Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams

140 reviews

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

deestreet's review against another edition

emotional reflective relaxing 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny

Minor: Death of parent, War, and Classism

taybee10's review against another edition

was triggering for me at the time 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

dwager's review against another edition

informative

4.5

I really enjoyed this historical novel that centered around the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary. I thought it incorporated the real-life characters well and took an interesting perspective on gender issues in the early 20th century.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Abortion, Fire/Fire injury, and War

teacupsandfirereads's review against another edition

informative reflective sad slow-paced

• 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

The idea behind this story is interesting, which is what prompted me to pick it up. This story was slow and took me over a week to finish, but it is not necessarily a big book. It covered many topic, both personal and regarding society, which was interesting. This also made it feel like too much was going on. What stuck with me is how we each look at and understand words differently based on our life and it's context. It is a book that will be for some and not for others.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Death of parent, Abandonment, War, and Classism

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 against another edition

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

aaashtyn's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• 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

3.75

This book was good, but I think I was expecting a little more in terms of how the dictionary of lost words was going be put into play and make an impact on the story. The first third of the book was really good and intriguing, but then the middle felt slow and didn’t feel like it added much to the story.

I liked how Esme’s daughter finally had a purpose at the end of the book, but for the majority of the book I thought that portion of the story felt pointless.

It was good, but it felt like more needed to happen. I did also enjoy learning about the process of creating the dictionary and all the steps needed, that was interesting to learn about.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Classism

littleobsidian's review against another edition

emotional informative sad slow-paced

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

3.5

Wanted to love it but.... kinda boring!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy and War

Moderate: Sexism, Police brutality, and Death of parent

Minor: Body horror