The Great Passage by Shion Miura and Juliet Winters Carpenter

A charmingly warm and hopeful story of love, friendship, and the power of human connection. Award-winning Japanese author Shion Miura's novel is a reminder that a life dedicated to passion is a life well lived. Inspired as a boy by the multiple meanings to be found for a single word in the dictionary, Kohei Araki is devoted to the notion that a dictionary is a boat to carry us across the sea of words. But after thirty-seven years creating them at Gembu Books, it's time for him to retire and find his replacement. He discovers a kindred spirit in Mitsuya Majime--a young, disheveled square peg with a penchant for collecting antiquarian books and a background in linguistics--whom he swipes from his company's sales department. Led by his new mentor and joined by an energetic, if reluctant, new recruit and an elder linguistics scholar, Majime is tasked with a career-defining accomplishment: completing The Great Passage, a comprehensive 2,900-page tome of the Japanese language. On his journey, Majime discovers friendship, romance, and an incredible dedication to his work, inspired by the bond that connects us all: words. An Earphones Award Winner, Fiction

Well-written but dull

Well written, but I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop in the plot and it never did. I didn't find this story terribly compelling or unique, but the writing was quiet and delicate, which I appreciated. Stylistically it reminded me of Murakami, but it was not as interesting as a Murakami story.

My Japan book around the world.

Strong 3.5

Gosh, I do wish I could read in Japanese because this seemed like quite an American translation. Despite that, I thoroughly enjoyed this story of the production of a dictionary and so much more.

Problematic, to the point where I'm almost uncomfortable with having enjoyed it so much nonetheless. It's an ode to obsession and overwork, in which dedication is exalted and where spouses are praised for being understanding of absences and late hours. It's a comedy of misunderstandings; the search-for-the-new-dictionary scene in chapter one was weirdly absurd, clearly trying for comedy but really just irritating. (Spoiler: Majime _does_ turn out to be the right guy after all. And I'd encourage you to forgive this farcical part; the rest of the book is on the whole better). And there are no female characters, a curious omission from a female writer: all women play minor supporting roles. (The case could be made that all men, too, are minor characters in the shadow of The Dictionary. Perhaps, but there's still a strong gender disparity).

And yet: what a lovely book! Tender. Sweet. Awkward and lovable - the characters as well as the book itself. Thoughtful! Informative! Logophiles will appreciate being transported into the world of dictionary crafting. Delicate writing, and an almost imperceptible translation: the best kind, where you realize moments after reading a paragraph (sometimes long after), wow, that must've been hard to translate. Really a remarkable accomplishment in a book so devoted to words. Even laugh-out-loud funny in more than one place, all of them poignant endearing moments of self-recognition. This was an unexpected gem that would probably have escaped my attention; I'm grateful to A. for recommending it.