Even New York Times Authors Write Wrong
I have several favorite contemporary authors I enjoy when I read to escape for awhile. Recently I read a book by a well-known NYTimes author and almost choked on one of her glitchy sentences. See what you think. (The following is one sentence with the character names changed to protect that author from embarrassment as she writes another 2-3 books before the end of the year.)
She walked out to get the phone, and heard, as she assured Hannah the baby was fine, was sleeping like an angel, had been no trouble at all, the front door close behind him.
FYI: (1) Hannah is the baby’s mother (2) the baby is a girl (3)”him” is a young man (4) the punctuation in the above quote is as printed in the novel
Questions:
If you encounter really weird sentences like the above example, will you keep reading?
How many flubs does it take for you to stop reading the book? Or, do you ignore them if the story is interesting?
she sounds like she’s out to lunch or LSD.
If she was generally a good writer, I’d keep reading. I know what she meant. She should have rearrange a few words, though.