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A review by gracie_reads_everything
Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them by Francine Prose
5.0
Prose breaks down how best to examine literature and learn from its masters about the writing process. She points out that there are no clear “rules” that literature strictly adheres to, but rather tries best to guide the young writer by pointing out extensive examples of excellent prose and how it’s built down to its minuet elements: paragraph, sentence, and words. She emphasizes the importance of separating critical theory from the experience and appreciation of literature, in order to best be educated by its properties and methods.
FHer advice is both contemplative and helpful, allowing the reader to think critically about how to write while also allowing for examples to explicate how good prose is constructed. Her reverence for various types of literature and reliance on the masters is useful in allowing the reader to be educated by what they find to be brilliant prose as well as to emphasize the necessity of close reading in order to teach oneself to write. I appreciate the lack of limitations Prose places on what creates good writings, and how she gives both examples and counter examples that demonstrate the many diverse ways in which writing can be done well. An instructive guide to the young writer and a love letter to literature.
FHer advice is both contemplative and helpful, allowing the reader to think critically about how to write while also allowing for examples to explicate how good prose is constructed. Her reverence for various types of literature and reliance on the masters is useful in allowing the reader to be educated by what they find to be brilliant prose as well as to emphasize the necessity of close reading in order to teach oneself to write. I appreciate the lack of limitations Prose places on what creates good writings, and how she gives both examples and counter examples that demonstrate the many diverse ways in which writing can be done well. An instructive guide to the young writer and a love letter to literature.