Word: readerly
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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What cushioned her abrupt transition to American culture, she said, was becoming an avid reader and discovering the power of books...
...privileged Westerner winces. Yet in an upbeat, inquisitive manner, George travels the sludge-filled world--from the sewers of New York City to the latrine pits of Tanzania to plumbing-deprived rural India--breaking one of our last taboos for an insightful discussion of health policy. For the average reader, though, a treatise on toilets (or the lack thereof) can be simply too much to stomach. A series of articles was plenty on this topic; reading a whole book on the subject is an ordeal by ordure. Our advice: Flush...
...lessons. Robert McCloskey’s beloved children’s book “Make Way for Ducklings” offers one of the “purest examples of irony” through its use of free indirect style. The same technique also allows the fiction reader to inhabit a young girl’s confusion in Henry James’s novel “What Maisie Knew.” The juxtaposition is a touch precious—just a sappy soundtrack away from a literary criticism Hallmark moment—but it plays into Wood?...
...Bell Jar:” “this book excites me because it deals with mental health, a topic I am very interested in learning about.” The sharp contrast between his child-like tone and the adult matters he confronts effectively gives the reader the impression of Pat’s mental instability. The simplicity of expression reflects an equal simplicity of character. Pat’s dominating outlook on life is that there is a silver lining to everything—a cliché remark that recurs throughout the entire novel. He expects his life...
...most fully-realized. She doesn’t just introduce us to the cast of characters; she adds herself to it frequently enough to keep the narrative in contemporary perspective. In essence, there are three voices at work: the cerebral historian, the observant wit, and the empathetic commentator. A reader of Vowell’s other work is well acquainted with the first two, but it’s the third’s appearance throughout the new book that makes “Shipmates” unique. If not for the overwhelming ease with which Vowell alternates voices...