Reviews with content warning for Pregnancy - The Dictionary of Lost Words

Thoroughly enjoyable and extremely thought provoking. There is a lot of loss in this novel, but also a celebration of words and how they are shaped and shape, are defined and define. I love the story of the OED and feel inspired to reread Simon Winchester’s books about the history of the OED. So much potential for deep discussion here!

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bookdragon1485's review against another edition

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informative reflective slow-paced

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

2.5

I was excited to read this book for my book club……unfortunately this book was just not my cup of tea. While some small parts were interesting, a majority of the book was slow & predictable with flowery words. I can see the potential & the core of the story is beautiful but sadly this book overall disappointed me.

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mleckie's review against another edition

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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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hannahrl's review against another edition

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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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marsspider42's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-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

4.5

I really enjoyed this book! It is one of the most believable and well constructed historical fiction works I have read, to the point where the Author’s Note at the end which acknowledges the parts that are real and the parts that are fiction was quite jarring to me. Pip Williams is an expert at constructing loveable and believable characters with full lives and motivations, and realistic tragedies.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in a historical fiction from the perspective of a woman in England who loves to learn. Even if you are not a big historical fiction reader (I am not!) this book will be a joy to read.

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