Reviews tagging 'Infertility'

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams

14 reviews

sari_lyr's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Sexism, Pregnancy, War, Abandonment, and Misogyny

Moderate: Infertility and Abortion

zombiezami's review against another edition

emotional funny informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

Truly beautiful and informative. Knocking off .25 stars because there were some threads of the narrative that felt a bit tacked on, from which I would have appreciated greater continuity. For example, I kept forgetting about

the protagonist's daughter because we would only be reminded of her every few chapters.

By contrast, in The Book Eaters, a book that felt very similar to this one thematically, you never forgot

that the protagonist had a daughter who was taken away from her.

It was a big, emotional plot point.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Grief, War, Death, Gore, Police brutality, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Blood, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Medical content, and Confinement

Minor: Slavery, Abortion, Child death, Infertility, Mental illness, Colonisation, and Rape

katievallin's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Grief, Cursing, and Fire/Fire injury

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

Minor: Abortion, Alcohol, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Blood, Car accident, Infertility, Medical content, Body shaming, and Sexual content

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

friendly_neighborhood_grandma's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved this so much. This book follows the life of Esme Nicoll, and her connection yo words, people and especially women and their experiences. This book is incredibly detailed, canning and engrossing. I loved every minute of it. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in words and their direct and hidden meanings, and would like to feel what it's like to live in victorian times as an ordinary woman. Amazing book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Grief, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Sexism, Death, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Ableism, Abandonment, Classism, Cursing, and Slavery

Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Alcohol, Body horror, Police brutality, Sexual content, and Cursing

lindsayvale's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy

Moderate: War, Death of parent, and Death

Minor: Infertility

mleckie's review against another edition

challenging emotional slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, War, and Pregnancy

Minor: Abortion, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Infertility, and Slavery

hannahrl's review against another edition

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 of parent, Grief, Death, and War

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Abortion and Infertility

swaanderer's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Death of parent, War, and Sexism

Minor: Infertility

halfelfschollar's review against another edition

emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

I am not unfamiliar with shedding a tear or 2 over a story, but it is rare for me to openly weep at the ending of a book. This is one of those times.

Reading Esme's story, from her youth to her adulthood, allowed an undeniable attachment to her character. Her insatiable curiosity and desire for knowledge are admirable traits that I see reflected in many of the people around me.

When the war started is when I found myself beginning to really feel the emotions become too much. Angus and Bertie, in particular, had me weeping more than once. 

Author Pip Williams' questions mentioned in her author's not at the end are things I have often wondered myself. Being a lover of all things storytelling it's hard not to ponder the significance of the words we use and why we use them instead of others. I think it's a concept she explored and navigated beautifully within this book. The words of women being the focus I cannot imagine a better setting than that of England during the development of the first dictionary and the woman's suffrage movement. I also commend the inclusion of the critique that the movement did not encompass all women and that there are more ways to protest and support a movement than we often see in other depictions of women's suffrage.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, War, Death, Infertility, Pregnancy, Sexism, Classism, Sexual content, and Misogyny