“The Great Passage”: An Enchanting Book About Creating a Dictionary
I didn’t expect to love this short read THIS much
It’s time for a beautiful novel recommendation for a dark winter evening: “The Great Passage” by Shion Miura:
The story follows a small dictionary department in a Tokyo publishing house, where employees are working on compiling a modern Japanese dictionary called “The Great Passage”. At first glance, it may seem like not much could possibly happen in this type of setting, but the story absorbs you immediately.
The novel is beautifully written – big praise to its translator, Juliet Carpenter. It explores love, friendship, and the search for one’s passion, showing how something seemingly “mundane”, like compiling a dictionary, can be someone’s true calling.
With my background in translation and linguistics, reading the beautiful passages about the words in the dictionary and their nuanced meanings was an absolute delight.
“The Great Passage” reflects many aspects of Japanese life, such as publishing house employees working until late into the night – and then heading out to eat and drink together.
The descriptions of food culture are probably one of my favourite parts. Miura charmingly portrays the streets of Tokyo, cosy traditional restaurant settings, and the meals the characters enjoy:
“Having devoured his noodles, Majime was now pouring sobayu, the hot water the noodles were cooked in, to make a tasty drink. Nishioka had had a bowl of oyako domburi, rice topped with a chicken-and-egg mixture simmered with onions”.
“The Great Passage” is a definite recommendation — you won’t regret picking up this beautiful short read!
You might know that I don’t post book reviews without a beer recommendations. Books and beers, this is what I do.
Today’s beer is a witbier, a collaboration between the English microbrewery Round Corner Brewing and the UK’s only Trappist ale brewery, Mount Saint Bernard Abbey.
This one grew on me — the first sips weren’t the best, but the flavor profile developed quickly, and I ended up really enjoying it.
Now I really want to visit the Mount Saint Bernard Abbey brewery in Leicestershire and try some of their Trappist ales!
