Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss - Review

Book Synopsis:

Through sloppy usage and low standards on the internet, in e-mail and now "txt msgs", we have made proper punctuation an endangered species. In "Eats, Shoots & Leaves", former editor Lynne Truss dares to say that it is time to look at our commas and semicolons and see them as the wonderful and necessary things they are. If there are only pedants left who care, then so be it. This is a book or people who love punctuation and get upset when it is mishandled. From George Orwell shunning the semicolon, to "New Yorker" editor Harold Ross's epic arguments with James Thurber over commas, this lively history makes a powerful case for the preservation of a system of printing conventions that is much too subtle to be mucked about with.

My Review:

4/5 stars. This book has been on my shelf for a long time, and I finally got around to reading it. It was the perfect level of nerdiness, although the pretentiousness felt like a bit much. The author's commentary was hilarious, but I wished this snarkiness continued beyond the first couple of chapters. Overall, this was an enjoyable history of grammar and style guide with a few problems -- namely, that the author doesn't use the Oxford comma.

The lack of Oxford comma was my biggest gripe with this book. The title itself should have one but doesn't, and then it's never used throughout the book. There was a little section about the Oxford comma where the author basically said it's not necessary, and sometimes better to not have it. I understand that it's a British book and it's a lot less common to use it there, but it still feels grammatically incorrect to not use it. I'm a staunch defender of the Oxford comma, so that was a big thing I noticed as I read.

Speaking of British vs American rules, because this book is British, there were a few mentions of how the rules are different. When a rule was mentioned that is used differently in the US, the author made note of that. As a result, though, there were some grammar things talked about that I didn't fully understand or agree with. The author also seemed to look down on the American rules a little bit as being more incorrect.

Another thing the author seemed to look down on toward the end of the book was the internet. I understand that this book came out in 2006 when the internet and smartphones were relatively new, but there was an air of pretentiousness toward the internet as if it was ruining the written word. I agree somewhat, but you can also use the internet all the time and still be grammatically sound.

I've complained about small things, but I did really enjoy this book. Now I'll move on to the positives. Like I already mentioned, the writing was hilarious early on. The way the author complained about bad grammar with just a bit of extreme threats made me laugh out loud. She said what we've all thought before. However, it was a bit too pretentious at times, and I wish this funny commentary continued past the first couple of chapters.

All of the history of grammar was very interesting. I never knew there was so much history behind the comma, or so much evolution of quotation marks. I learned a lot from those sections. Similarly, the complex history showed how language rules are continuing to evolve even now. I like how the author said to be strict about some rules but also flexible about less important things where the usages are changing and varied.

If you are a writer, or just a lover of grammar, you will enjoy this book!

Content:

Language: d*mn, h*ll, ss, n*gger

Sexual Content: suggestive references in examples sentences; mentions of sex, abortions, polygamy, and nudity

Violence/Gore: none

Drugs/Alcohol: none