Wordstruck [Paperback]

Robert MacNeil (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1990

MacNeil's autobiography re-creates the world of his youth and the experiences that were opened up to him through his love of words. His delight and passion for the music and magic of language, have enabled MacNeil to transmute it into a work of art. Photos.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

People become writers, in large part, because they are in love with language. Wordstruck is the story of one such writer's unabashed affair with words, from his Halifax childhood awash with intriguing accents to life as a traveling journalist who "delighted in finding pockets of distinctive English, as a botanist is thrilled to discover a new variety of plant." Each aspect of Robert MacNeil's youthful existence prompted yet another linguistic thrill. Childhood churchgoing "did not provide me with any spiritual awakening ... but it anointed me with language." His mother's passion for the natural world and his father's life as a ship's skipper gave him two more complete vocabularies. And "If you define yourself by the language you acquire as you enter different spheres," MacNeil writes, the absurd language of "cricket was another piece of my self-definition."

MacNeil is best known as a novelist, coauthor of The Story of English, and onetime executive editor of the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. In Wordstruck he imparts a passion for Shakespeare (in particular, Hamlet), Dylan Thomas, and T. S. Eliot, whose ear for the English language, he says, was "the equivalent of perfect pitch--for the harmonic range of our tongue, its rhythms, and all its voices." Wordstruck is a charming memoir from a man "crazy about the sound of words, the look of words, the taste of words, the feeling for words on the tongue and in the mind."

From Publishers Weekly

"Not quite chronological, the PBS-TV Newshour presenter's account roves fondly back and forth between family memories and his love of words and language," observed PW . Photos. 75,000 first printing; author tour.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 230 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (March 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140104011
• ISBN-13: 978-0140104011
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,685,499 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully original tribute to the English language, April 29, 2001

By 

Krista (Halifax, Nova Scotia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wordstruck (Paperback)

Any person who is passionate about the English language -- and not only as it is found in literature, but in conversation, in theater, in any kind of storytelling, everywhere--;who is fascinated by its many dialects and its complexity; and who fondly remembers milestones in the history of their own relationship to the English language, will realize what a treasure this book is.

What is particularly wonderful about it is how MacNeil combines an intelligent tribute to and reflection on the English language with personal memoir. Not every bit of the book is about reading, storytelling, or even language in general, although that is the major theme. A great deal of it strays from this into childhood in general...and it is so interesting and moving, especially for a person who grew up in and still lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia. (I have to apoligize for this obvious bias...but I can't write from my heart about this book without revealing it)I have never seen my own city written about so articulately, and never really learned about its history. I always thought I lived in a pretty boring city with very little history...relatively speaking, of course. I certainly didn't think anyone existed who actually possessed nostalgia about this place. But he does! And he is a wonderful writer, so thankfully, he expresses his nostalgia well. Every Canadian should read this book, and others should as well-- perhaps an American or two out there might be interested in the experience of a Canadian, as dull as they might think it will be. It's not. What's impressive and unique is that there is nothing EXTREME in MacNeil's childhood. Most succesful memoirs, of course, have much more drama, and seem to all document extreme abuse and misery--eg Angela's Ashes, The Liar's Club... MacNeil's childhood is so simple, perhaps even (gasp) common, and yet all the more touching because of this. The drama and magic of childhood without the distraction the extreme situations is wonderful and refreshing in a literary world overwhelmed by stories of extremism and the 'abnormal'. One gets tired of eccentric and quirky characters and extreme situations-- it seems to be the easy way to be original, for a writer.

Anyway, I know I'm becoming a little long winded and have revealed an obvious bias which might make that New Yorker or Californian reading this cross this book off their mental list and look for another exotic account of an African adventure or heartbreaking memoir of life in India to read, but I had to simply speak from my heart. I feel so strongly about it...I read this book when I was in Japan teaching (sigh, leading to even more bias), when I was surrounded by a strange world and a strange language, and it made me feel more strongly than I ever have about my homeland and my language. Tears came to my eyes...yada yada yada O.K. I'll stop there...I don't want to obliterate all credibility... As much bias as exists behind my review, I must, say, even if you have no interest in a boy's childhood and coming of age in Halifax, Nova Scotia during World War 2, you should still read it. It isn't just about that (That actually makes up a fairly small part of it). This book is really about the story of a man's relationship with his language-- in childhood and as he came of age. As an aspiring journalist and writer, for this reason alone I find it to be a jewel. It is a very personal memoir about a lifelong love affair, which any of us who read reviews on Amazon.com likely share...a love affair with language.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars English Language in Perspective, March 10, 2003

By 

Rebekah (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wordstruck: A Memoir (Hardcover)

This book explains MacNeil's love and passion for the English language through his firsthand knowledge of it. He describes his first glimpses at the beauty of words by telling us the story of his childhood. Although it tells the story of a child growing up in a time of war in Canada it contains information and stories that everyone can find relatable. Any lover of the English language will enjoy this book. He hits you with just the right combination of history and personal experience to make the story real for the reader and yet informative at the same time. The information provided in this book is a mixture of both fact and opinion. Mr. MacNeil provides the history of his life and gives his opinion about how experience has influenced the initial spark and continuing devotion to the English language. I found it intriguing to look at the English language through such a different perspective than my own.