Prose, Francine: Reading Like a Writer
Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books & Those Who Want to Write Them
Writer: Francine Prose
Genre: Writing Literature/Literary Criticism
Pages: 273
When this book first came out, I couldn't wait to read it. The title alone just fascinated me, for obvious reasons: I'm a writer who tries to read critically, because it's by reading I believe we learn best. Surely, this book would be right up my alley.
Finally got around to it, and I have to admit, I'm torn. It's not what I expected, and yet at the same time, it is.
It started out promising. Prose first devotes a chapter to close reading, where she explains how, when she reads, she takes her time. She doesn't rush through her books, and she examines each word/sentence/paragraph choice in order to get the full effect of what the writer may have intended. This was a good lesson for me. While the genres I read sometimes lend themselves to fast reads, it is important to sit down and actually absorb the words on the page. To enjoy what you're reading, instead of getting through the book just so you can add another tally mark to your yearly list. I know I tend to miss stuff while reading, and it usually doesn't affect my overall experience of the book too badly, but still, I know if I slowed down, I'd get a lot more out of the book.
Prose goes on to break up her chapters so that they focus on the smallest picture all the way to the largest. The next chapter is "Words," then the next is "Sentences," then the next is "Paragraphs," and then she moves on to narration, characters, dialogue, details, gesture, and then the final chapters wrap up the book by focusing on what she feels has been the greatest teaching tools of writing.
And still, I found some good stuff. The section where she discusses her teaching experiences really struck home. When prose taught short stories, she originally taught them as if all her lit majors shared the same love of language as she does, only to learn that these students have been taught they must have an OPINION of the work, and the OPINION stems from what they know of the author and whether or not they agree with the author's message. All very political, whereas Prose believes (on some level) that we should ignore the writer's life when it comes to the work and, of course, focus what's on the page. What's the story telling us? How does the author use language and beats to create a compelling, beautiful narrative?
But then, the more I read, the more obvious the book's true colors became: I didn't mind Prose's focus on classical and literary works. I expected it. And while I'm not as well read in literature as I'd like to be, I appreciated looking at different kinds of examples than those I was used to reading. However, sometimes Prose got a little carried away with her examples. Her chapter on paragraphs seemed like a no-brainer to me. She admires that point in with a paragraph ends and a new one begins, but for anyone who's read a long time, paragraph endings are intuitive. It's not often I come across manuscripts or books where a paragraph just doesn't end where it should, or ends early, unless we're dealing with the structure of dialogue.
And her character examples just fell flat. They ran on far too long (a problem with her narration and dialogue examples as well), and rarely revealed, to me, what was so special about the character (or whatever she was revealing). In some cases, I found the examples too old. But in most (except for Lolita, as I've read that book), I think it was simply a case that had I read said story or novel, I could appreciate the big picture. But it's SO HARD to convey the big picture in just a paragraph (or page) of quoted text.
And let's pull back and look at what this book REALLY is: this is every single how-to book condensed into one volume while the author waxes poetic about her favorite classical literature. Because there simply ISN'T any how-to writing books out there that discuss, IN DEPTH, how one creates realistic characters, how one handles POV, or details, etc. Oh no, and even if they DID, they aren't NEARLY as WORTHY because they lack the CLASSICAL examples that she uses.
I don't begrudge her for her choice of examples. I really don't. I like the classics, and I enjoy reading them on occasion. And I don't mind her philosophy of writing: that if we truly want to learn how to write, why not study the books that have stood the test of time, that are known for their language, etc.
But I do begrudge her narrow perspective on the whole thing. She doesn't touch on popular fiction, except to dismiss it out of hand, or in one chapter, openly cringe at the use of gestures (which the latter was a very good chapter with good examples). It's simply not popular-fiction-writing friendly. Certainly, some of her lessons can translate: one should study the classics of one's genre in order to understand what that book did at the time and why it's successful, though on the flip side, for any writer seeking out beautiful language, it may be best to start with the classic literature first while doing a separate genre study: that way, you get the best of both worlds.
And I really don't feel this taught me how to be a better reader. It may be due to my own education in literature, the amount of reading I do regularly, and the fact that I critique manuscripts on a regular basis. I think about this stuff ALL THE TIME. I was hoping she could shed light on such experiences, give me a new angle to consider prose.
Not really. I certainly did appreciate the reminder that all writing rules can be broken, provided they're broken well. And I found the chapter on gestures to be fantastic, though from a writer's point of view, not a critical reader's point of view.
Recommending this book is a tricky thing, though: yes, I would recommend it based on the attention given to gestures and the first couple chapters where she does offer points on how to read critically and how to enjoy what you're reading. But for writers looking for in-depth discussion of POV, character, and detail, I'd recommend finding a book devoted to such discussions.
To those who do love literature, have at it. And to those who simply enjoy reading but have no desire to write stories of their own, you might enjoy this, particularly if you enjoy reading classical literature or mainstream literary fiction.
I think, overall, I would recommend it to people who read because they love language and all that it can do in a book. That's certainly Prose's strong point with this book, and I definitely appreciated it on that level. My disappointments came from certain expectations that weren't met, but that's not the fault of the writer so much as it's the fault of the marketing of the book.
Next up: no, it's not J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (I will get to that, but not until I'm finished writing my own book). Instead, I'm reading Brother to Dragons, Companion to Owls by Jane Lindskold