The Seven Basic Plots
Why We Tell Stories

An absolutely infuriating book. The basic premise, that there are a limited number of basic structures to be found in narrative storytelling, is fair enough but hardly anything new. Booker makes some good connections and some of them are undeniably on-the-money. But the whole book is infected by Boo......more

Addendum: the New Yorker cartoonist Emily Flake implicitly argues there are only six basic plots. Back to the regularly scheduled quasi-review…                     ❦ All in all, there is some incredibly worthwhile information here. Too bad it’s overlong, and much worse: it shows a nasty writer at his o......more

Though I'm a little uncomfortable dismissing a book that has taken someone half a lifetime to write, I can't help but think that when it comes to The Seven Basic Plots the author's time could really have been better spent. There were points where this book outright insulted me; as a literature stude......more

This book is actually many things: - An introduction to the seven basic plots and their many associated archetypes that work in combination. - A system. It can be applied to any story you know (and it’s fun to do so). - A tool. An almost obligatory read for anyone who invents stories. If you don’t tap......more

This is first-rate criticism--and I am usually averse to criticism, as in my view few critics understand literature. (Perhaps that sounds absurd, but I think most writers agree with me.) It's also a particularly useful book for writers. Its basic premise is that Jung is correct on his theory of the......more