5e Book of the month

1.

5 e Book of the month

2.

Writing a book review
1 Work in pairs. How do you normally choose what
books to read? Discuss your answers.
a personal recommendation
b a book review in the press
c the blurb on the back cover
d seeing the film version of the book
2 Read the book review. What is the reviewer's
opinion of the book? How does she justify this?

3.

2 Read the book review. What is the reviewer's
opinion of the book? How does she justify this?

4.

In 1714 a rope suspension bridge in Peru snaps and
the five people on the bridge fall to their deaths. By
chance Brother Juniper, a Franciscan monk,
witnesses this tragedy. He is not only troubled by
what he has seen but also troubled by why this
should have happened. Why at this precise
moment? Why these five people? Accordingly, he
sets out to find out something about the lives of
each person and so to make sense of the tragedy.

5.

This short novel (only 124 pages long) is a beautiful
reflection on the subject of destiny. It is not a true
story, but some of the characters are based on real
people. Written in elegant prose, each chapter
describes the life of one of the five people on the
bridge: from the aristocratic Marquesa de
Montemayor, who longs to be back in her native
Spain, to the wise Uncle Pio, whose lifelong
ambition to make a star of a young actress is in the
end frustrated.

6.

Our interest is not kept alive by the mystery of their
deaths, but the compelling characters that Wilder
has drawn so vividly: each eccentric in their own
way, and each very human in their virtues and in
their faults. I cannot recommend this thoughtprovoking book highly enough.

7.

3 Read the review again and answer the
questions.
1 What type of book is it?
2 What is the main theme?
3 What tense is used to describe the plot?
4 What words describe the style of writing?

8.

4 Look at the different ways to begin a book
review. Which are most effective? Why? Which
does the reviewer use?
a give your opinion about the book directly
b talk about the writer's background
c describe the opening of the story
d give a short summary of the whole story
e discuss the topic of the book

9.

5 Writing skill: descriptive words
a Underline the adjectives and adverbs in paragraphs 2 and 3 of the
review. What does each describe? Which two are compound
adjectives?
b Complete these compound adjectives.
fetched going moving packed provoking willed written wrenching
1 thought-............................ e.g. book
2 far-......................................e.g. plot
3 heavy-............... ................e.g. book
4 well-...................................e.g. book
5 action-.................. ............. e.g. adventure
6 heart-.................. ............... e.g. ending
7 fast- ……………………….e.g. plot
8 strong-...............................e.g. character

10.

C Match the opposites with the correct compound
adjective from Exercise 5b.
convincing
easy-to-read
happy
indecisive
poorly written
slow-moving
uneventful
uninspiring

11.

6 Write a review of a novel you have read (200250 words). Follow this plan.
• Describe the setting and give a brief summary of
the plot.
• Say what the theme of the book is.
• Describe the style of writing.
• Give your opinion or recommendation.

12.

7 Exchange reviews with your partner. Use these
questions to check your reviews.
• Is the review organised into clear paragraphs?
• Does it NOT reveal the whole story?
• Are you persuaded by the recommendation?

13.

Writing a book review
A. This review of the novel Heat and Dust is
spoiled by a number of weaknesses. Underline
examples of where the writer fails to follow
each of the numbered pieces of advice given
below.

14.

1 Write for the reader.
Always bear in mind who you are writing
for. If you're writing for a magazine, think of
the kind of people who read that particular
magazine. A book review is intended for
people who have not read the book, so don’t
assume that your readers already know the
story.

15.

2 Don’t talk about yourself.
When giving your opinion, whether in a
review or elsewhere, be careful not to fall into
the trap of talking about yourself. Try to be
objective. One way of testing for objectivity is
to check your writing for the words me, my,
myself.

16.

Similarly, phrases such as in my opinion, to my
mind, I think should be used as little as possible;
any more than once in the first paragraph and
once in the last, and your review seems to focus
on yourself, not your subject.

17.

3 Write in an impersonal style.
Many students spoil their articles and reviews by
writing in a chatty, informal style as if they were
talking to a friend. On the contrary, essays, articles
and reviews should be relatively impersonal. Your
readers are not particularly interested in you: they
need information, description and narrative more
than they need your opinion. Finally, you don’t
know your reader, so be careful about using the
word you.

18.

4 Use precise, descriptive vocabulary.
Generalizations such as This book is boring
communicate very little to the reader. Specific
observations and concrete facts, on the other hand,
help the reader to share your experience. If you
have strong feelings about your subject, this
should make your writing more interesting - but
be careful. Strong feelings must be given form
and coldly translated into precise words.

19.

Heat and Dust,
by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
‘A writer of genius ... a writer of world class - a
master storyteller...’ it says on the dustjacket. Can
they really be talking about the same writer, the
same book? Personally, I can't see what
distinguishes Heat and Dust from any of those
cheap romantic novels that you get at railway
stations.

20.

What on earth is so remarkable about the story of a
bored expatriate who leaves a dull husband for
someone richer, more intelligent and totally exotic?
In my opinion, if Jhabvala was really a good writer
she would have written instead about a much more
interesting phenomenon, the typical colonial who
clings absurdly to the behaviour, traditions and
even dress of his mother country.

21.

Alternatively, Olivia could have really ‘gone
native’, instead of just being seduced by a Nawab
with a Rolls-Royce, an Alfa Romeo and an intimate
knowledge of the best hotels of Paris and London.

22.

The plot too is corny: the idea of someone retracing
someone else's life, and then (surprise, surprise!) finding
parallel events happening in their own lives. Thousands
of writers have used this device, and to much better
effect.
So what makes Jhabvala such a great writer? It can't
be her prose, surely, which is quite boring but I for one
certainly . The words ‘heat’ and ‘dust’ appear frequently,
never get any impression of heat or dust. I don’t know
about you, but the impression I get is of a very literary,
upper-class woman sitting at her typewriter drinking tea

23.

Finally, what really annoys me personally about
this book is the writer's morality. You can see she’s a
romantic and a moralist: she looks down on her
narrator with a patronizing attitude, and paints a
degrading picture of modern love by giving her
narrator a kind of abject promiscuity in the place of
a love life.
And incredibly, the message of the book seems
to be that the best thing that can happen to a woman
- even an unmarried woman, without a boyfriend,
travelling abroad — is to get pregnant. I’m sorry, but
if you think that, you’re living in another world.

24.

B. Rewrite the lines in the three slides from ‘It
can’t be her prose...’ bearing in mind the four
paragraphs of advice.