Reviews • Module4Breviews should be relatively impersonal. Your readers are notparticularly
interestedin you: they need informatio n, descriptionand narrative morethan
they need youropinion. Finally,you don't knowyourreader, so be careful
about using the wordyou.
4 Use precise, descriptive vocabulary.
GeneralizationssuchasThis book is boringcommunicatevery little to the
reader. Specific observations andconcretefacts, on theother hand, helpthe
reader to shareyour experience. Ifyou havestrong feelings aboutyour
subject,this shouldmake your writing more interesting - but be carefull
Strong feelingsmustbegiven form and coldlytranslated into precise words.Heat and Dust ,
byRuthPra werJhab vata.Awriterofgenius... a writero f
worl dclass - a master storytell er.. ..
it sayson the dustj acket. Can they
really be talking about t besame
writer, the samebook? Personally,I
can'tsee what distingui shesHeat
And Dust fromanyofthosecheap
romanticnovels that you get at
rail way stations.
What on earth is so remarkabl e
about thestory of aboredexpatriate
whol eaves adull husband for
so meo ne richer, moreintelligentand
totally exotic? In my opinion,if
Jhabvala was reallya goodwriter
s hewould have written inste ad about
a muchmore interesting
phenomenon, thetypical colonial
who clingsabsurdly to the
behavi our, traditionsand ev endress
of his mother count ry.Alternatively ,
Oliviacoul d have really'gone
native', insteadofjust being seduced
bya Nawab wit ha Rolls -Royce,an
Al fa Romeoand an inti mat e
knowledge of t he besthotelsofPari s
and London.
The plottoo is corny: theideaof
so meo ne retracin g so meo neelse's
life, and then (surprise,surp rise!)
finding parall el eventshappeningin
theirown lives. Thousandsofwriters
haveuse d thisdevice. andtomuch
bett ereffect.So whatmakes
Jhabvalasuch agreatwri ter?It can't
be her prose, surely , which is quite
boring. The words ' heat'and'dust'
appear frequently, but I forone
certainly never getanyimpressionofheator dust.I don't know about you,
butthe impress ion1 g et isofa very
literary, upper-classwomansittingat
hertypewri terdrin king tea.
Finally , what really annoys me
personallyabout this book is t he
w riter's morality. Youcansees he's a
romanticanda moralist: she looks
downon her narrator witha
patronizin gattitude,andpaints a
degradingpictur eofmodem loveby
giv ing hernarrator a kindof abject
promiscuity in the placeofa love
li fe. And incredibly ,themessageof
the bookseems tobe that the best
thingthatcan happen toa woman -
even an unmarriedwoman,without
a boyfriend,travell ingabroad- is to
get pregnant. I'msorry, butifyou
thi nkthat,you're livin ginanother
wor ld.BRewritethe last 26 linesfrom 'It can't be her prose.. .' , bearing in mind the
fourparagraphsof advice.1.4 Writing
Part2 writingtasks
A A friend of yoursis thinkingof buyinga consumer item (e.g. a personal stereo,
a bicycle, a tennisracket , a pairof shoes, a musical instrument, anEnglish
dictionary).Your friendknowsthat you have one, andw rites toyou asking if the
one you have is a good model to buy, orw het heryou would advisethemto
choose adifferentmodel. Write your reply in about 125words.
BA Britishfriend of yoursis studying your language. Usinga satellitedish, they
arecapable of rece ivingTVprogrammes from yourcountry.Write alett er of
abo ut 2 50 words recommending two programmesyour f rie ndshouldwatch to
help improvet heir language,bearing inmindthat your friend'slevelin your
language isaboutthe same as yourlevel inEnglish.
Task bank: Tasks 16, 42, 43 and 44Types of writing • 75