Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams

12 reviews

hematthews's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death of parent, Grief, Pregnancy, Death, Cursing, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Cursing, Abortion, and Blood

Minor: Car accident

waytoomanybooks's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

3.0

The premise of the book is what initially drew my attention and captured my interest. As someone who was once a curious, inquisitive girl with a love of books and a large vocabulary, I fell in love with Esme and her work. (I’m now an adult with the same love of books and a hunger for information.) That being said, the book loses steam about halfway through, which is why it took me a while to finish it. Nothing was happening, narratively or emotionally, with the characters, so I lost interest. The final third of the novel truly drags, and the author seems to have lost steam because

she pretty much kills everyone off and makes a sixty year time jump with little context

. It’s not a bad book, but it’s not a strongly written one either. I would suggest that you only read as far as page 247 (the chapter titled December 1912). It drops off after that.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Classism, Medical content, War, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Abortion, and Sexism

Minor: Car accident

purplepenning'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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, War, and Classism

Moderate: Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Blood, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Death, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Alcohol, Child abuse, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Cursing, and Forced institutionalization

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

livcashmere's review against another edition

emotional informative 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, War, Pregnancy, and Misogyny

natalia_booksss's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Abortion, Panic attacks/disorders, and Fire/Fire injury

joshuamartinsen's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is PERFECT. It does exactly what it says in the blurb, but so much more. The author is SO intentional about which words are used and when- carefully choosing which details of the protagonists life to gloss over and which to explore in painstaking detail based on their significance to her at each point in her life. The use of time skips was so thoughtful, and i found they always fast-tracked me to exactly where I wanted to be. Can’t recommend this book enough, and the attention to detail and care that the author put into it is obvious in every word, paragraph, page, and chapter. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, and War

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

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Blood, Child abuse, and Police brutality

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: Grief, Death, Death of parent, and War

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

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

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).

librijess's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

While I found this book a little slow to begin with, Esme’s adult life had me looking forward to running errands so I could listen to this audiobook. While the ending had me in tears, I especially appreciated the mentions of Adelaide and the Kaurna people and language, as I live here. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death, Grief, Sexism, War, Misogyny, Death of parent, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, and Mental illness

Moderate: Abortion and Fire/Fire injury