A review by sheldonleecompton
The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers by John Gardner

2.0

I'm not just trying to be different by giving this a lower rating than most others. I wanted to get more from this book. What was valuable took me some effort to sift around and get to through all the "up on high" bull shit that Gardner is now hailed as a genius for outlining. Thing is, if you give any writer worth his salt enough room and a big enough audience willing to listen and buy in, any one of us could build ourselves up to this place where what he thought was fiction that worked became fiction that worked. It's kind of just, well, bull shitty. But the parts of this book that do have honest power and isn't just masturbatory posturing are essential and were first said in these pages. For that, two stars. I'd go two and half if it was an option.