The Dictionary of Lost Words: Reese's Book Club: A Novel

This book was so very painful in the beginning. The pain of what was in our world of the past. How the mindset of women was and still continues to this day .The fight for equality in our world. Not in just business , but in our homes as well. It brought me pleasure to see the sisterhood echoing throughout this book.

4⭐️Overall this book was really thought-provoking and really emotionally developed. The authors relationship with words was surprisingly whimsical and so well thought-out that it enhanced the reading experience. It’s made me think about my own relationship with words and how they continue to have different meanings in contexts that may or may not be able to be clearly defined or preserved over time.The prologue was short but told a really compelling story, so I was immediately drawn in. “Some words are more important than others - I learned this growing up in the Scriptorium. But it took me a long time to understand why.”I really enjoyed the authors use of words as the links of the chains that comprised Esme’s life. Her relationship with words and her need to learn new words in response to challenges was woven seamlessly into the story and showed Esme’s rational problem-solving characteristics. The authors use of words, or lack thereof, was able to perfectly describe how Esme was feeling, because words were her safe space. The link between language and her character development was really well written, and really smart to embed so deeply into the story.It was a whirlwind of emotions - I cried on page 68 and laughed on page 70. I found that the emotions calmed down a bit further into the book as the pacing slowed. I will say that there was a lot of tragedy embedded in this book, and maybe that was intentional, but I felt like some of it was a bit overwhelming, and some of the tragedies later on in the book could have been removed without changing the impact of the story.My biggest issue with the book was the pacing, because some of it was slower paced than other parts. Understandably, this makes sense given the storyline and the time it takes to make the Dictionary, but some sections felt unnecessary or overwritten. This may also be a personal preference, as I’m not a big Historical Fiction fan. With that said though, the pacing of the story is very realistic with the timeline of the Dictionary, so it’s understandable and forgiven. Some of the narrative and plot of the story feels a little disjointed in the second half of the book, like the story lost its way from the original trajectory, so that also threw me off a bit. I resonated a lot more with the first half than the second.I like that each part started with the section of the dictionary that was completed while the plot was taking place alongside the years in which the section occurred. Part 1 started with “Batten - Distrustful”, Part 2 started with “Distrustfully - Kyx”, Part 3 started with “Lap - Nywe”, Part 4 started with “Polygenous - Sorrow”, Part 5 was “Speech - Sullen” and Part 6 is “Wise - Wyzen”. The Dictionary took a LONG time to complete, so noting the story not only by years but by the progress of the Dictionary was really inventive.“Words are our tools of resurrection” - pg 24“It was a mistake for any of us to assume the Scriptorium was not a suitable place to grow and learn. Our thinking was limited by convention (the most subtle but oppressive dictator). Please forgive our lack of imagination.” - pg 97“All words are not equal (and as I write this, I think I see your concern more clearly: if the words of one group are considered worthier of preservation than those of another … well, you have given me pause for thought).” - pg 97“She couldn’t be defined by any of the words I found, and eventually I stopped looking.” - pg 188

A fascinating child's perspective on the writing of the first Oxford Dictionary. As she matures her perspectives does as well and she sets about to create a dictionary of words that were excluded for various reasons.

I not only loved the style of writing, the many stories interwoven so beautifully, but also what I learned from reading this novel!

I will start by saying love books with outstanding vocabulary. I did enjoy the vocabulary of part of this book. But not all.I was left saddened by the ending of this story. In fact I feel terrible need to cry for the main characters throughout the story. I often felt that someone needed to jump into the story to save the characters from many of the troubles we as readers can see.

This book made me, for the first time in my life, really look at and think about words on a much more meaningful level. I, too, was sent to the dictionary quite often when I was a child. I never looked at them as I now do since reading this fascinating, fictionalized historical account of the OED. The only area I feel cheated the reader was how quickly Esme’s role ended in the story. I felt it was short-changed, that her story was no longer important. But I do understand the need to transition the narrative and the “lost words” into new hands. I GREATLY APPRECIATED the attention given to spelling and grammar in this book!

Grrrreat book! Unforgettable characters. I'm saving this book to read again someday, and meantime to share with others. One of the best books I've read in a while.

I loved this book!