VERY INFORMATIVE ( )

The novel offers helpful suggestions for aspiring writers. It is clear and concise. I have a few quibbles with the book. I prefer a how-to book to offer suggestions in a friendly collegial manner. However, this book gave me the feeling the author was more of a professor lecturing students. The second reason I disliked the book is that the author used only a few books to represent all of the different points he made. I had only read two of the books, A Christmas Carol and The Old Man in the Sea, neither of which I particularly care for. The other books that he used were The Godfather, Lolita and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Every time an example would come up from one of these books, I felt rather disappointed. I DID enjoy the examples that the author wrote himself. He has a great command of language and I wish he had not overly relied on outside authors. Finally, I think the book could be tremendously improved had the author offered a few exercises for the aspiring author. I would like to have worked through his suggestions slowly. Of course, all of my dislikes are highly personal. One thing I disliked might be a selling point for another reader. To conclude, the book was not a winner for me personally, however it does offer great advice, clearly written. ( )

An excellent introduction to writing fiction. ( )