This is a literary paean to the joys of good fiction. It is a deceptively simple title. It is really a guided tour of various works, and Wood delights in explaining what is extraordinary about devices or passages used in these stories. Sometimes he also takes pains to describe what doesn't work, be...
A worthwhile read simply for experiencing Wood’s enthusiasm for literature. However, this short book is less a “how-to-write” manual than it is an ode to literary realism.The examples Wood provides are analysed in a manner, which (for a change) leaves me hopeful that one day my writing could amount ...
It was thrilling, at first, to read contemporary criticism which addressed obviously important authors like DFW and Sebald (though they are dead too) in the same terms as Flaubert and James, explaining why what they do is good when it is and offering no excuses when it isn't. And it was exciting to ...
How Fiction Works is a fascinating theoretical book that should be read by anyone interesting in literature, linguistics and the foundations underlying creative writing itself. James Wood draws references from many different books and breaks everything down to varying levels of analysis to have a lo...
Nowhere near as comprehensive as the title implies. No, I mean, just reading it you've already heavily discounted your estimate of what it can actually purport to explain, and I say to you that you should revise THAT downward.Still, it is nearly as interesting as the vintage-inspired design is beaut...
I have the same criticism of this book as I have about recent books on education; Wood writes as if he is revealing scientific truth rather than quite changeable theory and opinion. And, I hate to tell him, but his book is nothing but one man’s opinions. It may be that all the heads are nodding alon...
This is a book I've read, re-read, and re-re-read. I go back to it frequently, whenever I've finished one of the titles from its bibliography, or just to revisit Wood's various topics. Deceptively simple and quickly read. If allowed, HFW will inform any novel you read. It is not comprehensive in its...
I kind of hate reading books of this sort as they leave me with a heightened awareness of style, character, rhythm, etc. that makes it difficult to read average or sub-par fiction. Of course, the benefit of reading books like this is that I do cultivate a more discriminatory taste so that I read onl...
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