Shion MiuraRecensioni

This is a nice, short book about an 18 year old boy in Japan who is shipped off by his parents from his city life-style to try a job in forestry. The job is in a small community in the mountains and Yuki quickly realizes how different life is here. The people have different customs and beliefs, and Yuki has never spent much time in nature. The writing is particularly well-done when describing the setting.

Overall, though, I was sort of bored reading this and even did a little skimming to finish this short book. It has a very simplistic tone and had a bit of a YA feel. A nice enough book, but I won't be running out to read the second one.

A gentle tale about a team working to publish a new dictionary. I grew so fond of them all and the ending was perfect. Also a bravura work of translation by Juliet Winters Carpenter. Translating something written in Japanese about Japanese, and creating something that reads so naturally, is a serious achievement.

“A dictionary is a ship that crosses a sea of words.”

Here is a book about people who are in love with words, here is a book about the making of a dictionary. It’s heart-warming, geeky, poignant, funny. There are lots and lots of cool details about Japanese language, meanings of various words, and the process of editing and publishing a dictionary. My inner geeks and nerds were very happy.

When Aroki the editor has to retire and needs a successor, he knows that “my task is to find someone who loves dictionaries as much as I do – no, more.” Enter Majime, a walking definition of nerdiness and geekiness. Here he is, at a welcome dinner with his new colleagues:

“What’s your hobby, Majime?" Nishioka boldly asked, searching for a friendly ouverture.
“If I had to pick something, I guess it would be watching people get on the escalator.”

Silence descended on the table.

(There is an excellent explanation for this fascination with escalators, don’t you worry.)

For Majime, this is a story of finding his calling, his agency, a life he loves. Watching it happen is a pleasure. The romance is understated and cute. When it turns out that there is a potential love interest for Majime (Kaguya – she is a chef, and she is not letting anyone “interfere with her world”), the editorial team has to go and check her out. What if she doesn’t understand the lifestyle of dedication that lexicography needs? I really don’t know what this says about these people… ahem. By the way, Majime, when a girl you adore asks you out, you don’t start thinking about the deeper meanings of two similar verbs so that you forget to answer. Just a thought.

I like it when an annoying and obnoxious character becomes someone you can root for, just because the author switches POV.

“Majime was incapable of flattery. Since Majime had said it, Nishioka could believe it: he was needed. He wasn’t a deadweight after all. He felt a burst of joy and pride.
Majime had turned back to his desk with an unconcerned look on his face, little suspecting that he had been Nishioka’s salvation.”

Of course, there are deeper things at play here than just the process of dictionary-making. Words and language define us, connect us, define the world around us, and influence how we see the world. In the end there is sadness and joy, tragedy and a sense of accomplishment, and work that has neither a beginning nor an end.

“Words gave things form so they could rise out of the dark sea.”

P.S. Three five star books in a row, amazing! Not that I am complaining...

4.5 stars. Who knew a story of love, friendship and a quest to publish a dictionary would be so delightful?

Yuki Hirano does some more growing up in Kamusari.

A quick, engaging read. I'm curious how much is based on genuine Japanese folklore and custom and how much the author just made up.

Yuki is eighteen and lacking purpose, so his parents send him to Kamusari to learn the forestry trade. At first reluctant and frustrated with the backwards ways of the country folk, he soon grows to appreciate their hard work and relaxed approach to life.

Narrated by Yuki, the story meanders along over a year or so of him working and living in this community. Readers get a lot of fascinating details of forestry techniques, and are introduced to several of the townspeople that Yuki meets along the way. A comfortable, quiet read with moments of humor.

***DNF & Minor Spoiler***

“That’s the point of the story?”
“Yes! Right, Granny Shige?”
“Yep. It’s ages now since I had pleasure with my husband, but what we had was fine, all right.”
She looked blissful, remembering bygone days, or nights. Sheesh. What’s with these oversexed people?
“For a young guy, Yuki, you seem kind of take-it-or-leave-it,” said Yoki disapprovingly. “At this rate, you’ll never get it on with Nao.”

I read a little further on but that's the passage where I basically decided to not finish. The charm of the characters and interesting passages describing traditional forestry methods found in the first book, [b:The Easy Life in Kamusari|58755262|The Easy Life in Kamusari (Forest, #1)|Shion Miura|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1628776735l/58755262._SY75_.jpg|16948391], are often noticeably absent from novel #2.

Also, although the narrator for the audio version is fine, his voice sounds far too mature to portray a young adult. The story is told from the pov of Yuki Hirano, who is barely out of high school, yet with the audio, I kept picturing a 40 year old.

I really did have high hopes for this one but was totally disappointed. Onto other books, waiting to be read.

I enjoyed this sequel, but I think I enjoyed the first novel a little more in terms of learning about the town and the forestry job. There were also some magical realism events that occurred in the first one that were interesting and weird, whereas in this one, they were treated more as legends or myths of the region. Still a nice, comforting read though.½

This was a fun little comfort read. Our protagonist, or more accurately, our narrator, Yuki, is forcibly given a job in a small village in the mountains, where he is taught the skill of forestry. The way of life described in this area is very laidback and rural, with few modern conveniences, but the townsfolk have a deep connection to nature and the mountain upon which they reside. Yuki slowly learns about forestry, life in the village, and the people and their traditions. There's a bit of magical realism thrown in, with the gods of Mt. Kamusari making themselves known here and there. Overall it was a nice read, nothing too dramatic or exciting, but just comfortable and warm.½

A quiet, lovely, slice-of-life coming-of-age story set in the forested mountains of Japan. Instantly pre-ordered the sequel the minute I was done. Recommended, especially for a rainy weekend afternoon.

The Great Passage is the name of a dictionary intended to be the most comprehensive of the Japanese language ever compiled. The process of compiling it forms the basis of the plot. This is also a story of friendship, dedication, teamwork, and interpersonal relationships. Many challenges must be surmounted by a sparse and underfunded staff. The title represents both the outcome of the project and the personal growth that occurs in the team members.

It is set in Japan and infused with cultural elements – foods, customs, and business practices. The characters are eccentric and colorful. The author adds a good bit of humor into the conversations among them. It will appeal to those who love quirky characters, language, or vocabulary. It also contains an educational element of the many aspects that go into the creation of a dictionary (quite a few of which I had never thought of before).

After leaving his Yokohama high school, Yuki Hirano drifts along with no initiative or motivation until his parents enrol him in an apprenticeship programme and he is sent to Kamusari, a tiny mountain village in the back of beyond, to learn forestry.

Charming tale of city boy maturing and learning skills in the countryside.. Although I don't find forestry as interesting as lexicography, I learnt a lot from this possibly romanticised view of the Japanese forestry and timber industry. I will certainly keep an eye open for the sequel, but having watched the trailer on YouTube, I will probably give the film a miss.½

Yuki’s parents ship him to learn forestry in Kamusari since he lacks any direction following his high school graduation. Given a brief lesson in using a chainsaw he becomes part of a forestry crew caring for and loving trees on the Kamusari mountains. I adored the descriptions of the trees and what it took to care for them, and the boy’s story arc as well. A mostly quiet peaceful read, I highly recommend it.½

Language has fascinated Kohei Araki since he was a child, but now he's ready to retire and let others take a helm of the project for a new dictionary, to be titled The Great Passage. What follows is the story of various people who have a hand in its creation: Majime, an awkward but hardworking young man; Nishioka, in some ways Majime's opposite but one who comes to appreciate the dictionary work; Kishibe, a young woman who comes to work on the dictionary and has to figure out how to work with Majime. Over the course of fourteen years, each of them will have their impact on the dictionary, and it will have its impact on them.

I really can't pass up a book, fictional or nonfictional, about dictionaries. I found it interesting to see the details of Japanese dictionary creation (here fictionalized, but the author includes a bibliography and clearly did her research), and could only imagine the amount of work that must have gone in to translating something like this that depends so much on features of language and writing. A fun, warm story that I would recommend to fans of The Dictionary of Lost Words and The Liar's Dictionary.

Yoki Hirano graduates from high school with no plans for his future. His parents, absorbed with their first grandchild, bundle him off to a remote village to learn forestry. Astonished at his banishment to the backwoods, Yoki is at first resentful and tries to run back to Yokohama. But slowly the villagers, the lovely Nao, and the forest itself become reasons to stay.

This was the first time I have read a Japanese young adult novel, and I might not have read it had I known. I'm glad I did, however. The author researched forestry and interviewed dozens of loggers in the course of writing the book, and I found the descriptions of the forest, the work the foresters do, and the Shinto rituals they practice to be fascinating. I'm inspired to do a little more research of my own.

The novel is rather male-centric, although given the nature of the job in the patriarchal society, it's not surprising. The women are portrayed as strong and, in the case of Nao, daring, but their stories are not explored. The village and the work is romanticized, rather like an ode to the life there. Social issues such as the aging of the rural population, the decline of the forestry industry, and the problems inherent in patriarchy are there, lurking in the subtext, but not unpackaged. I think this could have been a very interesting novel for adults if they had been.½

This is a delightfully nerdy and heartwarming novel about a small team working on a mighty dictionary, The Great Passage, so named because it is a boat that will help the reader navigate the sea of words. I became attached to all of the characters and liked the quiet dedication with which they carried out their work. There were a few chunks of dialogue where the characters seemed to be relaying authorial opinion (the discussion of whether publishing houses or federal governments should sponsor the creation of dictionaries struck me that way), but overall it was great. And this was written well before the COVID-19 pandemic, but I liked seeing a world where mask use is casual and accepted in non-pandemic contexts as well (when working in dusty environments or during allergy season).½

I really enjoyed this coming-of-age tale of Yuki, sent off by his parents after finishing school to train to study forestry deep in the mountains. Deprived of his mobile phone, and finding himself working with a motley crew of oddballs, Yuki is initially desperate to leave but, over time, slowly learns to adapt to his new surroundings and way of life.

A charming a heartwarming read, if this is indeed the first in a series then I look forward to more. 4.5 stars.

“A dictionary is a ship that crosses the sea of words, (...) People travel on it and gather the small points of light floating on the dark surface of the waves. They do this in order to tell someone their thoughts accurately, using the best possible words. Without dictionaries, all any of us could do is linger before the vastness of the deep.” A wonderful book

“The ocean of words is wide and deep.”

An endearing and entertaining glimpse into the lives of a small group employees of a Japanese publishing house as they spend fifteen years compiling a new Japanese language dictionary.

Along their way we see the characters grow in their personal and professional lives. The many debates over specific words and how they should be presented in a dictionary were an eye-opening highlight. It never occurred to me how much care goes into a work most of as are familiar with, and probably take for granted.

This is a short, engaging book that, for me, packed a lot into its pages. Romance, rivalry, ambition and mortality are all here. I'm glad I took a chance on it and recommend it without reservation.

A vastly underrated book as far I'm concerned.

“A dictionary is a ship that crosses the sea of words, (...) People travel on it and gather the small points of light floating on the dark surface of the waves. They do this in order to tell someone their thoughts accurately, using the best possible words. Without dictionaries, all any of us could do is linger before the vastness of the deep.”

Another great read for me. It's around 200 pages. I ordered a hardcopy. I love words and dictionaries and spend time perusing them,I also really like Japanese. And in this book we follow the protagonists on a great voyage of a lifetime The great passage is both about personal transitions of the characters and about the transitions for words and dictionaries. It's also about a journey the characters undertake to make a dictionary. Also the great passage to me indicates a dictionary entry. Consider for example the word female. Most online English dictionary definitions I've checked are fairly typical Characters in the story consider it and think how dictionaries need to adapt to changes and be more inclusive. We follow three protagonist and get their perspective. At the heart of it is the lovely Majime, shy oddball with a true passion for words. I absolutely love him. Surrounding him are his friend Nishioka, his love interest Kaguya and team members at Dictionary Editorial Office. Later they are joined by Miss Kishibe. Honestly, this is a wonderful, warm and in places funny read about dedication, perseverance and the process of making a dictionary and the very interesting position and role a dictionary has. It's also full of Japanese , since it's about a Japanese dictionary but the considerations on dictionaries are universal. And I cheered the protagonists on, both with their effort on the dictionary (that really requires grit) and in their personal lives. A wonderful little book with many interesting ideas to think about. I love it and I ordered a physical copy to put on my shelves. The movie was lovely too but the book is more detailed.

Lexicographers working for a Japanese publishing house spend 15 years on bringing out a new dictionary.

A lovely story wonderfully translated so that the non Japanese speaking reader can, to some extent, grasp the nuances the lexicographers discuss. I was surprised how little impact computers seem to have made on the methodology used in compiling the dictionary. The characters use email, but their methods involve index cards, hand correcting paper proofs, a lot of design decisions made intuitively in people's heads rather than looking at a screen, and the characters read and watch TV to look for new usages and coinages rather than use corpora.

In the story of the characters' interactions and feelings the translator used a style that, at least to somebody with no experience of Japan, did not seem to be ignoring differences in story-telling and culture between Japanese society and most English-speaking cultures but still read very fluently. And who would have thought it possible to bring tears to the eye in a story of lexicographical triumphs and failures?

All the stars.

A real unexpected treat where generations, and couples, and coworkers, and the work of words all touch and change one another's lives.

Kohei Araki falls in love with words and dictionaries as a boy. When a university education makes it clear to him that he's a good but not academic-level lexicographer, he goes to work for Gembu Books, and makes dictionaries.

More than thirty years later, he's nearing retirement. His greatest work, The Great Passage, a top-level dictionary of the Japanese language, is well under way, but not yet complete, and he needs to recruit a successor.

He finds Mitsuya Majimi, a disheveled, seemingly unpromising, young man, who nevertheless proves to share his love of words and their power.

They each find other people along the way, wildly different from each other, and each bringing something different to the dictionary project, and to the other, lesser, dictionaries they make along the way. Those lesser dictionaries, including dictionaries for fictional worlds, help make the dictionary department pay, to keep the company happy while they work on their other, great project.

The plot here is overcoming the challenges of publishing--getting the contributions they need from scholars who don't necessarily share their priorities, getting the specialized paper they need, and other seemingly mundane concerns. The real story is the people--Araki, Majimi, their coworkers, friends, and wives, all centering around the love of words, and what they learn from the words, past dictionaries, and each other.

This doesn't sound like much to describe, but I truly enjoyed this book and the people that populate it. Recommended.

I bought this audiobook.

Translated from Japanese, this is a charming tale of the lives of obsessive lexicographers struggling to put together an epic dictionary over a 12 year period. The book has the charm of a pilgrimage novel (Howard Frye) but the journey is all in the assemblage of words, their meaning, and usage in contemporary language. There is a love of words, and there are words of love. And if they are not struggling with notations on an index card, then they are sitting down to thoroughly described Japanese cuisine.

This a charming story and enjoyable light reading.½

The love of words and words of love. This tale of the making of the dictionary to be called The Great Passage, a guide to the sea of words tells of the great love of 3 men for words and the art pf capturing them to share and also 3 different, very human love stories. Well translated from Japanese, there must be some enormous loss in only in the context of the word play, but what's left is quite substantial for the length.½