“The days that Patchett refers to are precious indeed, but her writing is anything but. She describes deftly, with a line or a look, and I considered the absence of paragraphs freighted with adjectives to be a mercy. I don’t care about the hue of the sky or the shade of the couch. That’s not writing; it’s decorating. Or hiding.
—Alex Witchel, reviewing Ann Patchett’s These Precious Days, “Ann Patchett Has Thoughts on a Bunch of Subjects,” The New York Times, Nov. 19, 2021. (Thanks to alert WORDster Andrew Merton.)
• Editorial Comment: Wait. What color *was* the couch?
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Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism
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