Kevin's review
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss
Speaking as a grammar perfectionist, "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves" is an interesting but very broad take on English and American punctuation usage. It is a very quick read, most of the important points are made, and it is, for the most part, enjoyable. However, to be honest, Lynn Truss comes across as a bit of a bitch. If I had one criticism of the book itself, it wasn't any of the factual information contained in it, but the parts where Lynn tried in inject a bit of herself or relate a personal story. Particularly egregious is her treatment of a one-time pen pal from Detroit, which I have to say was the thing that really turned me off to her "personality". Look, I know if you're going to write a "zero tolerance approach to punctuation", you're going to come off as a bit of a snob no matter what you do. And for the grammar snobs who read it, there's a certain degree of pleasure you're going to get by someone else validating your snobbery. In and of its...more
Kevin, I agree with your assessment of Truss. She reminds me of my eighth-grade English teacher, who would place essays written by students in the remedial classes on an overhead projector, then encourage us to mock their grammar. What bullies!
