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March 25, 2008, 11:52 am Seven Deadly Words of Book Reviewing By Bob Harris Like all professions book reviewing has a lingo. Out of laziness, haste or a misguided effort to sound “literary,” reviewers use some words with startling predictability. Each of these seven entries is a perfectly good word (well, maybe not eschew), but they crop up in book reviews with wearying regularity. To little avail, admonitions abound. “The best critics,” Follett writes, “are those who use the plainest words and who make their taste rational by describing actions rather than by reporting or imputing feelings.” Now, the list: poignant: Something you read may affect you, or move you. That doesn’t mean it’s poignant. Something is poignant when it’s keenly, even painfully, affecting. When Bambi’s mom dies an adult may think it poignant. A child probably finds it terrifying. compelling: Many things in life, and in books, are compelling. The problem is that too often in book reviews far too many things are found to be such. A book may be a page turner, but that doesn’t necessarily make it compelling. Overuse has weakened a word that implies an overwhelming force. Reviewers often combine these first two words. Like Chekhov’s gun. If there is a poignant in a review’s third paragraph, a compelling will most likely follow. Frequently reviewers forestall the suspense and link the words right away, as in “this poignant and compelling novel…” intriguing: It doesn’t mean merely interesting or fascinating although it’s almost always used in place of one of those words. When it is, the sense of something illicit and mysterious is lost. eschew: No one actually says this word in real life. It appears almost exclusively in writing when the perp is stretching for a flashy synonym for avoid or reject or shun. craft (used as a verb): In “The Careful Writer,” Theodore M. Bernstein reminds us that “the advertising fraternity has decided craft is a verb.” Undeterred, reviewers use it when they are needlessly afraid of using plain old write. They also try to make pen a verb, as in “he penned a tome.” muse (used as a verb): Few things in this world are mused. They are much more often simply written, thought or said. “War is hell,” he mused. Not much dreamy rumination there. Stretching for the fanciful — writing “he crafts or pens” instead of “he writes”; writing “he muses” instead of “he says or thinks” — is a sure tip-off of weak writing. lyrical: Reviewers use this adjective when they want to say something is well written. But using the word loosely misses the sense of expressing emotion in an imaginative and beautiful way. Save lyrical for your next review of Wordsworth. It’s possible to (mis)use all seven words in a one-sentence book report: “Mario Puzo’s intriguing novel eschews the lyrical as the author instead crafts a poignant tale of family life and muses on the compelling doings of the Mob.” Of course, these seven words aren’t the only ones overworked by book reviewers. After all, I haven’t even mentioned limn. Perhaps, readers, you’d like to add your favorites? Comments 1. 1. March 25th, 2008 12:01 pm “Nuanced.” It makes me want to claw my eyes out. — Brian Hagerty 2. 2. March 25th, 2008 12:05 pm a tour de force — Terry 3. 3. March 25th, 2008 12:07 pm “that said” makes me want to claw my eyes out.A plague of verbal and written “that saids” has descended upon us. — mhoney 4. 4. March 25th, 2008 12:08 pm The word “famously” should be drawn & quartered, burned at the stake, then fed to the pigs. Famously, as in: Thomas Pynchon, who famously shuns the media, etc. etc. The word provides neither light nor heat. — Dana Jennings 5. 5. March 25th, 2008 12:09 pm contrived, realistic, majestic, masterful, romantic.. — lawrence kornfeld 6. 6. March 25th, 2008 12:09 pm “fresh new voice in American fiction” — jeanne 7. 7. March 25th, 2008 12:10 pm “Magisterial.” Used almost exclusively to describe biographies, generally anything approaching 1000 pages with at least that many footnotes. — JAS 8. 8. March 25th, 2008 12:10 pm “Lens” - used most often in reviews of non-fiction and academic works (not to mention the works themselves): ‘The author explores American history through the lens of [the labor movement, professional sports, dildo production, whatever]‘. I hate it; it’s overused and a product of laziness and lack of imagination. — Embu 9. 9. March 25th, 2008 12:12 pm It’s not just book reviewing — it’s theatre reviewing, too. Add “searing” to the list. — Alexa 10. 10. March 25th, 2008 12:13 pm Writing, whether a review, novel, non-fiction, requires a constant editing process. There is a great deal of sloppy, lazy writing going on due to time constraints for deadlines, or simply because the writer thinks that “in” words or phrases are acceptable ways of “pepping-up” the writing. It all amounts to jargon. There needs to be less pepper and mayonaise and more critical thinking about what is written. — Martha J. Pierce 11. 11. March 25th, 2008 12:14 pm “Readable.” I don’t know what that means. Is the work grammatical? Is it a comment about the book’s typeface? — Bruce Haxthausen 12. 12. March 25th, 2008 12:14 pm The poet Alice Notley has written about how often male reviewers of her books use the word “engaging” to describe her work, as if the reviewer felt the need to thank a feminist writer for not entirely shutting him out. — Paul Killebrew 13. 13. March 25th, 2008 12:15 pm The whole genre of “critical” discourse made up of lexical pet peeves is, itself, a tedious wallow. Just because you have a little list of words that bug you doesn’t make you particularly, um, “trenchant.” — Mark Haag 14. 14. March 25th, 2008 12:15 pm Let us not forget “subtle.” Also, “rare,” “powerful,” “startling,” “bold,” “saucy,” ALL foreign phrases that have English equivalents, “unexpected,” “frightening,” “lavish,” “amusing,” “work,” “culminates,” “climax” and “necessarily.” Can I use ‘em all in a sentence? I’ll try: This SUBTLE but POWERFUL WORK uses BOLD and STARTLING language in a RARE combination — one part SAUCY, one part E PLURIBUS UNUM — to construct a LAVISH and NECESSARILY FRIGHTENING story that CULMINATES in an AMUSING and UNEXPECTED CLIMAX. — Alex the Bold 15. 15. March 25th, 2008 12:16 pm “Deeply.” I find it deeply disturbing that this adverb has metastasized from the Op-Ed page to the Book Review. — Padraig Murchadha 16. 16. March 25th, 2008 12:16 pm If I ever finish my novel and get it published, I hope no reviewer will refer to it as my ‘debut’; leave debut to debutantes and theatricals. — David Malkus 17. 17. March 25th, 2008 12:17 pm The “much-anticipated debut.” By whom? The author’s landlord? — Audentes 18. 18. March 25th, 2008 12:18 pm Perhaps we can all eschew the phrase “makes me want to claw my eyes out”, which makes me want to…well, you know…. — PA Pearl 19. 19. March 25th, 2008 12:18 pm “Smart.” Smart how? Aren’t computer books “smart”? Or is “smart” supposed to be code for “not chick-lit”? And publishers have got to stop using elipses in their book descriptions. Putting “…” at the end of a marketing blurb doesn’t blow my mind, and drive me to find out how someone “defies the odds and learns to love again…” (or insert your own odd-defying feat). — june 20. 20. March 25th, 2008 12:18 pm “Epic.” — Ashley 21. 21. March 25th, 2008 12:18 pm Lofty … tumultous…Mr Harris has done it again — Russell 22. 22. March 25th, 2008 12:19 pm “Taut” is another adjective that only seems to show up in reviews—perhaps more often in movie reviews. — Tom 23. 23. March 25th, 2008 12:20 pm A phrase rather than a word: “a luminous parable”; words, even in parables, do not glow in the dark. — Peter 24. 24. March 25th, 2008 12:21 pm E.B. White is no longer with us to say it himself, but I’ll quote from “The Elements of Style”: The world of criticism has a modest pouch of special words (luminous, taunt), whose only virtue is that they are exceptionally nimble and can escape from the garden of meaning over the wall. Of these Critical words, Wolcott Gibbs once wrote: “… they are detached from the language and inflated like little balloons.” The young writer should learn to spot them—words that at first glance seem freighted with delicious meaning but that soon burst in air, leaving nothing but a memory of bright sound. — Dan Styer 25. 25. March 25th, 2008 12:21 pm I wonder if sometimes we read “tour de force” when the reviewer really meant “tour de farce.” — Keith Gumowitz 1. 26. March 25th, 2008 12:21 pm I think if I have to read another description of someone’s “spare and elegant prose” I’ll eat my newspaper! — Meg 2. 27. March 25th, 2008 12:21 pm Negative: “sentiment”. Positive: “redemption”. — Natuptown 3. 28. March 25th, 2008 12:22 pm “Evocative.” Ughh. — A reader 4. 29. March 25th, 2008 12:22 pm “spare language,” “economy of words,” as though the use of words were some kind of literary crime. Oh, look, Dante uses spare language and an economy of words to descrbie hell, or is it not wonderful how Melville describes the whale with such spare language, sparing the reader description as to the color of the whale, leaving it all to the reader’s imagination. Now, really, you never read that about those great authors. But today and on any given Sunday you can read ten reviews of the same latest literary offering (and yes, it must be from a”new young literary sensation,”) and I swear the reviewers received the same template from the author’s publicist. So, I wonder how many of those books are really read by the reviewer because very few reviews indicate a depth of understanding, something that gives the readers pause and a willingness to at least go to their local bookstores to give the book a try. Then here’s where the mundane reviews are somewhat absent: science fiction; science fiction and fantasy reviewers are extra special because they seemed to have actually read the books they review. Lyn LeJeune- The Beatitudes, a paranormal novel for and about New Orleans at http://www.beatitudesinneworleans.blogspot.com — Lyn LeJeune 5. 30. March 25th, 2008 12:24 pm My father regularly used the word “eschew” - in retrospect, though, it may have been SAT preparation for us kids… — Morgan 6. 31. March 25th, 2008 12:25 pm Hahaha! Maybe these reviewers need to be “learned gooder” on their Engrish skills. That said (lol, joking), reviewers do overuse vocab to a great extent. Reviews are actually way more fun to read when words used aren’t ”eschewed” and what have you, more to language every person can relate to. — Taylor 7. 32. March 25th, 2008 12:25 pm “gone missing” or worse, “went missing” — Peter A. Wright 8. 33. March 25th, 2008 12:26 pm Along with offending words um, like, and you know in oral discourse, should I see or hear the words amazing and awesome again, I shall scream … loudly! Amaze me and remove the words from active use for a decade or so. Now that would be awesome! — Pamela Greene 9. 34. March 25th, 2008 12:26 pm “Cracking”. Especially when used in tandem with “yarn” or “tale”. How can every thriller be a cracking good yarn? Makes me want to be barfing. — Dan S. 10. 35. March 25th, 2008 12:26 pm Can we do away with “page-turner”? Please please please? Can we say instead, “This pot-boiler, hyped and marketed in order to be consumed and thrown away…” — Kristin Yates 11. 36. March 25th, 2008 12:26 pm You wrote: eschew: No one actually says this word in real life. It appears almost exclusively in writing… Is there a way to use words other than reading or writing? If not, the fact that no one says “eschew” compels (or is compelling, if you prefer) the conclusion that “eschew” appears exclusively in writing, without qualification. I find your use of the word “almost” quite intriguing. While we’re on the subject of words that should not be used as verbs, I cannot stand entertainment reporters’ use of the word “helmed” as a synonym for “directed”. — Michael 12. 37. March 25th, 2008 12:27 pm How about “arguably,” as in “he is arguably the world’s foremost writer”? As comment #4 says, “The word provides neight light nor heat” and reviewers should show some courage. — Sharon Z 13. 38. March 25th, 2008 12:28 pm The second I read “poignant” or “affecting” on the inside of any cover, I immediately put the book down and walk away. If those two words are the only description that any PR department can come up with, than the book is not worth my time. — Ian 14. 39. March 25th, 2008 12:29 pm ‘chthonic’: i word i learned from reading the book review, and have since eschewed. that, and ‘desultory’ or ‘desultorily’, which i challenge anyone to claim to have heard, much less pronounced correctly, in polite conversation. — mwolff 15. 40. March 25th, 2008 12:29 pm Luminous. Yech! Who doesn’t say “eschew?” As in, “I eschew tobacco.” — THM 16. 41. March 25th, 2008 12:29 pm Thanks to Bob Harris, Brian Hagerty, Terry, mhoney and Dana Jennings for making me smile. — Bernie Saccaro 17. 42. March 25th, 2008 12:30 pm “mordant wit” And thank you for calling out those who limn. You know who you are. — Andrea Messina 18. 43. March 25th, 2008 12:32 pm May I (as a serial offender on many of the above counts) also offer “luminous” and “haunting”? — William 19. 44. March 25th, 2008 12:32 pm “Subtle.” Just because you noticed something and think you are smart does not necessarily mean you picked up on a subtlety. — FieLdJunKie 20. 45. March 25th, 2008 12:32 pm “Wise”–and all variants, please. — A. Reader 21. 46. March 25th, 2008 12:33 pm You nailed it with limn. Limn is the most egregious reviewer word of all. Typing limn into a review should automatically lock up the offending reviewer’s word processor, erase every bit of the review from the hard disk, and force the reviewer to start over. — conall 22. 47. March 25th, 2008 12:34 pm Luminescent! Most often spotted on back cover blurbs. — Vicky 23. 48. March 25th, 2008 12:34 pm “imagined” as in “fully imagined”. Applied to fiction. — Old Vermonter 24. 49. March 25th, 2008 12:34 pm Memorable. Unforgettable. I should save these for the one or two (out of 200+ books a year I read) that I really can’t forget. — Lyn Miller-Lachmann 25. 50. March 25th, 2008 12:38 pm In general usage, I’d like to add to the list: utilize (overused word to sound more intelligent than the perfectly useful “use”), and irregardless (makes me cringe every time). It’s also my pet peeve that there’s a trend to “verb” nouns, and to perform random acts of capitalization, in marketing in particular. Honestly, I think a lot of people in marketing studied it because English was apparently too hard. — Mark Boltz http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/seven-deadly-words-of-book-reviewing/?hp