Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams

5 reviews

beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

Pip Williams' The Dictionary of Lost Words is one of the most meaningful, thought-provoking novels I have ever read, and yet there were parts of it that I struggled with.

As the title suggests, this is a book about words, more specifically those words that are not considered important enough to be compiled into the first-ever edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). Since the task of compiling the OED is largely left to older white men, inevitably their ingrained biases ensure that the dictionary is skewed towards a male view of the world, and this is writ large when it comes to the male attitude to women.

In the year 1901, one of the OED's loyal fans discovered that the word "bondmaid" was missing from the dictionary. It is from this factual nugget that Pip Williams has constructed the fictional character and heroine of the novel, Esme Nicoll. The story of the novel is the story of Esme's life,  covering  late Victorian-era Great Britain to the First World War. 

The novel was written almost entirely (

aside from the last two chapters

) from Esme's POV, and this was where I had the most difficulty. Even though I could see Williams had crafted Esme with great care, and I (mostly) liked and sympathised with her, she seemed passive in many ways and I struggled to truly understand her motivations and feelings. 

In terms of other characters, I most liked Harry, Esme's widowed father, Edith "Ditte" Thompson, Esme's mentor and mother figure, and Lizzie, a serving maid at  Murray household where Esme spends her childhood and whom Esme eventually

develops a close bond with

.

I also had some issues with the novel's structure and pacing, which seemed uneven to me. Even though the beginning of each chapter stated the year and the month in which it was set, the time jumps could be hours, days, weeks, or even months at a time. These jumps were not always consistent, leaving me confused as to just how much time had passed between the beginning and end of a chapter. It kind of felt a bit lumpy.

Ultimately, it was the themes of this novel that I most strongly resonated with - the way certain words were defined to degrade not only by gender but by social status, the way words could come to mean more than one thing, the development of slang and curse words, and most poignantly, the inadequacy of words to describe the human experience. 

This is a novel that, to me, asks two fundamental questions: Whose words matter? And almost more importantly, who gets to decide?

A moving, thought-provoking read.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Death, Death of parent, Pregnancy, War, Sexism, and Grief

Moderate: Colonisation, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Sexual content, Confinement, Bullying, Blood, and Physical abuse

Minor: Alcohol, Slavery, Racism, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

This novel takes place during the rise of the first wave of feminism in the early 20th century. It includes a discussion and descriptions of

imprisoned suffragettes going on hunger strikes and being forcibly fed by prison staff

. There are also some pretty graphic descriptions of the carnage during the First World War, not only those experienced by soldiers fighting on the Western Front but there is also a graphic description of

the brutal murders of Belgian babies by German soldiers, who then went on to rape and mutilate these babies' mothers.

thumbeleia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Car accident, Classism, Terminal illness, War, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Confinement, Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, and Child death

Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual content

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: Grief, Cursing, Death, and Death of parent

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

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

katekatiekait's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-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? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Bullying, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Misogyny, Violence, Grief, Sexism, and War

Minor: Abortion, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Medical content

mattiedancer's review against another edition

hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

Writing: 5⭐️/5 

Genuinely some of the most beautiful writing I’ve read in a bit. Part of the reason the writing felt so gorgeous was definitely the focus on words and their definitions, and yet a lot of the writing was thoroughly developed in a way that did much to show without telling. While being slow-paced, I never felt bored or confused. 

Characters: 5⭐️/5

While I didn’t love every character, they all felt real. People who annoyed our MC, Esme, weren’t forced to annoy us in contrived ways. Instead, their characters grated against hers in a natural way. Characters who our MC loved were given consistent personalities and were thrown into situations in which they were required to react. 

Plot: 5⭐️/5 

It’s a simple story: a young girl grows up watching her father help build the dictionary and chooses that life for herself. And yet, the depth in which Williams is able to apply other themes and subplots into such a simple story is masterfully done. The inclusion of the rise of feminism, the faults of new movements, the coming-of-age aspects from a woman’s perspective, and the harsh realities of life and death were adeptly handled.  

Post-Reading Rating:  5⭐️/5

Oh, how sad and wonderful. 

Who Should Read This? 

• Fans of historical fiction
• Word-lovers and feminists
• Those looking for a slow coming-of-age story that evolves into a story about life in general

CW: Pregnancy, adoption, death, war, violence, trauma, abuse, misogyny, classism 

Final Rating: 5⭐️/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Bullying, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Sexism, Death of parent, Child death, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Blood, Misogyny, Classism, and Abortion

Moderate: Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Self harm