A review by waytoomanybooks
The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams

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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