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Title: Worthwile, but . . .
Review: Robert Graves was one of the best writers of his era, but as this book shows, he was also a Puritan when it came to language. While this book contains many useful tips, it is also pedantic and argumentative. As many of the reviewers noted, Graves and Hodges often illustrate poor writing with examples that seem, in an initial reading, to be sound. Perhaps this merely shows that modern readers are being anaesthetized by bad prose, but I don't think so. If Graves and Hodges loosened up a notch or two they would have written a much better book.The authors leave the topic of style a little too early for my taste, making the book more of a guide to editing than a guide to writing well.Still, the book focuses on developing a prose style that is logical, clear, and succinct--the backbone of all good prose.
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