The Cradle by Patrick Somerville

A review by Jim Ruland

Last summer I took a craft class at Bread Loaf with Mary Akers called "Getting Away with it." The class opened with a quiz that asked us to match excerpts from works of classic and contemporary literature with the "rule" they broke. Some examples were simple, such as "Never begin a story with the main character waking up," while others were much more difficult to pin down. The exercise challenged me to think about the way I abide and ignore rules. Are there rules I religiously follow? Or am I compulsive real breaker? If so, what are they, and what does this attitude toward them say about me?

Those who feel that fiction shouldn't be limited by something so prescriptive as a rule, haven't served as a slush pile reader, graded a stack of freshman composition essays, or worked at a literary agency in December when all those NaNoWriMo manuscripts come crashing through the transom. From publications that purport to cash-in-on (ie. help) authors achieve their dreams of becoming published...

• Read the entire review
• More reviews from Gently Read Literature

More Than Three Decades of Quality Writing and Criticism

The National Book Critics Circle, founded in 1974, honors outstanding writing and fosters a national conversation about reading, criticism, and literature. To learn about how to join, click here.