Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams

7 reviews

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: Police brutality, Sexism, and Death of parent

Minor: Body horror

orlagal's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Grief, Death of parent, Ableism, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Sexual content, War, Body horror, Cursing, Violence, Pregnancy, Slavery, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

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

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).

ellenwilberg's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Medical trauma, Misogyny, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Death of parent

teamoxfordcomma's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

Wow. Wowowowow. I am so glad I decided to pick this one up.

Calling all word/language lovers – this spellbinding historical fiction debut has gorgeous writing, dynamic characters, and a memorable storyline. Based on the true events of creating the Oxford English Dictionary, this is an empowering novel that will forever make you ponder our words and how they came to be.

I was moved by this story in profound ways. It made me smile, cry, hope, dream, and mourn. Really, I can't say enough good things about the writing, the characters, or the richly researched details. Esme's passion for words is something many of us can relate to, but given her historical context, it's even more remarkable. I was entranced while reading, and I now want to flip to the beginning and read again, this time with a highlighter and pen in hand to mark my favorite quotations. Moments of deep academic thought were paired so nicely with snippets of tenderness. Gareth and Da were my two favorite supporting characters, though I do love Ditte and Lizzie as well... Carefully and masterfully developed scenes, characters, and timelines make this book one hell of a read.

How we define language defines us, and this novel is a glittering example of how important that task really is. I cannot reccomend it enough. (Selected as my May '21 staff pick.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Pregnancy and Body horror

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Rape

TWs were handled with care and tact – listed here moreso as courtesy than concern of their negligence.