Wednesday, March 25, 2009

allowing for hyperbole

I knew I wasn't the only one who loathed the word "unputdownable", although now it's use suggests full on irony, rather than breathless excitement.
But in Britain apparently they're a bit late on the backlash.

"There are certain turns of phrase in the modern reviewers' arsenal that are guaranteed to turn the stomach of any reader. It is these descriptions that are then shoved on a dust jacket or printed on a giant advertising board slotted on the wall of a London tube station. "Unputdownable" is one: a Germanic agglomerate of a verb, an adverb, an adjectival ending and a privative prefix that bring to mind some indomitable hardback with springs wired into its spine. No matter how many times you throw it away – angrily at first, then in desperate terror – it always bounces back to smack you on the nose."

On the subject though: I've put it down lots of times, but Ron Currie's new novel is so damn good it's....well.

Posted by Dave

2 comments:

Jaliya said...

Dave ... Try to find a book review that doesn't include the word "stunning"!

I propose a new agglomerate word: "flingatthewallable," for the dreck of books ;-D

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