kgraham10's review
4.0
Beautifully written (and occasionally over-written) story loosely based on the life of the artist Leonora Cunningham and her love affair with Max Ernst.
lightfoxing's review against another edition
4.0
Breathtaking prose, a charming and relatable main character in Ivory Frame, and a tenderly drawn, realistic love story that ends in a way that the reader won't come to expect from this type of novel. Heidi Sopinka is a generous author, giving the reader delicious vocabulary to savour, with sentences that sit like a pearl in your mouth, all while hinting at a plot that has a resolution one can't come close to expecting - in fact, there's little resolution at all. The Dictionary of Animal Languages works within a framework that has no obvious beginning or ending in order to tell a story that doesn't quite stand up on its own, and the two work perfectly together to provide a very non-cliched book. I was absolutely delighted by it, but disappointed in the cover - I felt it was very misleading, and almost passed over it because I thought it looked like just another schlocky romance set in World War II. I'm glad I picked it up, because it was phenomenal. Sopinka has a masterful command of language, and a gentle understanding of the breadth of the human experience.
mimosaeyes's review against another edition
1.0
More concerned with cramming in pretentious musings than actually telling an engaging story. Boring and confusing for the most part, and then tawdry for the rest of it.
dogpound's review against another edition
3.0
Solid. Parts of it I loved and parts were really lacking which is disappointing.
scribepub's review against another edition
With stunning prose, lavish details, deep wisdom, and emotional precision, reading this book is like falling in love — my interest in everything else was lost.
Claire Cameron, Author of The Last Neanderthal
The Dictionary of Animal Languages is such a special book, suffused with an almost painterly intelligence. Sopinka’s characters experience the world with an intensity we associate with children and visionaries. Watching them navigate the difficulties of the humdrum and the glamorous both is a distinctive, if unsettling, pleasure.
Rivka Galchen, Author of American Innovations and Atmospheric Disturbances
Not only a dictionary of animal language, but also an atlas of the human heart, Heidi Sopinka’s gorgeous debut novel maps the difficult territory between history and memory, love and loss.
Johanna Skibsrud, Author of The Sentimentalists
The Dictionary of Animal Languages shifts between past and present, across beautifully-rendered landscapes and soundscapes. In the foreground in sharp focus, an inner world, the story of a woman’s life, a life spent in rebellion from society, domesticity, and definition. Sensual and sensory, this is a story about the strength of the human spirit and it is about bodies, desire, and irrevocable loss, told in prose that is fresh, urgent and lyrical. A passionate and compelling debut.
Anna Thomasson, Author of A Curious Friendship
[A] brilliant book.
In the Moment
A rich, painterly novel, a space where image and sound and the powers of the written word meet and mingle.
Brixton Review of Books
[T]ransfixing.
Another Magazine
[P]atient readers will find, as I did, that a bit of mystery about what exactly happened is just enough bait to keep them going until they’ve gotten to know Ivory so well that the last third or so of the book is emotionally devastating in the best way. This book is a powerful and brilliantly constructed story about loss, love, and communication of all types.
Annie Smith, Utah Valley University Library, Edelweiss
A stunning novel with quiet, prayerful prose to take your breath away. Sopinka flawlessly inhabits the rich inner world of her characters as if she could shed her own skin. Powerful in a soft way, like the static electricity before a storm.
Laura Graveline, Brazos Bookstore, Edelweiss
Elements in the book build and shift, weaving together to create a vivid and powerfully human reckoning of a life, of ageing and loss, of a century of conflict, and of the relationship between the natural and the industrial world.
Toronto Star
[M]ade me push past my own expectations of literature.
Nichole Perkins, The 2019 Tournament of Books
[T]he language of Sopinka’s Dictionary ... makes me feel I’m walking through lush dreamscapes from an art museum’s walls.
Rion Amilcar Scott, The 2019 Tournament of Books
[R]ead it in two sittings, and completely enjoyed myself ... the depth to which I could slip into Ivory’s point of view, the rhythms of her emotional responses, was a dealmaker for me. And the fact that the story’s way of evincing feeling and thought felt more evoked than stated—there was just so much in this novel that held me.
Rosecrans Baldwin, The 2019 Tournament of Books
Sopinka isn’t just a terrific writer, she’s a great thinker. Her writing has particular sway and grace when she writes about the natural world.
Christy Heron-Clark, The 2019 Tournament of Books
Claire Cameron, Author of The Last Neanderthal
The Dictionary of Animal Languages is such a special book, suffused with an almost painterly intelligence. Sopinka’s characters experience the world with an intensity we associate with children and visionaries. Watching them navigate the difficulties of the humdrum and the glamorous both is a distinctive, if unsettling, pleasure.
Rivka Galchen, Author of American Innovations and Atmospheric Disturbances
Not only a dictionary of animal language, but also an atlas of the human heart, Heidi Sopinka’s gorgeous debut novel maps the difficult territory between history and memory, love and loss.
Johanna Skibsrud, Author of The Sentimentalists
The Dictionary of Animal Languages shifts between past and present, across beautifully-rendered landscapes and soundscapes. In the foreground in sharp focus, an inner world, the story of a woman’s life, a life spent in rebellion from society, domesticity, and definition. Sensual and sensory, this is a story about the strength of the human spirit and it is about bodies, desire, and irrevocable loss, told in prose that is fresh, urgent and lyrical. A passionate and compelling debut.
Anna Thomasson, Author of A Curious Friendship
[A] brilliant book.
In the Moment
A rich, painterly novel, a space where image and sound and the powers of the written word meet and mingle.
Brixton Review of Books
[T]ransfixing.
Another Magazine
[P]atient readers will find, as I did, that a bit of mystery about what exactly happened is just enough bait to keep them going until they’ve gotten to know Ivory so well that the last third or so of the book is emotionally devastating in the best way. This book is a powerful and brilliantly constructed story about loss, love, and communication of all types.
Annie Smith, Utah Valley University Library, Edelweiss
A stunning novel with quiet, prayerful prose to take your breath away. Sopinka flawlessly inhabits the rich inner world of her characters as if she could shed her own skin. Powerful in a soft way, like the static electricity before a storm.
Laura Graveline, Brazos Bookstore, Edelweiss
Elements in the book build and shift, weaving together to create a vivid and powerfully human reckoning of a life, of ageing and loss, of a century of conflict, and of the relationship between the natural and the industrial world.
Toronto Star
[M]ade me push past my own expectations of literature.
Nichole Perkins, The 2019 Tournament of Books
[T]he language of Sopinka’s Dictionary ... makes me feel I’m walking through lush dreamscapes from an art museum’s walls.
Rion Amilcar Scott, The 2019 Tournament of Books
[R]ead it in two sittings, and completely enjoyed myself ... the depth to which I could slip into Ivory’s point of view, the rhythms of her emotional responses, was a dealmaker for me. And the fact that the story’s way of evincing feeling and thought felt more evoked than stated—there was just so much in this novel that held me.
Rosecrans Baldwin, The 2019 Tournament of Books
Sopinka isn’t just a terrific writer, she’s a great thinker. Her writing has particular sway and grace when she writes about the natural world.
Christy Heron-Clark, The 2019 Tournament of Books
scribepub's review against another edition
The Dictionary of Animal Languages is such a special book, suffused with an almost painterly intelligence. Sopinka's characters experience the world with an intensity we associate with children and visionaries. Watching them navigate the difficulties of the humdrum and the glamorous both is a distinctive, if unsettling, pleasure.
Rivka Galchen, Author of American Innovations and Atmospheric Disturbances
Not only a dictionary of animal language, but also an atlas of the human heart, Heidi Sopinka's gorgeous debut novel maps the difficult territory between history and memory, love and loss.
Johanna Skibsrud, Author of The Sentimentalists
The Dictionary of Animal Languages shifts between past and present, across beautifully-rendered landscapes and soundscapes. In the foreground in sharp focus, an inner world, the story of a woman’s life, a life spent in rebellion from society, domesticity, and definition. Sensual and sensory, this is a story about the strength of the human spirit and it is about bodies, desire, and irrevocable loss, told in prose that is fresh, urgent and lyrical. A passionate and compelling debut.’
Anna Thomasson, Author of A Curious Friendship
With stunning prose, lavish details, deep wisdom, and emotional precision, reading this book is like falling in love — my interest in everything else was lost.
Claire Cameron, Author of The Last Neanderthal
[P]atient readers will find, as I did, that a bit of mystery about what exactly happened is just enough bait to keep them going until they’ve gotten to know Ivory so well that the last third or so of the book is emotionally devastating in the best way. This book is a powerful and brilliantly constructed story about loss, love, and communication of all types.
Annie Smith, Utah Valley University Library, Edelweiss
A stunning novel with quiet, prayerful prose to take your breath away. Sopinka flawlessly inhabits the rich inner world of her characters as if she could shed her own skin. Powerful in a soft way, like the static electricity before a storm.
Laura Graveline, Brazos Bookstore, Edelweiss
Elements in the book build and shift, weaving together to create a vivid and powerfully human reckoning of a life, of ageing and loss, of a century of conflict, and of the relationship between the natural and the industrial world.
Toronto Star
[M]ade me push past my own expectations of literature.
Nichole Perkins, The 2019 Tournament of Books
[T]he language of Sopinka’s Dictionary ... makes me feel I’m walking through lush dreamscapes from an art museum’s walls.
Rion Amilcar Scott, The 2019 Tournament of Books
[R]ead it in two sittings, and completely enjoyed myself ... the depth to which I could slip into Ivory’s point of view, the rhythms of her emotional responses, was a dealmaker for me. And the fact that the story’s way of evincing feeling and thought felt more evoked than stated—there was just so much in this novel that held me.
Rosecrans Baldwin, The 2019 Tournament of Books
Sopinka isn’t just a terrific writer, she’s a great thinker. Her writing has particular sway and grace when she writes about the natural world.
Christy Heron-Clark, The 2019 Tournament of Books
Rivka Galchen, Author of American Innovations and Atmospheric Disturbances
Not only a dictionary of animal language, but also an atlas of the human heart, Heidi Sopinka's gorgeous debut novel maps the difficult territory between history and memory, love and loss.
Johanna Skibsrud, Author of The Sentimentalists
The Dictionary of Animal Languages shifts between past and present, across beautifully-rendered landscapes and soundscapes. In the foreground in sharp focus, an inner world, the story of a woman’s life, a life spent in rebellion from society, domesticity, and definition. Sensual and sensory, this is a story about the strength of the human spirit and it is about bodies, desire, and irrevocable loss, told in prose that is fresh, urgent and lyrical. A passionate and compelling debut.’
Anna Thomasson, Author of A Curious Friendship
With stunning prose, lavish details, deep wisdom, and emotional precision, reading this book is like falling in love — my interest in everything else was lost.
Claire Cameron, Author of The Last Neanderthal
[P]atient readers will find, as I did, that a bit of mystery about what exactly happened is just enough bait to keep them going until they’ve gotten to know Ivory so well that the last third or so of the book is emotionally devastating in the best way. This book is a powerful and brilliantly constructed story about loss, love, and communication of all types.
Annie Smith, Utah Valley University Library, Edelweiss
A stunning novel with quiet, prayerful prose to take your breath away. Sopinka flawlessly inhabits the rich inner world of her characters as if she could shed her own skin. Powerful in a soft way, like the static electricity before a storm.
Laura Graveline, Brazos Bookstore, Edelweiss
Elements in the book build and shift, weaving together to create a vivid and powerfully human reckoning of a life, of ageing and loss, of a century of conflict, and of the relationship between the natural and the industrial world.
Toronto Star
[M]ade me push past my own expectations of literature.
Nichole Perkins, The 2019 Tournament of Books
[T]he language of Sopinka’s Dictionary ... makes me feel I’m walking through lush dreamscapes from an art museum’s walls.
Rion Amilcar Scott, The 2019 Tournament of Books
[R]ead it in two sittings, and completely enjoyed myself ... the depth to which I could slip into Ivory’s point of view, the rhythms of her emotional responses, was a dealmaker for me. And the fact that the story’s way of evincing feeling and thought felt more evoked than stated—there was just so much in this novel that held me.
Rosecrans Baldwin, The 2019 Tournament of Books
Sopinka isn’t just a terrific writer, she’s a great thinker. Her writing has particular sway and grace when she writes about the natural world.
Christy Heron-Clark, The 2019 Tournament of Books
karabk's review against another edition
3.0
Writer Heidi Sopinka gives us a fascinating and unusual character in Ivory Frame. She's an artist and biologist, and after 90 years of age, she is stunned to learn she's a grandmother. This is so shocking to her because she tried to forget that she had a child, since she was told the child died at birth. Sopinka packs a lot into her writing. Ivory's thoughts are full and she doesn't hold back, which makes this a big and gratifying read. The rest of my review is on: https://booksbargainsandbrands.blogspot.com/
miamia1's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Loved this, so interesting. Great cast of characters
cmarie1665's review against another edition
4.0
At first, I felt like this book was thin and too poetic for its own good, with hastily drawn sketches of characters and plot in order to pack in more writing that is obviously in love with itself. But the last 1/4 of the book was so good, it more than made up for the first 3/4.