Customer Reviews

Reading Like a Writer (P.S.)

5 star:		(67)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Francine Prose, in "Reading Like a Writer," argues that creative writing cannot be taught in a classroom. A workshop may provide valuable encouragement and support for a fledgling writer, and a good instructor may show a novice how to edit his work more effectively. However, a writer learns his craft by reading and rereading the books, novels, plays, and short stories of great writers, and he improves his skills through practice. Prose recommends studying "meter with Ovid, plot construction with Homer, comedy with Aristophanes." She backs up her thesis by giving a host of examples from writers she admires, such as Austen, Hemingway, Joyce, Chekhov, and others who are a bit more obscure.

Prose discusses the basics, including the use of the exact word, sentence building, paragraphing, point of view, character, and dialogue. Close reading, she asserts, enables us to understand not only what the writer is stating, but also what he is implying. The subtext is often as important, if not more important, than the text itself. Throughout "Reading Like a Writer" are excerpts, some brief, some lengthy, from a variety of sources, followed by Prose's witty, insightful, and informative commentary. Why does the writer choose one particular word or phrase rather than another? How do the seemingly minor details and gestures in a scene sometimes convey more information than the characters' statements?

"Reading Like a Writer" is not a handbook or a manual. It is a love letter to the mysterious alchemy, the magic that occurs when a reader encounters a book, poem, or story that not only entertains him, but also moves and transforms him. Francine Prose's favorite writers may not be our favorites, but all readers who love literature will appreciate her enthusiasm and respect for the written word. Her suggestions about how to read more effectively are useful not just for budding writers but for anyone who would like to come away from a book with a deeper appreciation of the author's craft. As Prose says, "Reading this way requires a certain amount of stamina, concentration, and patience."" The reward for all of this effort lies in "the excitement of approaching, as nearly as you can hope to come, the hand and mind of the artist."

You certainly are a person who enjoys reading. The beauty of this book is that its author teaches us how to read carefully, deliberately and slowly in order to digest and extract the ideas behind the words, and also to identify the style of an specific writer. By doing so Francine Prose gives us the tool that we may require to become a better writer. Basically is a process of learning by example, and Prose goes all the way to select and bring us a lot of examples, both from classical and contemporary authors.

As you advance through the chapters you will find examples covering the fundamentals of writing, including aspects related to narrative, plot development, characters creation, as well as the basics of sentence and paragraph structure.

Even if you have no intention at all of becoming a writer you will love this book, since it also teaches us how to have a better appreciation of what we read.

Because my opinion is so divergent from the other reviews here (all but two gave five-stars), I read them to see what I might have missed. Instead I found myself wondering whether we had read the same book: See "Review the Reviews" below. Reviewer Bukowsky (October 2, 2006) states "... not a handbook or a manual. It is a love letter ..." thereby unintentionally capturing the basic failing of this book - its title states that it is "A Guide ..."

What I expected was a series of examples with analysis of what made them work or not work. There were far fewer examples than I expected, the analysis was typically slight, and there was too much extraneous material.

For example, in the chapter on "Sentences", too much of the commentary on the examples was simply effusive praise of the sentence's author. I strongly disagreed with Prose's assessment of roughly a third of the sentences cited, but she didn't provide enough analysis for me to understand her point of view (declarations of something as great is not an argument).

In the chapter on "Paragraphs", the author starts with an example from Babel's "Crossing into Poland." At first I thought it strange to be using a translated work as an example, but then she presented another translation as a counterpoint. I then thought "What a brilliant way to get examples of the effects of the differences in choices by two professional writers." However, she failed to effectively follow through. Also, I differed with her on the analysis of the passage in question: "... the highroad ... built ... upon the bones of peasants." Her analysis was that it "introduced some element of unease." My analysis was that it -- the thought pattern and jargon -- simply identified the protagonist as a Marxist-Leninist (In discussing the related "My First Goose", Prose identifies the protagonist as a follower of Lenin).

In the next portion of "Paragraphs", Prose rambles about the Rex Stout mystery "Plot It Yourself" that hinges on how the paragraph choices were made in three documents. She give less specific insight than you would find in a brief introduction to composition, and essentially punts the issue, saying it is something that has significant impact, but that each writer must develop their own ear for it.

The first part of the chapter on "Character" focuses on von Kleist's novella "The Marquise of O-." It present a few passages which are useful illustrations. However, she spends inordinate time on the plot, far beyond what is needed - or useful - to appreciate those passages. I found the disorganized repeated rehashing of the plot elements to be annoying. This might not have been so bad if she hadn't started the chapter with a digression on one college class where she had assigned the novella.

Each of the chapters had similar problems. This was a book that I couldn't help putting down, but because of the many positive reviews, I kept picking it back up. I didn't get to the end of most of the chapters: When I found I couldn't tolerate anymore of a chapter, I skipped to the beginning of the next one to see if it was any better.

Review of Reviews: When you read the other reviews, ask yourself "Is the reviewer praising the concept of the book, or its implementation?" Is the reviewer talking about being "inspired" - or "motivated" - to learn from reading more closely, or has s/he actually learned an appropriate amount from this book (of 268 pages). That is, is the reviewer responding to the author's gushing about great writing and her teaching of literature, or to the book providing useful insight on how to be a better reader and/or writer?

BACKGROUND / CONTEXT of my review: By profession, I am a senior engineer/scientist and have done extensive technical writing, but I have also done extensive advocacy writing - marketing (advocacy of products and services) and political (advocacy of ideas).

I am a staunch believer in "close reading" as a way to learn better writing, and encourage it by involving all members of my teams in the rewriting/editing process. Less experienced writers are not just given advice on improving their documents, but are expected to provide suggestions on improving documents written by better writers.

Francine Prose knows prose. In "Reading Like a Writer," she presents the timeless truth that great writers are great readers of great writers. More than that, Prose parses how to read well, which in our hurried, image-driven age, has become something of a lost art, even for literature lovers.

She not only encourages and explains the reading of the classics, Prose also offers a diet rich in vignettes from an egalitarian menu of authors. She is like a chef who tells you to eat great food, teaches you how to cook five-star meals, and then takes you to a five-star restaurant to become a connoisseur.

As the subtitle suggests, two primary audiences will enjoy "Reading Like a Writer." Anyone who loves books, will glean insights into great books and how to enjoy them. Anyone who wants to write books, will learn how to write better--more creatively, powerfully, and yet still personally.

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of "Soul Physicians," "Spiritual Friends," and "Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction."

This is an excellent book on reading and writing and the title says it all. It was eye opening to know what I, as a reader should be aware when reading good and bad writing.

While I was reading the book, I felt like I was sitting in one of Ms. Prose courses and she, as my English professor, was explaining to me how this author did this and why another author wrote this way. It enabled me to realize the fine points of word choice and paragraph structure, which I will remember when writing, in addition to how it is the writers' job to engage the reader with his or her writings.

This book allowed me to see how a writer should write or should look at writing their piece and how I, as the reader, should respond to their writing. It was especially poignant when Ms. Prose said we should slow down when reading. This is against the norm of reading as fast as you can. However, when you read too fast you miss the most important parts of any piece. Reading is not about racing; it is about enjoying the adventure. It also provided me with thought on how I can learn from the classic and contemporary writers to improve my own writing. However, I am not sure I will be able to read "all" the 117 books she recommends to be read immediately. I will just savor each, one at a time.

If you love to read and want to read more effectively, or if you are a writer who wants to write the next hit novel, read this book. It will provide you with numerous points on writing and reading that you never thought of before. After reading this book, you will never look at a book again the same way.

Thanks Ms. Prose for a wonderful lesson. I enjoyed your class.

While I am pleased to add Francine Prose's "Reading Like a Writer" to my how-to-write-good canon, I think I'd like her to do it over, not as a replacement, more as a corollary. Keep the title and most of the content; change the subtitle to "A PRACTICAL Guide for NEW Writers Aspiring to Make a Living in a Dysfunctional Industry". Ms. Prose has been at this game for so long and been successful for nearly as long that she has forgotten what it's like to be an FNG (effing new guy) to professional writing. She certainly hasn't experienced anything like being unknown and unpublished in the last 10 years where the barriers to entry have become even more entrenched than they ever were before.

So what to put in the new improved version? Besides an index, start with losing the references that were written before, say, 1960. It's obvious Ms. Prose loves the classics. So do I. Those writers were giants in their day. But it would be career suicide to try to write like them today, especially the overfed prose of the British writers. Today's writers have XBox, reality shows, and cellphone-texting standing by ready to steal the reader with the flick of a switch. Today's writers need to grab the reader quickly and not let go. That can't be done with 181-word sentences. This is the age of the short attention span. It is no accident that Harold Bloom has little regard for J.K. Rowling. Neither is it an accident that all the world is reading Rowling's work.

How to account for this phenomenon? Though Ms. Prose and I are nearly the same age, she has spent her life in literature while I spent mine first as an Army officer and later as an engineer. I've only been at this reading/writing game for about five years. Before you scoff, engineering and writing are more alike than they are different. Each is governed by a set of laws--grammar for writing, formulas for engineering. But beyond that there is a great deal of room for artistry, creativity, or, as we say in engineering, elegance. Were this not so, all bridges would either look alike or fall down.

Growing up in the world of words I can easily see how Ms. Prose fell in love with Words, Sentences and Paragraphs. She's become a virtuoso, rather like one of those violinists who delight in playing things that are hard to play whether or not they are nice to listen to. As for myself, I'm a Signal-to-Noise-Ratio kinda guy. In any given sentence, some words contribute to signal (meaning), while others contribute to noise. As I read Ms. Prose's windier sample passages, I observed two things: first I had to read them several times to grok their meaning--I had to grope for the subject-verb-object and was tempted to highlight them after I found them. Second, I never did settle into the rhythm of the words that she insisted was there. After five years, I can write a pretty good sentence, clever even. However, I suspect Ms. Prose and I go about it in very different ways and have very different outcomes. I think I'll pick up a copy of "Blue Angel" to see if I'm right.

Some other observations:

--Her chapters started out with decreasing granularity--words, sentences, paragraphs. I would have liked her to extend that progression to scenes and chapters as well. I suspect the sheer bulk prohibited that in this edition.

--A chapter I would have liked to have seen would have been one on openers. Every sentence has a mission--to get you to read the next sentence. Any sentence that fails in that mission leaves a long string of unrequited sentences. Hence, the nearer the failure occurs to the beginning of the book, the greater the damage. She did comment on a few people's openers, but I believe separate billing for openers would have been justified.

--I got a chuckle out of her closing section, Books to Be Read Immediately. She just got done convincing me to read more slowly, one word at a time. BTW--engineers do that by nature. Now she presents me with a single-spaced list of books that goes on for five pages. I had been wondering what I was going to do for the next twenty years--now I know.

--She commented that the joy of writing for her and many other writers comes from crafting sentences. I will admit that is one of the more fun parts of writing, but that is not why I write. I write to tell stories. Sentences--no matter how finely crafted--are only a means to that end. Beyond telling stories, I have the hidden agenda of changing people's attitudes--something you can only do with good fiction. I like to say that if you intend to inform the already convinced, write non-fiction. But if you would change people's attitudes, you must write fiction. Examples: Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (led to the Civil War), or Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" (led to the civil rights movement). You can write essay after essay on why it's wrong to be a racist but you will not change one racist mind. They do not respond to facts and logic. But let them live in a racist world, let them walk a mile in racist shoes, as you can only do in fiction--ah, now you may find a chink in their armor. Though racism is not my target, changing people's attitudes is why I write.

--Ejner Fulsang, author of "A Knavish Piece of Work", Aarhus Publishing, 2006

I think Ms. Prose chose wisely when she selected her title, as this book offers rewards for both those who hold no writing pretensions (but love to read) and those who do (and -- you guessed it -- love to read). Well, that's one of her points -- if you hope to be a writer, you'd better not only be a reader, but a damned serious one. She is. The proof is between the dust covers.

As a reader, you'll enjoy her list at the end of the book entitled "Books You Must Read Immediately." These titles are referenced and excerpted liberally in the book itself, so you'll get a taste of the immediacy right away. It will also open your eyes to ways of reading -- from the simple examination of "le mot juste" to the more complex challenges of unwrapping sentences, paragraphs, and beyond.

In fact, as a teacher, you might well use her excerpts as examples of how an expert reader might effectively analyze literature as a living, breathing organism (the now-gone authors' successful bid for a form of immortality, if you will).

If you hope to be a writer, as Prose herself is, this book will show you how nourishing examples both from the canon and from contemporaries can be. Prose scoffs at the notion of avoiding reading as you write (for fear of unconsciously "copying"). She claims you SHOULD seek out the masters -- especially ones whose strengths are areas you are presently struggling with as a writer (say, plotting, characterizing, or creating a proper mood).

If you only buy SOME books and borrow others from the library, this would be one of those ones you'd be better off purchasing. Why? Because it is and will remain a worthy resource on your shelf -- a "go-to book," so to speak.

Go ahead. Take the plunge. If you love reading and/or writing, it's about as safe a bet as you can make.

The best books, to my mind, are those which give rise to discussion and thought. Prose provides these in sweeping doses here.

Prose superbly evokes in this book, the need for the writer to read, and read widely, slowing down and carefully paying attention to the minutiae of the text. It is the focus on language: "lingering over every word, every phrase, every image, considering how it enhance[s] and contribute[s] to the story as a whole...[and by] reading a masterpiece can inspire us by showing us how a writer does something brilliantly."

"Reading Like a Writer" encourages you slow down and absorb every word, sentence and paragraph. It also lets you ponder such things as: Narration, character, dialogue, and the details of text that makes literature dazzle.

Towards the end of the book, there is an insightful chapter on Learning from Chekhov, in which Prose suggests that we read his many stories, and by doing so "admit that you know nothing of life, nothing of what you see. Then go out and look at the world." This is sound advice, I think.

Finally, Prose details a list of Books to be Read Immediately. These range from Jane Austen, Raymond Carver, Tolstoy, Henry Green, Nabokov and Flaubert among others. These are books to be read and savoured, because we have to keep working at being better readers and writers, for we have an exciting apprenticeship ahead of us.

Prose does not talk down to the reader, rather she treats the reader as an intelligent person, who wants to learn a thing or two about how to read more effectively, so that they can aspire to write effectively.

Prose is a fantastic and witty communicator; her ideas are explained clearly and with passion. I highly recommend "Reading Like a Writer" to anyone that wants to be a greater reader, and indeed a quality writer.

Francine Prose has a passion for writing and reading which is displayed on every page of this book. The enthusiasm with which Prose addresses the different aspects of writing is contagious. Although Prose laments the lost art of diagramming sentences, she never comes across as technical or dry; there is a touch of awe and reverence in her words as she explains the things that she loves about certain authors and writing styles. Despite her remarkable insight into the craft of writing, Prose comes across as humble and grateful.

The title of this book is very fitting as Prose not only shows the reader how to truly appreciate literature, but shows the writer how to read for inspiration, as well as offering examples of what differentiates great writers from good ones. Prose addresses such subjects as word choice, sentences, paragraphs, characters, gestures, narrator, etc. Nearly every idea she expresses is shown to the reader through the use of excerpts from great authors like Dickens, Austen, Chekhov, Twain, Tolstoy, Kafka, et al.

Anyone taking, or planning to take, a college level English composition course should buy this book. I wish I had read this book prior to taking those courses myself since I now have a better idea of what to look for when I read great writers.

Those who love great authors, and want to deepen their appreciation of them should also buy this book.

Mostly, I would recommend this book to anyone with a desire to write. Prose's insights are sure to help any author to refine their own work.

I have a feeling this book is going to become the bible of many a creative writing program, and it will surely be a lifesaver for writing teachers who wish their students would spent less time "expressing themselves" and more time studying how good books actually get written. In the kindest, gentlest way possible, Prose has written a how-to book that also strikes a blow against the culture of narcissism. Francine Prose --surely one of our best cultural critics, on top of being a fine novelist --has written a joyous celebration of the written word, and she reminds us that you don't have to write to be a part of the literary community. And by the way, the many passages that illustrate this fine book are in themselves worth the price of admission.