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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.
mklong's review against another edition
3.0
Solid three stars. There is nothing really special here, but I enjoyed spending time with these characters. #TOB2019
mtillstaff's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. This book requires patience and generosity. Frequent time shifts make it hard to follow and the layering of minutiae and scenes of small, exacting detail felt like writing from the 19th century, or a time when people had longer attention spans. Still, the language dazzles and piereces in places, and I cared enough about Ivory's story - her art, her scientific research, her love affairs - to keep going, to unravel and then weave back together all of the strands of her life.
abookishtype's review against another edition
4.0
Over the course of Heidi Sopinka’s The Dictionary of Animal Languages, several characters ask Ivory Frame what her project of recording bird and animal calls is for. She struggles to answer every time. No one seems to understand that she’s trying to save these sounds in case the animals go extinct. This is reason enough for her, but everyone else thinks is a waste of time, a fool’s errand, an elaborate way of coping with the tragedies of her past, or some combination of all of the above. The more we learn about Ivory, the more I started to agree that her project is some combination of the aforementioned and also one of the most elaborate works of art and science ever attempted...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss, for review consideration.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss, for review consideration.
sophronisba's review
3.0
As seems to happen so often, I loved the idea of this book but the execution did not work for me. I did think Ivory was a great character, though. Unfortunately I found the way the book was written to be a bit choppy and disjointed, and (unusually for me) the lack of quotation marks made for some very confusing paragraphs.
icameheretoread's review
3.0
There were points when I was reading this novel that I was so bored I wanted to scream and other times when I was scribbling down quotes. Sopinka writes some dazzling lines.
Ivory Frame is beautiful, intelligent and cold. That is also how I would describe my reading experience. It's difficult to care about Ivory, and at the same time, she's my new hero.
Here is a female living the life she wants in the way she wants in a time dominated by men. Ivory does not seem to feel she has sacrificed to live this way, she seems very content (or at least, completely engrossed in her work). She even succeeds in a male dominated field.
At the same time I found my mind wandering while I was reading because Sopinka shows us this and shows us this and shows us this.
So, while I have mad respect for this book, I didn't really enjoy it. It's not that I need a likeable main character, I most certainly don't. What I need is plot and for it to move along at a decent clip.
Dictionary reminded me of a statue in an art gallery. Is it beautiful? Yes. Is it cold and unmoving? Yes.
Ivory Frame is beautiful, intelligent and cold. That is also how I would describe my reading experience. It's difficult to care about Ivory, and at the same time, she's my new hero.
Here is a female living the life she wants in the way she wants in a time dominated by men. Ivory does not seem to feel she has sacrificed to live this way, she seems very content (or at least, completely engrossed in her work). She even succeeds in a male dominated field.
At the same time I found my mind wandering while I was reading because Sopinka shows us this and shows us this and shows us this.
So, while I have mad respect for this book, I didn't really enjoy it. It's not that I need a likeable main character, I most certainly don't. What I need is plot and for it to move along at a decent clip.
Dictionary reminded me of a statue in an art gallery. Is it beautiful? Yes. Is it cold and unmoving? Yes.
ruthiella's review
2.0
I have no regrets about reading A Dictionary of Animal Languages, but unfortunately, I did not enjoy the author’s writing style and I found the story to be overwrought and romanticized. Also, no speech marks. Often this does not bother me and I barely notice it but in this book I found it made a choppy narrative even more difficult to follow. Read for TOB 2019
candority's review against another edition
1.0
DNF at 58%. I can't find any desire to continue reading this book. The story, while it has moments of beautiful writing, is slow moving and a bit confusing due to the lack of quotation marks around dialogue and the various points in time that it jumps between. I'm also frustrated because the part of the description that hooked me into reading this book has barely been mentioned. It has such a beautiful cover (and an intriguing description), but this book is officially my first DNF of 2018.
jessicaxmaria's review against another edition
5.0
Coming-of-age novels are pretty ubiquitous—and for good reason. When you're young and figuring out the next decision, your choice is likely to affect the trajectory of your life. There is something arresting about that, given that I often reflect on my own choices and where I am and who I am today. Yet, I found THE DICTIONARY OF ANIMAL LANGUAGES mesmerizing because it's a, as the author calls it, coming-of-death novel.
Ivory Frame is 92 years old and has devoted her life to art and science in the titular project. Each chapter is titled an animal with a note (assumed to be Ivory's field notes) on that animal’s language. We inhabit her in first person, vacillate between her work, inner thoughts, conversations, and most of all her memories over the decades of her life. Those years encapsulate studying art, a steadfast friendship, heartache, war, and devastation. But it's a quiet novel for all of this. THE DICTIONARY is eloquent and beautiful, and as the memories are revealed to form the person we first meet at 92, I came to love Ivory deeply.
My copy is full of dog-ears and underlines. Like: "In order to forget one life, you need to live at least one other life. The young can withstand the shock of love because another life is still possible. It is only the old who die of heartbreak." I loved the line because I thought of it again later, three books later, in which a much younger character reflects on the many lives she's already lived by 35, due to choices and circumstance. Sopinka has a gift for lovely sentences that stay with you.
I have a profound love for this book, but wouldn't recommend to everyone. It's a writerly book, one that is full of poetic prose and sometimes abstractly woven narrative structures that may prove a challenge to some readers, or boring. It's slow and takes time but I found it incredibly rewarding.
Ivory Frame is 92 years old and has devoted her life to art and science in the titular project. Each chapter is titled an animal with a note (assumed to be Ivory's field notes) on that animal’s language. We inhabit her in first person, vacillate between her work, inner thoughts, conversations, and most of all her memories over the decades of her life. Those years encapsulate studying art, a steadfast friendship, heartache, war, and devastation. But it's a quiet novel for all of this. THE DICTIONARY is eloquent and beautiful, and as the memories are revealed to form the person we first meet at 92, I came to love Ivory deeply.
My copy is full of dog-ears and underlines. Like: "In order to forget one life, you need to live at least one other life. The young can withstand the shock of love because another life is still possible. It is only the old who die of heartbreak." I loved the line because I thought of it again later, three books later, in which a much younger character reflects on the many lives she's already lived by 35, due to choices and circumstance. Sopinka has a gift for lovely sentences that stay with you.
I have a profound love for this book, but wouldn't recommend to everyone. It's a writerly book, one that is full of poetic prose and sometimes abstractly woven narrative structures that may prove a challenge to some readers, or boring. It's slow and takes time but I found it incredibly rewarding.