Title: Talk to the Hand

Author: Lynne Truss

Publisher: Gotham Books

Year Published: 2005

Had not my friend given me Talk to the Hand for Christmas last year, I would never have read it on my own. Even though my tastes are fairly broad, this one happens to fall outside my usual browsing area. Way outside. But that’s ok. That’s what friends are for. To steer us back onto the path when we happen to wander a bit off course. Or to take us gently by the hand, guide us over to the garden and to thrust our face down into the flower bed when we don’t take the time to stop and give them a big ol’ sniff. Not only did I sniff, I breathed deep and thoroughly enjoyed floral dunking.

Talk to the Hand is a book on manners. Now before you start with the one-liners, it isn’t a “how-to” book, something written to detail the proper etiquette of text-messaging or which fork is for the salad and which is for the shrimp. Rather, it’s a casual study of the apparent lack of manners that is so prevalent in society today. Much of it is focused on the English culture (Ms. Truss is English, you see), but as a High School teacher over here on this side of the pond, I feel safe in assuring Ms. Truss that most, if not all of what she says is just as pertinent in the States as it is in her neck of the woods.

At times uproariously funny, Ms. Truss had me talking to myself, agreeing with her own perceptions and laughing at her hysterically sad examples. Written much like a personal essay, there were times when she got bogged down with what other people think, but always she returned to the strength of the book… the power of her observations and interpretations, and the complexity and intelligence of her sense of humor.

I have another of her books waiting in the wings (Eats, Shoots & Leaves) and am happy to have it so close the top of the stack. If she treats grammar anything like she treats rudeness, it will be another fast, fun read.