as I’m not very familiar with a lot of the classics, but also appreciated being introduced to interesting works I haven’t yet explored.
I didn’t always agree with the author’s opinions in regards to the examples she provided, and didn’t appreciate the way she would speak as if her interpretations were the be-all, end-all. ‘Clearly, we see here ______.’ “These first words are enough to make us feel ______ and consequently ______ for the main character'. Don’t speak for me, Prose. You don’t know how those words made me feel.
I am going to use to this experience to influence how I read in 2015, but not the way I thought I would. As a bit of a new years resolution I’ve decided to put a book down after 100 pages if it doesn’t grab me. I have so many books I want to read that it just doesn’t make sense to waste my time on something I’m not enjoying simply for the sake of finishing it.
While reading this book did make me feel better about my slow reading speed, overall I’m pretty disappointed with the experience. It was difficult to get through and inadvertently caused a bit of a general reading slump. I got through very few pages at a time, either getting distracted by other things or falling asleep. It felt too textbook-y, too list-y so much of the time. I wanted Prose to do more with the examples she presented, to use more of her own stories to tie the passages together, more of her unique anecdotes and not just example, example, example. (For this reason, my favorite chapter was the one on Chekhov. I wish the rest of the book had been more like it.)
I found myself wishing that more of the references came from more recently written books as I’m not very familiar with a lot of the classics, but also appreciated being introduced to interesting works I haven’t yet explored.
I didn’t always agree with the author’s opinions in regards to the examples she provided, and didn’t appreciate the way she would speak as if her interpretations were the be-all, end-all. ‘Clearly, we see here ______.’ “These first words are enough to make us feel ______ and consequently ______ for the main character'. Don’t speak for me, Prose. You don’t know how those words made me feel.
I am going to use to this experience to influence how I read in 2015, but not the way I thought I would. As a bit of a new years resolution I’ve decided to put a book down after 100 pages if it doesn’t grab me. I have so many books I want to read that it just doesn’t make sense to waste my time on something I’m not enjoying simply for the sake of finishing it.
cdlindwall's review against another edition
4.0
I have a bizarre love for books about books. This is no exception. Well written and entertaining.
bookishwendy's review against another edition
4.0
Not to be confused with a "how-to" guide for either reading or writing, Francine Prose's book is more like an extended "suggested reading" list of linked mini-essays on different aspects of fiction-writing craft: chapters include "Sentences," "Dialogue," "Narration," and "Gestures" just to name a few. Taking examples from classic literature and many lesser known works (like the works of Isaac Babel and Henry Green, which I am now in the process of hunting down), Prose discusses how various aspects of writing can be learned by reading, yet she is careful to avoid listing writing "rules"--because, as she points out, all "rules" have been successfully broken. She points to Chekov in particular, who notoriously and continuously violates the "don't jump between the view points of different characters" rule, the "make sure the story has a theme or point" rule, and even his own famous "never introduce a loaded gun in act III" rule (see the story "Volodya").
Of course, most of us realize that we're not Chekov. Prose addresses the universal writerly sense of worthlessness too, in the final chapter titled "Reading for Courage," in which she advocates reading the classics in order to "remind you how capacious and stretchy fiction is, how much it can accommodate" and that there's always a place for unique, rule-breaking narratives. Sure, she's preaching to the choir, and yes, at some points her mini-essay stream-of-conscience styling loses itself in occasional meandering rhetoric, but this was--for me anyway--a right book at the right time.
Of course, most of us realize that we're not Chekov. Prose addresses the universal writerly sense of worthlessness too, in the final chapter titled "Reading for Courage," in which she advocates reading the classics in order to "remind you how capacious and stretchy fiction is, how much it can accommodate" and that there's always a place for unique, rule-breaking narratives. Sure, she's preaching to the choir, and yes, at some points her mini-essay stream-of-conscience styling loses itself in occasional meandering rhetoric, but this was--for me anyway--a right book at the right time.
zellapaige's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
2.75
Not a fan of this audiobook. The book itself is fine (a solid 3-star read), it starts great for the first 3 or so chapters then majorly falls off. The audiobook is just weird, there are musical interludes between chapters, which should be full and add a sense of whimsy, but in reality, the music does not match the tone of the book. Even more bizarrely the musical interludes sometimes occur mid-chapter, and not even at logical breaks in the story's narrative. Very weird and pretty off-putting.