With this recitation of paraphernalia and detritus, O'Brien manages to encapsulate the experience of an army and of a particular war, of a mined and booby-trapped landscape, of cold nights and hot days, of soaking monsoons and rice paddies, and of the possibility of being shot, like Ted Lavender, suddenly and out of nowhere: not only in the middle of a sentence but in the midst of a subordinate clause.
Francine ProseAll the elements of good writing depend on the writer's skill in choosing one word instead of another.
Francine ProseWe never believe we're beautiful, no matter how many times we hear it. We never believe it until someone says it in the right way.
Francine Prose