Call number
FIC S
Collection
Genres
Publication
Sarah Crichton Books (2019), Edition: First Edition, 272 pages
Description
Fiction. Literature. HTML: An enchanting, comic love letter to sibling rivalry and the English language. From the author compared to Nora Ephron and Nancy Mitford, not to mention Jane Austen, comes a new novel celebrating the beauty, mischief, and occasional treachery of language. The Grammarians are Laurel and Daphne Wolfe, identical, inseparable redheaded twins who share an obsession with words. They speak a secret "twin" tongue of their own as toddlers; as adults making their way in 1980s Manhattan, their verbal infatuation continues, but this love, which has always bound them together, begins instead to push them apart. Daphne, copy editor and grammar columnist, devotes herself to preserving the dignity and elegance of Standard English. Laurel, who gives up teaching kindergarten to write poetry, is drawn, instead, to the polymorphous, chameleon nature of the written and spoken word. Their fraying twinship finally shreds completely when the sisters go to war, absurdly but passionately, over custody of their most prized family heirloom: Merriam Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition. Cathleen Schine has written a playful and joyful celebration of the interplay of language and life. A dazzling comedy of sisterly and linguistic manners, a revelation of the delights and stresses of intimacy, The Grammarians is the work of one of our great comic novelists at her very best..… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member bearette24
Quirky story about word-loving twins who brawl over a dictionary.
LibraryThing member rosalita
Twin sisters, Laurel and Daphne, are inseparable and indistinguishable as children. Among the many, many things they share is a love for words and language, often to the bemused exasperation of their parents. As they grow up, they continue to be physically indistinguishable, even to the point of
If you are a word nerd, or a grammar peever (nb: those are not the same thing), there is a lot to love in Schine's exploration of sisterhood and learning to be your own person. She has a light touch that keeps the serious passages from weighing too heavily, but that also blunted the impact of the book overall for me. Still, I'd recommend it to all of my linguistically curious friends.
Show More
trading jobs for a day, but their mutual love of language takes them in very different directions and threatens their close bond.If you are a word nerd, or a grammar peever (nb: those are not the same thing), there is a lot to love in Schine's exploration of sisterhood and learning to be your own person. She has a light touch that keeps the serious passages from weighing too heavily, but that also blunted the impact of the book overall for me. Still, I'd recommend it to all of my linguistically curious friends.
Show Less
LibraryThing member annbury
This novel about a pair of language-obsessed identical twins focuses on the delights and detours of language, as we use it and as we talk about it. Along the way, the author has many perceptive and amusing things to say about our relationship to language. That makes the book irresistible to
Show More
language mavens like me -- who could not love a story where the central conflict is between prescriptivism and descriptivism? For those less obsessed with language, however, the novel that underlies all this linguistic fun may be disappointing, at times. The central characters are interesting, but not particularly likeable, which can make it a little hard to care very much about what happens to them. And the novel's pace can be distracting: sometimes very slow, sometimes headlong. All in all, however, I found that the panache of this novel overrode any minor negatives. Show Less
LibraryThing member japaul22
I'm not sure where I found this book, probably in the Washington Post's book section, but I knew that a book about twin girls who grow up with their own language and an obsession with words would work for me.
Daphne and Laurel are identical twins whose interest in words is cemented when their
What people call 'standard' English is really just the dialect of the elite.
I loved this novel. It was, in some ways, an easy, light read, but it also ended up giving me quite a bit to think about in the end.
Original publication date: 2020
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 258 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: library hardback
Why I read this: a review grabbed my attention
Daphne and Laurel are identical twins whose interest in words is cemented when their
Show More
father brings home an enormous, old, dictionary, and places it on a pedestal in their home. They are completely reliant on each other through young adulthood, when their love of words begins to drive them apart. Daphne ends up writing a weekly column about grammar and word usage, and Laurel becomes a kindergarten teacher. They both marry. When Laurel starts to question the elitism of Daphne's column, things begin to fall apart. What people call 'standard' English is really just the dialect of the elite.
I loved this novel. It was, in some ways, an easy, light read, but it also ended up giving me quite a bit to think about in the end.
Original publication date: 2020
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 258 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: library hardback
Why I read this: a review grabbed my attention
Show Less
LibraryThing member nivramkoorb
This is the 3rd book that I have read by Schine. She is a solid writer who deals with family situations centered around NYC. She is clever, has a good writing style and her books always entertain. This book is about 2 identical twins(Daphne and Laurel) who grow up in suburban NYC in the 80's. The
Show More
main theme of the book revolves around their intimate connections as identical twins and their love and fascination with language. The book follows them from their birth throughout their lives. What is interesting is that the story shows how close they are yet how they strive to achieve their own independent selves. This manifests itself through their approach to language which is a central part of their lives. It creates their intimacy but ultimately leads to ever escalating differences which cause a long term feud. Schine fills the book with interesting characters and of course her great use of language. Sometimes the language thing is a little much and the story told through Daphne and Laurel made it easy to have a strong opinion of each. I found both of the sisters tough to like but that was also part of the book's charm. It was a good story and if you love language than this is a worthwhile read. I enjoyed the previous 2 books by Schine more(she has done 11) but she is a good author who I will continue to read. Show Less
LibraryThing member boxofdelights
I love words, and I love stories about female friendship, especially this kind, where each friend looks to the other as a mirror, to help her figure out who she is, and as a window, to help her figure out what the world is. These two are twins, and they're both the kind of child who makes friends
In school, both Laurel and Daphne often had to clarify that they were themselves and not their sister. "No," they would say, "I'm the other one."
"I'm the other one," Daphne said in third grade when a little boy who had a crush on Laurel stuck paste in her hair. "I'm the other one."
"I don't care," the boy said, but he ran away to the far end of the playground.
"I'm the other one," Laurel said to the cafeteria lady who knew Daphne's love of Sloppy Joes and was ladling an extra gelatinous spoonful onto her hamburger bun.
The cafeteria lady said, "Oh! Well, you enjoy your meal, too, dear."
"How can we both be the other one?" Daphne asked Laurel.
They looked up "other" in the dictionary.
The entry was surprisingly long. "Other" was an adjective that meant one of two. It was usually preceded by a demonstrative or possessive word. Daphne liked the idea of a demonstrative word, imagining the word hugging and kissing "other," generally making a spectacle of itself, until their father explained that a demonstrative word meant, simply, a word like "this" or "that."
Then Schine opens the next chapter demonstrating two meanings of "every other":
Uncle Don and Aunt Paula and their little boy, Brian, came for dinner every other Sunday; and every other Sunday, Laural and Daphne and their parents went to Uncle Don and Aunt Paula and Brian's house for dinner.
I was thinking that Schine reminds me of Laurie Anderson, the way she plays with overloaded words; then one character used "O Superman" on his answering machine. When Laurel starts making poetry out of grammar samples taken from letters people wrote to the War Department, I was hoping for a reference to John Cale's "Cordoba". That didn't show up, but still, Cathleen Schine speaks my language.
Show More
with a dictionary and tries to take it to bed in order to have someone to talk to.In school, both Laurel and Daphne often had to clarify that they were themselves and not their sister. "No," they would say, "I'm the other one."
"I'm the other one," Daphne said in third grade when a little boy who had a crush on Laurel stuck paste in her hair. "I'm the other one."
"I don't care," the boy said, but he ran away to the far end of the playground.
"I'm the other one," Laurel said to the cafeteria lady who knew Daphne's love of Sloppy Joes and was ladling an extra gelatinous spoonful onto her hamburger bun.
The cafeteria lady said, "Oh! Well, you enjoy your meal, too, dear."
"How can we both be the other one?" Daphne asked Laurel.
They looked up "other" in the dictionary.
The entry was surprisingly long. "Other" was an adjective that meant one of two. It was usually preceded by a demonstrative or possessive word. Daphne liked the idea of a demonstrative word, imagining the word hugging and kissing "other," generally making a spectacle of itself, until their father explained that a demonstrative word meant, simply, a word like "this" or "that."
Then Schine opens the next chapter demonstrating two meanings of "every other":
Uncle Don and Aunt Paula and their little boy, Brian, came for dinner every other Sunday; and every other Sunday, Laural and Daphne and their parents went to Uncle Don and Aunt Paula and Brian's house for dinner.
I was thinking that Schine reminds me of Laurie Anderson, the way she plays with overloaded words; then one character used "O Superman" on his answering machine. When Laurel starts making poetry out of grammar samples taken from letters people wrote to the War Department, I was hoping for a reference to John Cale's "Cordoba". That didn't show up, but still, Cathleen Schine speaks my language.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Beamis12
Twin, n. A couple; a pair;two
Twin, v.t. To part, sever, sunder, deprive of.
And do a matching set of twins are born. Vibrant red hair, a precocious pair, who take to language early and never really stop from it being fascinating. Their closeness even into intimadated their mother, their was scarcely
This book spans decades, following the family, the girls as they grow, start families and careers of their own. The author does a terrific job mixing humor, and there is a great deal of it, with the tragedies life seems periodically to throw our way. If you are a lover of words, care about their usage, grammar, this is the book for you. Words get top billing here, and the girls float through the many different ways they are used. Loved the characters, loved the writing, loved the word and definition listed before each chapter. It is a wonderful book about life and that shows the importance of words, their ability to heal and hurt, as well as their importance throughout history. Definitely the right book at the right time.
"Grammar makes you respect words, every individual word. You make sure it's in the place where it feels the most comfortable and does its job best."
"This is what words do, she realizes. They call out from the page and force you to listen. No, they allow you to listen."
Twin, v.t. To part, sever, sunder, deprive of.
And do a matching set of twins are born. Vibrant red hair, a precocious pair, who take to language early and never really stop from it being fascinating. Their closeness even into intimadated their mother, their was scarcely
Show More
a thought that between them went unshared. What one knew, the other did. They even made of their own language. Words were important, are important and how it is used matter. Lauren and Daphne, one thought nothing would ever come between them. Until something did.This book spans decades, following the family, the girls as they grow, start families and careers of their own. The author does a terrific job mixing humor, and there is a great deal of it, with the tragedies life seems periodically to throw our way. If you are a lover of words, care about their usage, grammar, this is the book for you. Words get top billing here, and the girls float through the many different ways they are used. Loved the characters, loved the writing, loved the word and definition listed before each chapter. It is a wonderful book about life and that shows the importance of words, their ability to heal and hurt, as well as their importance throughout history. Definitely the right book at the right time.
"Grammar makes you respect words, every individual word. You make sure it's in the place where it feels the most comfortable and does its job best."
"This is what words do, she realizes. They call out from the page and force you to listen. No, they allow you to listen."
Show Less
LibraryThing member nyiper
I had high hopes for this book about identical twins but I found myself getting very tired over all of their "word" issues. Yes, it was the basis for the book and for the relationship between the twins over the years but instead of being an absorbing story I kept looking for a reason to keep
Show More
reading. Show Less
LibraryThing member lgaikwad
What is this thing called Language which exists between us? Who are these Words that penetrate, separate, and create what we know of one another and ourselves?
In The Grammarians, the author explores these questions indirectly through the relationship of identical twin sisters with a secret language
It is a novel about words. It is a novel about family relationships. It explores the push and pull, the desire to be alike and the desire to be unique. It explores the civil wars of relationships couched within a love that is sometimes destructively expressed. It explores the civil wars in language, the fight between prescriptive and descriptive grammars. Language. Love.
Having raised identical twins, I appreciated her insights into the closeness and independence of these siblings as a way to look at relationship. She excited me enough with grammatical concepts that I’m studying grammar again. Whatever I learned in school has drifted into unconscious usage.
In The Grammarians, the author explores these questions indirectly through the relationship of identical twin sisters with a secret language
Show More
of their own and an obsession with Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language. Each chapter begins with a word and definition. It is a novel about words. It is a novel about family relationships. It explores the push and pull, the desire to be alike and the desire to be unique. It explores the civil wars of relationships couched within a love that is sometimes destructively expressed. It explores the civil wars in language, the fight between prescriptive and descriptive grammars. Language. Love.
Having raised identical twins, I appreciated her insights into the closeness and independence of these siblings as a way to look at relationship. She excited me enough with grammatical concepts that I’m studying grammar again. Whatever I learned in school has drifted into unconscious usage.
Show Less
LibraryThing member PhilipJHunt
A cake. Sweet, light, garnished with smart humour, encased in linguistic marzipan. A plot pleasing the palate. No lingering aftertaste.
LibraryThing member BoundTogetherForGood
This book came to my attention through Amazon. It sounded like an interesting premise...
I was about 60% through the book when I realized, "hey, this isn't really so much about grammar." I carried on because I was engaged in the lovely little story that was being told.
I ended up really enjoying it.
I was about 60% through the book when I realized, "hey, this isn't really so much about grammar." I carried on because I was engaged in the lovely little story that was being told.
I ended up really enjoying it.
LibraryThing member smallwonder56
I normally enjoy Schine's books, but this one was tedious with characters I just couldn't care about.
LibraryThing member Maydacat
Though many readers found this novel quite enchanting, for me, it went from boring to just plain sad. Twin sisters, so connected they do indeed have their own secret language, go from hardly standing to be apart to hardly standing to be in the same room together. The death of their father leads to
Show More
their squabble over which one of them now owns the grand dictionary and stand, even though their mother still lives! The mother does have a plan of her own to bring the sisters together. The author’s fondness for playing with words and grammar was cute, but there was not enough of a plot to keep me interested in the tale. Show Less
LibraryThing member nancyjean19
I enjoyed the first part as the girls grew up and their love of words was established, but I lost interest as they got older and their quirks matured into unpleasant eccentricities. Why were they in their 40s and still bickering about a dictionary? I just wasn't as amused by them as everyone else
Show More
in their lives seemed to be. I think I agree with their uncle. Show Less
LibraryThing member Alphawoman
Different sort of book. Who knew grammar and words and exquisite vocabulary could be so entertaining and touching. My favorite part was the letters sent to the war department from uneducated family members. They were beautiful and visceral.
Funny at times, annoying at others, but throughly
Highly recommended.
Funny at times, annoying at others, but throughly
Show More
enjoyable read.Highly recommended.
Show Less
LibraryThing member maryreinert
There are few books that I don't finish, but didn't waste the time on this one. The cover enticed me, the story of twins who love words enticed me, but the characters were totally unlikable, the plot not much, and what humor was there, I missed.
LibraryThing member Gwendydd
This is a charming and engaging read, if a little unsatisfying.
Daphne and Laurel are identical twin sisters. As children, they are, like many twins, totally inseparable. They have their own secret language. Their family members are mystified by their deep bond. Their father brings home a giant
The book is naturally full of good word play and dry humor, and the characters are amusingly quirky, so even the unlikeable one are enjoyable to read about.
Unfortunately, Schine seemed to be a little uncertain what to do with her characters once they started fighting with each other. In the end, the book ends up being a lot more about the twins' mother than the twins themselves. After the first half of the book focuses so much on what it feels like to have a bond with a twin, I would have liked to know more about the twins' internal states of mind when that bond is strained and broken.
Daphne and Laurel are identical twin sisters. As children, they are, like many twins, totally inseparable. They have their own secret language. Their family members are mystified by their deep bond. Their father brings home a giant
Show More
Webster's dictionary, and the twins are enthralled - they love the dictionary and they love words. As adults, they move together to New York City, where Laurel is a teacher and Daphne becomes an editor. A rift develops between the two of them: when it comes to grammar, Daphne is a prescriptivist and Laurel is a descriptivist.The book is naturally full of good word play and dry humor, and the characters are amusingly quirky, so even the unlikeable one are enjoyable to read about.
Unfortunately, Schine seemed to be a little uncertain what to do with her characters once they started fighting with each other. In the end, the book ends up being a lot more about the twins' mother than the twins themselves. After the first half of the book focuses so much on what it feels like to have a bond with a twin, I would have liked to know more about the twins' internal states of mind when that bond is strained and broken.
Show Less
LibraryThing member hemlokgang
A nice story about twin sisters. The intensity of the twin relationship is explored over a lifetime. At times witty, at times serious, this is a nice book. The demands of proper grammer, the twins' passion, is a good metaphor for the emotional demands between the twins. Pleasant read.
LibraryThing member Narshkite
I only read about 50 pages of this, but I was just plain bored. I love words, and I love sister relationships, and I was sooooo bored. Maybe I will try again when not living in a world turned upside down. Maybe not.
LibraryThing member PattyLee
Amusing, but I kept wanting more depth to the discussion of the relationship between the sisters beyond their concerns with words.
LibraryThing member rmarcin
Quirky story about twin sisters are develop their own language as babies, and then grow to embrace the language and its grammar in their adult life. Laurel and Daphne enjoy being twins for the most part, but as they grow as adults, they start to pull apart from each other, and compete with each
As their parents age, the parents have a wish for the girls - that they regain their friendship and closeness.
#TheGrammarians #Cathleen Schine
Show More
other. As they each marry and have a child, this difference and separation becomes more pronounced. As their parents age, the parents have a wish for the girls - that they regain their friendship and closeness.
#TheGrammarians #Cathleen Schine
Show Less
LibraryThing member akblanchard
In this short novel, twin sisters Laurel and Daphne love words so much, their create their own secret language. As affluent adults they squabble over possession of their childhood dictionary. This literary examination of twin-ship and sibling rivalry starts out strong but fizzles toward the end.
LibraryThing member kimkimkim
I grew up with a set of twins and we were close up until we went to college. I was never aware of a personal “twin” language but I was supremely aware that they were each one-half of a whole. They went everywhere together until they didn’t and not surprisingly much of their separation was due
But back to The Grammarians, Laurel and Daphne, identical twins, oddities, objects of “those stares”, speaking in their special language, communicating in ways only they understand. How difficult and dispiriting to acknowledge that they are one-half of a whole and longing to be more. They make those around them “uneasy with their secret words and language games”. Interesting, I was uneasy reading this book. There were so many words and thoughts based on words and confusion and maybe more than a bit of nonsense regarding all these words. But “this is what words do...they call out from the page and force you to listen.” I listened but there were so many words and so much back and forth in code and ugh, the split, the separation, the twin-ship torn asunder.
I found this to be a refreshing bit of writing which was sometimes amusing, often puzzling as the next verbal tangent went off into left field. Unfortunately the ending was unimpressive and lost the depth that Schine had managed through much of the book.
Thank you NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for a copy.
Show More
to an object they both coveted and of course the opposite sex.But back to The Grammarians, Laurel and Daphne, identical twins, oddities, objects of “those stares”, speaking in their special language, communicating in ways only they understand. How difficult and dispiriting to acknowledge that they are one-half of a whole and longing to be more. They make those around them “uneasy with their secret words and language games”. Interesting, I was uneasy reading this book. There were so many words and thoughts based on words and confusion and maybe more than a bit of nonsense regarding all these words. But “this is what words do...they call out from the page and force you to listen.” I listened but there were so many words and so much back and forth in code and ugh, the split, the separation, the twin-ship torn asunder.
I found this to be a refreshing bit of writing which was sometimes amusing, often puzzling as the next verbal tangent went off into left field. Unfortunately the ending was unimpressive and lost the depth that Schine had managed through much of the book.
Thank you NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for a copy.
Show Less
LibraryThing member BibliophageOnCoffee
Not quite what I was expecting, but an enjoyable read overall. Low-stakes family drama with some interesting commentary about language and grammar thrown in here and there. This is the type of book that you could recommend to most (female) readers safely.
Awards
Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction (Longlist — Fiction — 2020)
NPR: Books We Love (2019)
The New York Times Notable Books of the Year (Fiction — 2019)
Pages
272
ISBN
0374280118 / 9780374280116