Review of "Eats, Shoots & Leaves"

(Written in March 2006). See the ratings of other books and more reviews here.

Let's start from the empirical fact that this book was a best seller and is still placed in the top 500 books on Amazon.com. The book definitely appealed to a lot of folks. And it perhaps explains why I borrowed the book in the first place and read it in entirety despite increasing frustration. The excellent Panda story, which is on the back of the cover and supplies the idea for the title, hid the true nature of the book.

I am frankly at a loss to understand who Lynne Truss wrote this book for. The whole tone of the book is derision towards those poor in punctuation. This in itself is not a bad thing - you can write all the sarcasm you want (which is exactly what I am doing at this very moment). But then you go around explaining punctuation principles, including the entire history from italics to semicolons to Spanish punctuation. That is a good strategy - insult your public and then expect them to learn from you.

We could give her a pass on the attitude, but then she goes to fill the pages in the book by showing off her erudition. The language is highly convoluted with references to several literary works and figures. I expect she thinks that people who don't know how to spell spend their spare time reading Virginia Woolf and Shakespeare. Mix that with some British vernacular and it takes all your concentration not to fall asleep.

I don't think I belong in the category of people targeted (in both senses of the word) by the book, but the writing struck me as some good content surrounded by a lot of fluff. Most of the punctuation uses can be found in any writing handbook. The content may not be flowery, but you get what you want in perhaps 10-15 pages.

It is really unfortunate, though. If a book on punctuation had to be a best-seller, it shouldn't have been this. I fear that the person wishing to enhance their knowledge on punctuation would buy this book, read a few pages and put it in their shelf, never to be opened again. If there had been more content, better examples and less of that exasperating drivel, it may have meant something. Instead, we have a monumental waste of effort!