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teacupsandfirereads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Death of parent, Abandonment, War, and Classism
kate59421's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Minor: Emotional abuse and Physical abuse
beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
As the title suggests, this is a book about words, more specifically those words that are not considered important enough to be compiled into the first-ever edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). Since the task of compiling the OED is largely left to older white men, inevitably their ingrained biases ensure that the dictionary is skewed towards a male view of the world, and this is writ large when it comes to the male attitude to women.
In the year 1901, one of the OED's loyal fans discovered that the word "bondmaid" was missing from the dictionary. It is from this factual nugget that Pip Williams has constructed the fictional character and heroine of the novel, Esme Nicoll. The story of the novel is the story of Esme's life, covering late Victorian-era Great Britain to the First World War.
The novel was written almost entirely (
In terms of other characters, I most liked Harry, Esme's widowed father, Edith "Ditte" Thompson, Esme's mentor and mother figure, and Lizzie, a serving maid at Murray household where Esme spends her childhood and whom Esme eventually
I also had some issues with the novel's structure and pacing, which seemed uneven to me. Even though the beginning of each chapter stated the year and the month in which it was set, the time jumps could be hours, days, weeks, or even months at a time. These jumps were not always consistent, leaving me confused as to just how much time had passed between the beginning and end of a chapter. It kind of felt a bit lumpy.
Ultimately, it was the themes of this novel that I most strongly resonated with - the way certain words were defined to degrade not only by gender but by social status, the way words could come to mean more than one thing, the development of slang and curse words, and most poignantly, the inadequacy of words to describe the human experience.
This is a novel that, to me, asks two fundamental questions: Whose words matter? And almost more importantly, who gets to decide?
A moving, thought-provoking read.
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Blood, and Colonisation
Minor: Fatphobia, Racism, Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
This novel takes place during the rise of the first wave of feminism in the early 20th century. It includes a discussion and descriptions ofpurplepenning's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Sexism, War, and Classism
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child abuse, Cursing, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, and Alcohol
katekatiekait's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Moderate: Bullying, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Classism
Minor: Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Medical content, Abortion, and Pregnancy
mattiedancer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
- Fans of historical fiction
- Word-lovers and feminists
- Those looking for a slow coming-of-age story that evolves into a story about life in general
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Self harm, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury
innerweststreetlibrarian's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
The words are the real star of the story. I enjoyed the premise that there’s a gender bias in these original dictionaries and the process of collecting the women’s words and defining them was really interesting. The story could have benefited from more of that.
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, and War
Moderate: Child abuse, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Abortion, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Infertility and Misogyny
aseel_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Minor: Abortion