The figurative language of Christina Lynch….

Reading time: Less than 1 minute

I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about several metaphors from American writer Christina Lynch….

I was filled with hope when I went to read Christina Lynch’s first novel, The Italian Party. The book had received rave reviews from the Wall Street Journal, The Library Journal and the New York Time Book Review podcast.

Further, Lynch appeared to have impeccable credentials. She’s a teacher of television writing for UCLA extension and a full-time professor of English at the College of the Sequoias in California. She’s also a former Milan correspondent for W and Women’s Wear Daily. 

Overall, however, I found the book disappointing. Set in Italy in 1956, the book is meant to be a sort of light-hearted spy novel. I found the story weak and the characters not terribly likeable.

Christina Lynch did, however, have occasional bursts of figurative writing and here are the two examples I liked best:

  • [The car] was twice the size of the tiny, drab little Italian matchboxes they were passing, like an eagle amidst starlings.
  • Behind the movie-star-handsome dark brows, strong, masculine nose and square chin, he was a nervous fellow, still the schoolboy who had compensated for his social insecurity by doing well in school.

An earlier version of this post first appeared on my blog on Aug. 2/18.

 

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