Moran writes fluidly and elegantly, offering practical advice on giving one's writing texture and verve.
A dense yet splendid “style guide by stealth” that reads like a two-semester course in English composition distilled into a two-week treatise.
The question is how, apart from multiple readings, one might absorb all the wisdom in a single gulp. Moran (English and Cultural History/Liverpool John Moores Univ.; Shrinking Violets: The Secret Life of Shyness, 2017, etc.) believes that by “mastering” one of the fundamental building blocks of language—the sentence—we learn not merely about writing, but about everything. It’s a sweeping claim, but Moran backs it up, giving us mostly trenchant sentences on the art of creating them. A sultan of syntax, he wants to show rather than teach, and he generally succeeds. He likens good prose to good poetry, both taking wing on the rhythm, meter, and music of language. Writing is an artisanal craft, or should be, employing meticulous care and execution. Moran extols the virtues of the plain style—like cooking, “a sentence should rely more on quality ingredients than baroque artifice”—but cautions against fetishizing the unadorned, introducing ways to make more elaborate sentences work. Whatever the style, good sentences give order to our thoughts and clarity to the reader, but they must also sing on the page and in the reader's mind. Moran links themes with illustrative asides, as in his short history of writing, but mainly, he critiques the common novice mistakes and veteran's misjudgments, demonstrating skillful alternatives. At times, the author will make even experienced writers feel inept, especially in his discussions of arcane grammatical terms. Still, his tone is comradely, not chiding. Oddly, one point Moran does not address is the element of talent. Everyone's writing can be improved, but all the technique in the world won't make a mediocre talent an exceptional one.
Moran writes fluidly and elegantly, offering practical advice on giving one's writing texture and verve.Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-14-313434-3
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Penguin
Review Posted Online: May 6, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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