Close Reading of Front/Back Matter – “The Invisible Wall”

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Now that we’ve examined the front and back covers of The Invisible Wall by Harry Bernstein and formulated questions, it’s time to see what we can glean from material that precedes and follows the main text. Here we find the reviews, dedication, acknowledgments, prologue, epilogue, afterword, reader’s guide, author interview, excerpt from Bernstein’s second book, and details about publication.

Bernstein has many minor characters in The Invisible Wall, Christians and Jews, that wander in and out of the chapters. I found it difficult to remember who was whom, so I created a list. Here it is in case you find it helpful as well.

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Barbara Rawls
4 years ago

This was a good review. I try to look over the cover of a new book each time now.

Kit Dwyer
4 years ago

Thank you for this thorough review of the front and back matter, Patricia! I look forward to looking more closely at this book and future books in this way.

Rose Yake
4 years ago

Thank you for the interesting lesson, Patricia. I am about halfway through reading Harry’s book and have the gist of the story. I’ll visit the ten steps to reading like a writer, read the story again, and imitate what is appealing. I usually read e-books which make it easy to look up unfamiliar words. There were a number of new words for me to look up in this paperback; guess I’ll have to make notes in the margins.

Etya Krichmar
4 years ago

Great presentation, Patricia. You dissected the front and the back of the book so well. I loved it! It gave me some ideas as to how to format my book. Thank you.

Steven Weisberg
4 years ago
Reply to  Etya Krichmar

Thank you for giving Patricia the recommendation to study this book and author. From what I’ve glanced at so far, it appears to be a good read with exemplery writing technique to examine and emulate.

Etya Krichmar
4 years ago

You are welcome, Steven. You won’t be disappointed. I call his writing classical. Something to look up to and learn from.

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