The Grammarians
by Cathleen Schine
Buy on AmazonCathleen Schine’s latest smart, comic novel is about two language-obsessed sisters, freakishly precocious identical twins with a passion for abstruse words (such as oxters, meaning armpits) and the nitty-gritty of English usage. One grows up to become a language “scold,” the other a proponent of informal, mutating English. Like the twin advice columnists Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren, they feud publicly in their competing columns and suffer a lengthy estrangement. Filled with fun zingers, this is a buoyant read for people who can appreciate the absurdity of phrases like “nearly ten women.” (Is that 9.5 or 9.75?)
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"Cathleen Schine’s latest smart, comic novel is about two language-obsessed sisters, freakishly precocious identical twins with a passion for abstruse words (such as oxters, meaning armpits) and the nitty-gritty of English usage. One grows up to become a language “scold,” the other a proponent of informal, mutating English. Like the twin advice columnists Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren, they feud publicly in their competing columns and suffer a lengthy estrangement. Filled with fun zingers, this is a buoyant read for people who can appreciate the absurdity of phrases like “nearly ten women.” (Is that 9.5 or 9.75?)"
NPR Books We Love — 2019 · apps.npr.org
"Cathleen Schine's brilliant novel, "The Grammarians," is to die for."
By the Book: Gish Jen · nytimes.com