A review by pagesfromhome
The Liar's Dictionary by Eley Williams

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

3.75

It took me a long time to get through this one because it took me a long time to get invested in the characters. It's a very internal-heavy book, and I found myself sometimes thrown by how sesquipedalian it is. (Yes, that joke was on purpose because that's what most of this book feels like.) It's not inherently wrong, but if you aren't a fan of looking up words or parsing out definitions from context clues, this one isn't for you. By about halfway through the book, I really got into its groove, and it only took me a day or two to finish it from there. The characters run the gamut of quirky, dangerous, sad, and more, but you really do care for them by the end.

I really loved the connections between the two time periods, and I did find myself taking tons of notes and highlighting them throughout. These moments were sprinkled in like breadcrumbs that made me invested in keeping up through the book. I also loved how often I was highlighting perfect quotes, like:
Some things just are possible to know to be true for no good reason.

I was a person of anxieties rather than anything.

It is a colour that leads you to believe that if you were ever moved to lick the photograph it would taste of toffee and bourbon and bookshop dust.

I would recommend this to anyone who really, really loves words and is up for a slow-moving, internal-almost-monologue-like story. I think it would be a good one to read during a stuck inside kind of storm when you're in the mood for something intellectual.
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