Recent Reads: The Liar's Dictionary by Eley Williams

The Liar's Dictionary by Eley Williams 
Publisher:  Knopf Canada 
Publication Date:  January 5, 2021

 

Format: Hardback and Audible Audiobook
Source: Bought /Own

Rating:

Goodreads Synopsis: 

An exhilarating, clever, funny debut novel from a prize-winning talent, chronicling the misadventures of a lovelorn Victorian lexicographer and the young woman who decodes his trail of made-up words a century later. Will enthrall readers of CS Richardson, Helen Simonson's Major Pettigrew and Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine.

Mountweazel n. the phenomenon of false entries within dictionaries and works of reference. Often used as a safeguard against copyright infringement.

Peter Winceworth is a lexicographer in Victorian-era London, toiling away at the letter S for a multi-volume Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Secretly, he begins to insert unauthorized fictitious entries into the dictionary in an attempt to assert some artistic freedom.

In the present day, Mallory is a young intern employed by the same publisher. Her task is to uncover these mountweazels before the dictionary is digitized. She also has to contend with threatening phone calls from an anonymous caller. Why, she wonders, is the change in the definition of marriage so upsetting to the caller? And does the caller really intend for the publisher's staff to burn in hell?

As these two narratives, characters and times entwine, both Winceworth and Mallory discover how they might negotiate the complexities of the nonsensical, relentless, untrustworthy, hoax-strewn and undefinable path we call life. An exhilarating debut from a formidably brilliant young writer, The Liar's Dictionary celebrates the rigidity, fragility, absurdity and joy of language.

Review: 

This book was another book club pick and I am so glad that it was. This has probably be my favorite book that I have read so far for book club. 

Reading this book is an experience and if you are a lover of words I HIGHLY recommend it. The book begins with a swoon-worthy prologue and then follows with an immersive story that changes POV from modern time to a time when a dictionary was being written. 

I have to say that aside from this story, I learned a lot about words and dictionaries from this book, although it is a work of fiction. It was very cool to learn about words and fake words and really get in the reasons for the author using certain words with my book club. 

The Prologue really got me... I HAD to read this whole book after reading it online. It was poetic and worthy of a read-aloud moment, it was everything I want out of writing. It got in my head in all the right ways. 

The story itself follows Mallory in the modern day working for a beyond their prime publishing company that once was the publish of a dictionary. In her role, Mallory is dealing with more than one issue, first she is the last of the employees aside from the owner, there are strange and threatening phone calls coming in, and the building is pretty much in disrepair. Now she also has the task of searching through the whole dictionary for fake words, or Mountweazels. 

In the past times POV, we follow Peter Winceworth, a lexographer, in all his awkwardness as he helps write the S section of a new dictionary. Winceworth is the perfect name for this man, he is bored, awkward, and very shy. He is trying to make his existence more interesting but that is difficult when you write about words for a living. 

This book was laugh-out-loud funny, educational, pretty short, and overall a delight to sit and read...and I will be re-reading it. It was such a wonderful piece of writing. You will read a lot of word for the color orange/yellow, you will wrestle a pelican, be in an accident, and learn a lot about fake words.