A review by hannahrl
The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams

slow-paced

3.75

I liked this a lot but felt it had. A slow start that was harder to get into. Once the main character really become her own person I was way more interested. I really enjoyed how the book looked at time and Oxford and the dictionary almost as if they were characters themselves. Sometimes it felt like there were too many things happening at once, but not always in a bad way. It did make me cry more than once and before I even realized I cared about the story as much as I did. I also appreciated the various relationships and how the played off of each other. I had some mixed feelings about the end and don’t think I would’ve chosen those endings for those characters if I were the one writing, but I can see how they made some sense, too.  Overall I thought it was a really good book that I’d  recommend to someone whose interested in something a little slower paced.  The concept is a really cool idea and I appreciated the author’s note on how she got to it. 

Really appreciated the book club discussion around this book. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Infertility and Abortion