Reviews with content warning for Grief - The Dictionary of Lost Words

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams

92 reviews

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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avisreadsandreads's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-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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questingnotcoasting's review

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emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

This book was so much sadder than I thought it would be. I thought it would be a light-hearted read about making the Oxford English Dictionary but actually the themes of the First World War and various other personal traumas played a big part in the plot. It was very slow moving, as we follow Esme's whole life and I can't say I ever felt particularly attached to her as a character but the book was compelling nevertheless.

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rinku's review against another edition

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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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acasiamae's review against another edition

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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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abigaelf's review against another edition

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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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mels_reading_log's review against another edition

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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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