Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams

4 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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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

emilyslater's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Death, Hate crime, Sexism, Violence, Grief, Abortion, Pregnancy, and War

monnibo's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Bullying, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Grief, Abortion, Colonisation, War, and Classism

molly16's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was just incredible. It follows Esme's growth just as much as it follows the creation of the dictionary. It was heartbreakingly beautiful, shining light on the highest highs, the lowest lows, and everything in between. At times, Esme had so many words to describe what she was feeling and what was going on, she spoke in eloquent, winding sentences with alliteration that was second nature to her. At other times, there were no words. Not a single pigeon hole contained an adequate word. The dictionary failed to explain the depth of her emotion. And at times, it seemed the entirety of language failed her.

As someone who's felt some of the deep grief detailed in the book, it's as much an exploration of grief as it is an exploration of who decides what words are worth defining. Completely five out of five stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Body horror, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

Minor: Hate crime, Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Abortion, and Injury/Injury detail

Additional note: there is extensive discussion of

a child being given up to another family at birth

that recurs through the book. On the grief CW: I cannot overstate how important it is that you take note of this tag. It recurs throughout the book and compounds on itself. On the mental illness CW: mentions of depression, very brief mention of suicidal plan, mentions of war related PTSD. On the body horror CW: once again war related injuries, mentions of both healed and fresh burn injuries (healed are mentioned more).