eats shoots & leaves Written by: Lynne Truss Reviewed by Fahad Ali Raza

The only thing that most of the reviews about this book has in common is their grammar and punctuation – most folks seem to love the book, several rail against it, and a handful appear to have no opinion. But almost nobody has been willing to read this unlikely best seller and then write a review that ignores the lessons about punctuation the book focuses on. That in itself offers strong proof about its value.

Eats, Shoots & Leaves is a charming book and an unusual success story, and I applaud it for bringing to the fore a debate about the aspect of the language that has suffered most from its inundation under a sea of Internet chat and cellular text messaging. Using a mix of humour and anecdotes, author and journalist Lynne Truss manages to create a highly readable and enjoyable primer that not only explains how punctuation works but why it is important.

If you have any doubt, witness the sentence: "A woman without her man is nothing." Now add two lonely punctuation marks and the meaning is turned on its head: "A woman: without her, man is nothing." The title of the book is another example – it is supposed to be a description of the diet of pandas, but because of poor punctuation it sounds more like a complaint about a murderous dinner guest.

Fair warning: Some Pakistanis go by the American style of English. Such readers might have problems with some of Ms. Truss' vocabulary (a "fag" is a cigarette in England; "rubbers" are erasers), and her statements about placing all punctuation marks outside quotation marks and the frequency with which she uses Britishisms like "actually" and "obviously" will stand out to readers already comfortable with their grip on grammar and punctuation. A lot of those problems could have been eliminated by putting the manuscript in the hands of a thoughtful editor before releasing it in the United States.

I also have a problem with treating punctuation as an end rather than as a means to an end. I think anyone who writes even a grocery list while trying to remember thousands of often archaic and obscure rules could starve to death before they ever make it to the supermarket. The ultimate goal should be to make the writer's intent clear. Punctuation is simply a tool to that end.