Nonfiction: Mary Pipher’s Writing to Change the World

[rating: 2.5]

I will begin with a warning. Please, do not behave as I did. Do not adventure into a book store like a bright-eyed simpleton. Do not grab the pretty book on writing with the prettiest name, simply because it’s well… pretty. Am I saying that Pipher’s Writing to Change the World is bad? Not quite. Am I saying that I dislike it? Not quite. Did I have a difficult time deciding how I feel about this book? Yes. In the end, will I say that I enjoyed it or that, overall, it is good? No—no, I won’t.

This book lives somewhere in it was okay, sort of land. I got through it. Upon finishing, I asked myself two questions. First, “What was it about?” And, second, “What did I get out of it?” My response to the first question was, “Umm… Nothing?” and unfortunately, my answer to the second was similar.

Writing to Change the World possesses chapters titled “Writing to Connect,” “Point of View,” “Letters,” “Speeches,” “Personal Essays,” “Blogs—A Revolutionary New Tool,” &c. But these chapters consist of little more than common sense advice and personal ramblings.

As I type, I’m opening the book to a random page. I’ve landed in a cozy little spot, in the chapter “Speeches.” My eyes fall on this:

The secret to speaking with confidence is having faith in your ideas and in your writing. Confidence comes from preparation.

My thoughts on the quote above are tongue-in-cheek, and best expressed in lolcats: o rly? I mean, is that not common sense advice? Can confidence not be defined as “having faith in your ideas?” Is it also not obvious that preparation breeds confidence? Why would any author deem it necessary to devote four pages to the subject of preparation—not on how to prepare, mind you, but on why it’s necessary to prepare.

If the personal anecdotes shared in those four pages and elsewhere were interesting or funny, I doubt that I would care so much. However, they are neither interesting nor funny (nor are they particularly well-written). Mary Pipher is a no nonsense, no frills, no lovely words kind of writer. That’s fine; simplicity can be beautiful. But her words are simply dull.

Even though I have much more to complain about, I will stop. Why? Because I did not (quite) condemn Writing to Change the World to the realm of books I dislike. It has some virtues. It contains a few morsels of decent advice. Pipher was also kind enough to sprinkle lovely quotes throughout the book. And—yes, there’s more—at the end of Writing to Change the World, excellent works are listed as recommended readings.

Nevertheless, I don’t feel comfortable recommending Mary Pipher’s Writing to Change the World to anyone. If it’s laying about, if there aren’t any other books around, and if you’re bored, you may want to pick it up. Otherwise, do something else. :)