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Erin's Reviews > The Word Exchange
The Word Exchange
by
by
ARC for review.
A thriller of lexicography that will appeal to language lovers this book follows Ana, a young woman in search of her father. He disappeared under mysterious circumstances just before the launch of the final edition of his world-renowned dictionary (a victim of our digital age which, in this book, is a few steps further along the interactive road). Plus, a potentially fatal "word flu" has appeared and maybe Ana's missing father holds the key?
At first I thought this would be an example of a book it was easier to admire than to truly enjoy, especially since, occasionally there were moments when the author seemed very pleased with her own braininess, but it really grew on me. There are some moments of incredibly vivid imagery that I just loved especially resonant today in "the changing world I'd come of age in-slowly bereft of books and love letters, photographs and maps, takeout menus, timetables, liner notes, and diaries" (105)
A few quibbles - the footnotes. Ugh. Some rationale was provided at the end, but the reasoning wasn't strong enough to make up for the pointlessness. There were also diary sections written by someone with aphasia, so those were tough. And several times there's some heavy-handed foreshadowing which I could have done without. However, most of the loose ends are knotted and though I didn't quite grasp some of what Graedon was selling (I never understood why people would be willing to pay for nonsense words and there seemed no entertainment factor to the game such that people would keep coming back) that was probably more me versus her.
To be fair, I might have enjoyed this more had I not just read Max Barry's Lexicon which is, like this, a thriller of sorts about language. Though I've read and liked Barry in the past I didn't feel Lexicon was successful. This was definitely a more enjoyable book, especially with the reflections on how language draws us all together and why we read, but it was probably a bit of an overload on a very specific genre. Incredibly ambitious - Graedon is one to watch.
A thriller of lexicography that will appeal to language lovers this book follows Ana, a young woman in search of her father. He disappeared under mysterious circumstances just before the launch of the final edition of his world-renowned dictionary (a victim of our digital age which, in this book, is a few steps further along the interactive road). Plus, a potentially fatal "word flu" has appeared and maybe Ana's missing father holds the key?
At first I thought this would be an example of a book it was easier to admire than to truly enjoy, especially since, occasionally there were moments when the author seemed very pleased with her own braininess, but it really grew on me. There are some moments of incredibly vivid imagery that I just loved especially resonant today in "the changing world I'd come of age in-slowly bereft of books and love letters, photographs and maps, takeout menus, timetables, liner notes, and diaries" (105)
A few quibbles - the footnotes. Ugh. Some rationale was provided at the end, but the reasoning wasn't strong enough to make up for the pointlessness. There were also diary sections written by someone with aphasia, so those were tough. And several times there's some heavy-handed foreshadowing which I could have done without. However, most of the loose ends are knotted and though I didn't quite grasp some of what Graedon was selling (I never understood why people would be willing to pay for nonsense words and there seemed no entertainment factor to the game such that people would keep coming back) that was probably more me versus her.
To be fair, I might have enjoyed this more had I not just read Max Barry's Lexicon which is, like this, a thriller of sorts about language. Though I've read and liked Barry in the past I didn't feel Lexicon was successful. This was definitely a more enjoyable book, especially with the reflections on how language draws us all together and why we read, but it was probably a bit of an overload on a very specific genre. Incredibly ambitious - Graedon is one to watch.
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Reading Progress
March 16, 2014
– Shelved as:
to-read
March 16, 2014
– Shelved
March 16, 2014
– Shelved as:
arc-review
March 24, 2014
–
Started Reading
March 28, 2014
–
Finished Reading
