Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams

40 reviews

liesthemoontells's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This was competent, enjoyable historical fiction. The main character was flawed but endearing, and the interweaving of real historical events into her life, especially suffragism, was particularly well done.

I found the second half of this book

after the MC gives away her baby

far more compelling than the first half. This was the point where the book stopped treading water in historical accuracy about the creation of the dictionary, and allowed the MC high-stakes, emotional resonance beyond the historical framing.

I thought the author was successful in depicting a range of women's experiences across different classes, and I have respect for her ability to not get bogged down in her research and prevent it from letting her characters engage in her world building. She gave her characters engaging and believable personalities and allowed their actions space to impact the setting.

The long timeline of the book meant that it felt very jumpy, and it was hard to keep up with the sudden shifts in age. I also found the ending strange - rushed, abrupt, and not entirely earned.

Overall this was a decent book, but it didn't leave much of an impact on me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

colorcrystals's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Pregnancy, and War

Moderate: Cursing, Mental illness, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Abortion and Suicide attempt

aesarctic's review against another edition

informative reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Sexism, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Classism

Moderate: Infertility, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Abortion, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Miscarriage and Car accident

anjh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

wow. although i’d describe this book as historical-fiction which isn’t a genre i find myself interested in very often i really enjoyed this and felt it was very lighthearted and story like to read, as if i were being read a book at bedtime as a child. 

i listened to the audiobook on borrowbox for this while reading which, i’ll be honest, made the experience so much better especially with the different voices for the characters and the beautiful piano music played in the section between each part. 

it’s difficult to describe how beautiful this concept is for a novel, and i would strongly encourage anyone interested in literature and words to read it. i absolutely love how the story focuses on the women whose voices were ignored and dismissed during the creation and publishing of the Oxford English dictionary.

i also love that the hardships for women and gender expectations of the book’s era are well represented, including an absence of women’s rights, the suffragette movement in England and the expectation for women to get married and have children. 

i took off one star just because i found it a bit confusing to keep up with all the characters in the book lol but i genuinely really enjoyed it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Car accident

rinku's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Bullying, Infertility, and Car accident

acasiamae's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Misogyny, Violence, Grief, and War

Minor: Child abuse, Abortion, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail

abigaelf's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

• 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? No

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and War

Moderate: Sexual content, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

mels_reading_log's review

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

“You are not the arbiter of knowledge, sir. You are its librarian… It is not for you to judge the importance of these words, simply to allow others to do so.”

I had never really given much thought to how the dictionary was written and the proof that was needed for a word to be included. This book is fictional but tells the real process of writing the Oxford English Dictionary, the amount of people involved and how many years it took to complete. The main character of Esme was fictional but she grows up with her father working on the words of the dictionary and sees how certain words are left out. Words that are used by people who are not well educated white men. So she starts to collect other words, those of the poor, uneducated and disenfranchised.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Body horror, Racism, Slavery, and Abortion

elaeagnifolium's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and War

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail

writingbugtop's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail