Nick Barlow reviewed The Art of Fiction by John Gardner
Review of 'The Art of Fiction' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
There are some useful points in here, and some things that will challenge your own writing and make you think, but you have to carefully extricate them from the morass that surrounds them. Gardner brings forth his instructions like Moses descending from the mountain, sure of his righteousness and blessed with ineffable wisdom. There's an air of condescension to the whole thing, a very patronising attitude as Gardner appears to believe himself better than just about every author who ever lived, and some may tire of his tone long before they take anything useful from this.