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14 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
Overrated!, 19 Mar 2004
Irritating, smug and patronising - I got about halfway though and gave up. If you are interested in the English language I'd recommend Bill Bryson's 'Mother Tongue' instead - it doesn't have the same focus on grammar but it is affectionate and witty and you won't want to strangle the author...
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37 of 63 people found the following review helpful:
Burn this book, 11 Jan 2004
By A Customer
I never thought I'd have the urge to burn a book but I was very tempted to burn this one. The idea of a zero-tolerance book on punctuation filled me with glee and I loved the title. I ran out and ordered a copy in my local bookshop. Alas, as I read each page, I despaired at the meandering style of the book, the supercilious tone ("even the dimmest child can click on a button to access the Internet"), and the sledge-hammer humour. The author feels the need to point out every instance of humour, in case you, the reader (a member of the unwashed masses), failed to notice it. A book for people who have a narrow, pessimistic, cynical view of the world. As for the objective of the book, if anything, the author has confused the issue of punctuation. This book could not be used as a reference book. If you're looking for a book to help you to improve your writing, read "The Elements of Style" by William Strunk Jr and E.B. White. And don't burn the book - just read it and weep.
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484 of 954 people found the following review helpful:
Smug, offensive and elitist., 28 Nov 2003
If you really want to buy a book about the correct use of punctuation then I recommend G.Carey's Mind the stop.If, on the other hand, you are looking for a book that is smug and derisive towards those with a less than adequate education then this book will fill you with delight. On page 5 you will find "we got very worked up after 9/11 not because of Osama Bin Laden but because people on the radio kept saying "enormity" when they meant "magnitude" and we really hate that".
I think there are many that would be deeply offended by this paragraph alone but sadly such insensitivity sets the tone for the whole book. A little earlier in the book Lynne Truss tells us of her dealings with an elderly charity shop worker who, on being told by the author about her incorrect punctuation of a window sign, told her to "bugger off, get a life and mind your own business". Three cheers for the lady in the charity shop...
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11 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
Reads, disregards, and poo-poos., 3 Feb 2004
This book is rubbish. I didn't even bother finishing it, which I usually consider a cardinal sin. What would have been an amusing article in a newspaper, and indeed made an enjoyable diversion on Radio Four, is here stretched so thin it can be heard screaming for release. The basic premise is reiterated throughout and whole sentences keep reappearing every chapter, whilst the attempts at humour are woeful. Do yourself a favour and if you are tempted to buy this book, wait until Easter when it should be appearing in droves in the second-hand section.
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14 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
Poor Value, 13 Feb 2004
By A Customer
When I finally got to the top of the library 'reserve this book' list and claimed the copy, the librarian checking it out commented that she'd laughed at the joke on the back cover. Resisting my inclination to advise her to get out more, I muttered non-comittedly and took the book home to read. So the first disappointment was the unfunny joke on the cover.After 30 mins or so I realised I was nearly half way through the book, and this points up the second disappointment. Although heavily discounted by Amazon, you don't get much for your money. It's a small book, printed in large type and what appears to be double spaced layout; there are few words per page. Those words that are there seem to have been padded out to take the page count just over 200, presumably to make it seem like a real book. They style is patronising, as has been described by other reviewers, and the content often banal. There's no index, but there is a brief bibliography. The examples are mostly manufactured - nothing wrong with that - rather than painstakingly collected. Getting past all that though – does it teach one anything? I’m not sure it does, a lot of the so-called ‘rules’ explained by the author seem arbitrary; if we don’t get them we risk being categorised as ‘morons’ or worse by her. The book clearly isn’t designed to be used to quickly check a punctuation dispute either (layout, lack of index). The historic stuff is interesting but unconvincing, too jokey to be taken seriously. Maybe it’s the two stools of reference manual and historic narrative that this book falls between. I like Fowler - second ed. - which is hard going in places but more rewarding. And there's true serendipity in Fowler, Truss is just one unremitting slog. Fortunately it's soon over and I can return the book to the library (shhh!).
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14 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
Huge disappointment., 4 Feb 2004
I was very much looking forward to getting stuck into what I'd hoped was going to be a very amusing and informative read, but was confronted with a petty, sneering and very unfunny rant that neither enlightened, nor amused me. Very disappointed!
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63 of 137 people found the following review helpful:
Don't waste your money, 10 Jan 2004
By A Customer
This is a dreadful book. The author may understand punctuation but she doesn't know how to write. I found it neither educational or amusing. If you're interested in being entertained whilst you improve your grammar, try one of Bill Bryson's books.
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43 of 96 people found the following review helpful:
Dont buy this book if you want to learn about grammar, 23 Mar 2004
I am afraid this is a seriously overhyped book. If like me you wanted to learn where to stick apostrophes, semi-colons and even commas then your money is wasted on this.If however, you are already a grammar pedant, like the author,and love to laugh at those who don't quite get it then buy the book. You will find the first few chapters amusing then quickly tire of the books format which is introduce a new point of grammar (but not how to use it)
have lots of supposedly amusing stories on its miss-use
go through a long winded and often irrelevant history of its use
end the chapter was another amusing (not) example of miss-use.
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15 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
Got a life?, 15 Mar 2004
After rave reviews from others, I attempted this piece of pedantic pointless drivel. For some reason I did pass the first page and completed the whole book. Laughing out loud, I was not. Cringing with pity at the sad, hair-splitting pedantry shown by the author is more accurate. Yes, bad punctuation annoys me, but no, not to this level, and I dearly hope I never spend significant time in what is already too short a life worrying unduly about such triviality.
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10 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
A huge disappointment, 13 Feb 2004
I bought "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" expecting to be entertained with a few tales of vaguely amusing punctuation misuses, and to gain some knowledge regarding its usage in our language. From something claiming to be a "zero tolerance guide", I didn't think that my prusumption would be too far off the mark.Unfortunately, it was. "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" is a book of second rate humour, punctuated with a few pages of dry and dull instructions on the correct usage of commas and apostrophes. The humour is witless, with most anicdotes involving the author being quietly angry at greengrocers. Avoid at all costs.
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