by Erik Larson
1 out of 5 stars
This is one of those emperor’s new clothes situations, where so many people LOVE this book, and I thought it was awful. I tried reading it and listening to it with equal results. I was bored, annoyed by the writing, my mind wandered, and I finally gave up. I’m sure Larson’s research is wonderful, and I realize he’s not writing fiction here, but his books read like magazine articles...really, really long magazine articles with virtually no dialog and a writing style that reminds me of accounts written by people who can’t "hear" their writing in their heads, so it comes off as stilted and unnatural. I’ve heard one of the rules of good writing is to show, don’t tell. Larson is about 95% tell in his approach. I point to John Berendt and Mary Roach as better choices for non fiction writing. But that’s just me.
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