#36 [2022/CBR14] The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams

The Dictionary of Lost Words (2020) by Pip Williams was chosen by my book club. I began this book with high expectations. It has 4.4 stars on Amazon, and is a New York Times bestseller. The blurb stated that this book is: "[d]elightful...[a] captivating and slightly subversive fictional paean to the real women whose work on The Oxford English Dictionary went largely unheralded." Well, I love reading and words and feminist literature, so I figured this was right up my alley.

Esme is a young girl being cared for by her father, a lexicographer, who works for Mr. Murray in Oxford. Mr. Murray is the editor of the first Oxford English Dictionary, which is being created in an iron shed behind his home. They call this shed the Scriptorium, and this is where the men come together to decide which words go into the dictionary and what their definitions should be. 

Esme is entranced by words and loves the Scriptorium. She grows up among the slips of paper and the pigeon holes used to organize them. When she is not hanging about the Scriptorium, she is often taken care of by the Murrays housekeeper.

As time goes on, Esme grows older and wiser. She discovers that there are a lot of words that are being excluded from the dictionary. She starts preparing her own slips that include "indecent" language such as swear words, slang, and more feminine-driven words--hiding these in a chest. Eventually, Esme begins a formal job with the Scriptorium. She dates Gareth, a young printer whom she meets while running errands. He understands her and is very good for her. Esme lives in pretty volatile times, seeing the height of the Women's Movement as well as World War I. You would think all this would make for a dramatic and exciting novel. Unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations.

My first hint that I would be disappointed was when I glanced at the first page. The writing did not capture my interest, but I hoped it was one of those books that took a little time to get into. But things never really got better. There were pages and pages on pigeon holes and words, but the discussion on words wasn't specific enough to capture my interest. The book felt slow and repetitive.

Williams did make the point that words were kept out of the dictionary, but that's not too surprising and nothing much came of it in the end. If a bunch of old, white men create a book in the early 1900's, you'd better believe there would be a slant to it. What frustrated me the most was how passive Esme was. Sure, she collected some "inappropriate" words, but then she didn't do anything with them! She just hid them under a bed. I really wanted to see her sneak some words into the Oxford English Dictionary or make her own book, but it's Gareth that acts in the end.

Although I appreciated the idea of this novel, I was frustrated with the execution.