Did anyone else find the book Scarpetta edited not so well?
Re: Did anyone else find the book Scarpetta edited not so well?
by Cécile on Fri Oct 30, 2009 9:23 am
[quote="Banana"]I spotted the repetition and had to re-read a bit to see what was going on. Poor grammar doesn't really offend me, as being dyslexic / dysgraphic , mine's all over the place anyway. But I do have sympathies with you docmon. It does confise things when you have to reread pages.
The 'Let's don't...' is a funny one because it seems completely natural to me. I have used the phrase and I have heard (educated) people around me use it too - and I'm in the UK. I figured it was something that we had picked up from US tv programmes. LOL
The biggest gripe for me are the ages. Lucy aged incredibly fast in the first couple of books - she started out too young and Marino started out too old so adjustments have had to be made otherwise he'd be 70! Wesley, a psychologist seems to be a Dr and dabbles in psychiatry now. But I guess they have to be kept alive and interesting so editors let these things go.
I love the books as the characters are absorbing, as is the science however, the whole series is riddled with inconsistencies and this I think is due to both poor editing and poetic licence. But when I get so much enjoyment from them, does it really matter........................[/quote]
I would think "let's don't" to be typically British English, and as for picking it on TV, the first time I actually heard that expression on American TV was in the mouth of Alex Kingston aka Dr Corday, the British surgeon in ER. I will venture a guess and say that maybe this occurence of the "let's don't" is actually a sign of the more european culture of the east side of the US especially the upper east side. Maybe some sort of social class cleaving, since if my memory serves me right, Berger uses it first in the book, and well maybe Scarpetta picked it up from being in NY so much.
But what do I know, maybe Patricia Cornwell just has a fling for it, I am only French after all.
Personnally I like it.
C.
The 'Let's don't...' is a funny one because it seems completely natural to me. I have used the phrase and I have heard (educated) people around me use it too - and I'm in the UK. I figured it was something that we had picked up from US tv programmes. LOL
The biggest gripe for me are the ages. Lucy aged incredibly fast in the first couple of books - she started out too young and Marino started out too old so adjustments have had to be made otherwise he'd be 70! Wesley, a psychologist seems to be a Dr and dabbles in psychiatry now. But I guess they have to be kept alive and interesting so editors let these things go.
I love the books as the characters are absorbing, as is the science however, the whole series is riddled with inconsistencies and this I think is due to both poor editing and poetic licence. But when I get so much enjoyment from them, does it really matter........................[/quote]
I would think "let's don't" to be typically British English, and as for picking it on TV, the first time I actually heard that expression on American TV was in the mouth of Alex Kingston aka Dr Corday, the British surgeon in ER. I will venture a guess and say that maybe this occurence of the "let's don't" is actually a sign of the more european culture of the east side of the US especially the upper east side. Maybe some sort of social class cleaving, since if my memory serves me right, Berger uses it first in the book, and well maybe Scarpetta picked it up from being in NY so much.
But what do I know, maybe Patricia Cornwell just has a fling for it, I am only French after all.
Personnally I like it.
C.
Cécile
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Re: Did anyone else find the book Scarpetta edited not so well?
by Ima Peege on Sat Sep 26, 2009 8:21 am
Sorry Denmark-PC can say anything she wants to, as they are her books after all. As for the issues regarding the editing process, I still say that much of what DocMom pointed out can be considered a stylistic decision by the author-why not focus on the fact that she likely intended the book to read exactly the way that it does..
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Re: Did anyone else find the book Scarpetta edited not so well?
by Ima Peege on Sat Sep 26, 2009 8:21 am
Sorry Denmark-PC can say anything she wants to, as they are her books after all. As for the issues regarding the editing process, I still say that much of what DocMom pointed out can be considered a stylistic decision by the author-why not focus on the fact that she likely intended the book to read exactly the way that it does..
Ima Peege
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Re: Did anyone else find the book Scarpetta edited not so well?
by kz00001 on Tue Sep 22, 2009 9:53 pm
The one that drives me absolutely crazy (at least from her earlier books) is that she repeatedly uses the word "ironically" incorrectly. It seems like it's every other page in some books. I don't hold her as responsible for that as her editor, who I presume does have an English major.
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Re: Did anyone else find the book Scarpetta edited not so well?
by Banana on Tue Sep 22, 2009 5:25 pm
I spotted the repetition and had to re-read a bit to see what was going on. Poor grammar doesn't really offend me, as being dyslexic / dysgraphic , mine's all over the place anyway. But I do have sympathies with you docmon. It does confise things when you have to reread pages.
The 'Let's don't...' is a funny one because it seems completely natural to me. I have used the phrase and I have heard (educated) people around me use it too - and I'm in the UK. I figured it was something that we had picked up from US tv programmes. LOL
The biggest gripe for me are the ages. Lucy aged incredibly fast in the first couple of books - she started out too young and Marino started out too old so adjustments have had to be made otherwise he'd be 70! Wesley, a psychologist seems to be a Dr and dabbles in psychiatry now. But I guess they have to be kept alive and interesting so editors let these things go.
I love the books as the characters are absorbing, as is the science however, the whole series is riddled with inconsistencies and this I think is due to both poor editing and poetic licence. But when I get so much enjoyment from them, does it really matter........................
The 'Let's don't...' is a funny one because it seems completely natural to me. I have used the phrase and I have heard (educated) people around me use it too - and I'm in the UK. I figured it was something that we had picked up from US tv programmes. LOL
The biggest gripe for me are the ages. Lucy aged incredibly fast in the first couple of books - she started out too young and Marino started out too old so adjustments have had to be made otherwise he'd be 70! Wesley, a psychologist seems to be a Dr and dabbles in psychiatry now. But I guess they have to be kept alive and interesting so editors let these things go.
I love the books as the characters are absorbing, as is the science however, the whole series is riddled with inconsistencies and this I think is due to both poor editing and poetic licence. But when I get so much enjoyment from them, does it really matter........................
Banana
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Re: Did anyone else find the book Scarpetta edited not so well?
by docmon on Thu Sep 17, 2009 12:41 pm
Hi!
I'm so glad to see so many replies! Agree or disagree, I was looking forward to a discussion.
Nevertheless, I'm relieved to hear that I wasn't the only one noticing a larger than usual number of typos (though what I noticed went beyond typos, but I won't go into that). Yes, I'm an editor, so these things jump out at me. But that doesn't preclude me from being crazy! ;-) Affirmation is always nice.
I actually was wondering if the "let's don't" was a regional thing myself. For international members, no, it's not standard American, but there is great variation locally in how Americans use English. I thought perhaps Cornwell was trying to give Kay a usage that was local to Virginia or something. I really was giving her the benefit of the doubt - her editor is obviously far, far, far better than me. So I tolerated it. Until, in Scarpetta, Jamie Berger, a New York lawyer, used the same phrasing. She is NOT going to have the same particular speech pattern as Kay or Marino. And she is going to, in general, use standard American English. Which doesn't include "Let's don't talk about this now." <shiver> In other words - even if Kay was using it b/c it was something she picked up in Virginia, there's no explanation for Jamie using it.
By the way, I never noticed the switch in the character description of Jay Talley, but I read those earlier books out of order. I also don't think Cornwell used the "let's don't" in early novels, because I think I would have noticed. But maybe I didn't. When all is said and done, I enjoy these books a lot, so I do get past the editorial issues (tho being an editor does change your reading experience!). And Sasha's right. If things get too messed up, people will stop reading. She's still doing the important things right.
I'm so glad to see so many replies! Agree or disagree, I was looking forward to a discussion.
Nevertheless, I'm relieved to hear that I wasn't the only one noticing a larger than usual number of typos (though what I noticed went beyond typos, but I won't go into that). Yes, I'm an editor, so these things jump out at me. But that doesn't preclude me from being crazy! ;-) Affirmation is always nice.
I actually was wondering if the "let's don't" was a regional thing myself. For international members, no, it's not standard American, but there is great variation locally in how Americans use English. I thought perhaps Cornwell was trying to give Kay a usage that was local to Virginia or something. I really was giving her the benefit of the doubt - her editor is obviously far, far, far better than me. So I tolerated it. Until, in Scarpetta, Jamie Berger, a New York lawyer, used the same phrasing. She is NOT going to have the same particular speech pattern as Kay or Marino. And she is going to, in general, use standard American English. Which doesn't include "Let's don't talk about this now." <shiver> In other words - even if Kay was using it b/c it was something she picked up in Virginia, there's no explanation for Jamie using it.
By the way, I never noticed the switch in the character description of Jay Talley, but I read those earlier books out of order. I also don't think Cornwell used the "let's don't" in early novels, because I think I would have noticed. But maybe I didn't. When all is said and done, I enjoy these books a lot, so I do get past the editorial issues (tho being an editor does change your reading experience!). And Sasha's right. If things get too messed up, people will stop reading. She's still doing the important things right.
docmon
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Re: Did anyone else find the book Scarpetta edited not so well?
by Ima Peege on Wed Sep 16, 2009 9:57 pm
Docmom et al-
Did it ever occur to you that Cornwell's use of "let's don't" is entirely intentional? This is a woman who prides herself on dialogue, the authenticity of the actual spoken word as opposed to the more grammatically correct but often more sanitized language I often come across when reading. Seriously, I understand the question, but perhaps we shouldn't assume typos or poor editing and instead assume that cornwell herself is sending a message or making a point with a particular character's language. I think its admirable that you've taken the time to find errors, but remember--although you're an editor, you're not HER editor..
Did it ever occur to you that Cornwell's use of "let's don't" is entirely intentional? This is a woman who prides herself on dialogue, the authenticity of the actual spoken word as opposed to the more grammatically correct but often more sanitized language I often come across when reading. Seriously, I understand the question, but perhaps we shouldn't assume typos or poor editing and instead assume that cornwell herself is sending a message or making a point with a particular character's language. I think its admirable that you've taken the time to find errors, but remember--although you're an editor, you're not HER editor..
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Re: Did anyone else find the book Scarpetta edited not so well?
by Bobbie Featherstone on Tue Sep 15, 2009 10:32 pm
Yes. It was very slow getting into it. Was exspecting more bits & pieces from all the other books to tie it together a bit. Had a hard time remembering what was happening.
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Re: Did anyone else find the book Scarpetta edited not so well?
by ScarpettaRox83 on Tue Sep 15, 2009 5:01 pm
[quote]It seems every character is saying things like "let's don't get into this" when to me proper grammar would be "let's NOT get into this".[\quote]
Someone had posted this earlier in the topic.
I soooooooo agree with that. Let's NOT makes so much more sense. I say "Let's not......" And yes, I am American *LOL* From the good ol' state of Louisiana (think of Blow Fly, right?) *LOL*
Someone had posted this earlier in the topic.
I soooooooo agree with that. Let's NOT makes so much more sense. I say "Let's not......" And yes, I am American *LOL* From the good ol' state of Louisiana (think of Blow Fly, right?) *LOL*
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Re: Did anyone else find the book Scarpetta edited not so well?
by Denmark on Tue Sep 15, 2009 8:48 am
Kay is the one who keeps saying "Let's don't" which is why it seems so off i guess, cuz if it was Marino, I probably wouldn't even notice ;-)
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