I was very keen to read The Broken Teaglass when I first heard about it. After all, it has a lot of elements that I find appealing: lexicography, mystery, and local interest--the author currently lives in nearby Shelburne Falls and worked at Merriam-Webster, right up the street from the central library in Springfield. Despite the fact that first-person narrator Billy, a recent college graduate with a secret in his past, is male, a lot of the narrative details seem drawn from Emily Arsenault's own experience. The details of lexicographical work at the "Samuelson Company" certainly do not disappoint, and in many ways the public service aspect (Billy and a co-worker field calls and letters from inquiring dictionary users for definitions and clarifications) reminded my of my own job as a reference librarian. However, I have some lingering uncertainty as to the lasting power of the "mystery" itself. Billy and his co-worker Mona fall into a friendship as they pursue the curious citations from a non-existent novel called The Broken Teaglass, which seems to be about some former Samuelson employee's deadly encounter. As they learn more about each other, and work to uncover what happened in 1985, it becomes clear that the novel is less about the mystery itself than about Billy's struggle to find a place for himself in the post-college world. I have certainly read my share of twentysomething angst books disguised as genre fiction (The Magicians comes to mind as a recent example), and that wasn't really what I was looking for here. However, I have already used at least one quote in conversation:

"Oh, Billy," she said, opening her door. "Don't hate words. Hate the people who misuse them."

Overall, I found the book engaging and its premise fascinating, despite the fact that the narrative sometimes seemed to be backtracking. ( )

Emily Arsenault’s debut novel deals with the interesting world of dictionaries. Lexicographers read newspapers and magazines for new words, and new uses of old words that they write on pieces of papers and then these citations are added to a catolog. Billy and Mona, the main characters are lexicographers who work for Samuelson Company that publishes dictionaries. They find some citations from a book, The Broken Teaglass that catch their attention. They find out there is no such book and soon find more citations, some which indicate a mysterious death. They develop a plan to find all the citations from this source. Who wrote the citations? Why are they in the catolog? Was there a murder? All questions they work to answer.

Arsenault’s idea is a clever one and I as I love words I enjoyed the lexicographer’s world. As a former lexicographer herself the book rings true.The characters are interesting, somewhat quirky and likeable. I did think the plot dragged at points and I wanted some more action but Arsesault tells a good story and it was a satisfying read. ( )

Billy and Mona are recent graduates and newly employed by the Samuelson Company to do research for new dictionary words. In the course of their duties, they find strange notes hidden in the company reference catalog which reference a work of fiction that doesn't exist - The Broken Teaglass. What do these references mean and who has left them in the catalog for someone to find?

I enjoyed this book quite a bit. The characters of Billy and Mona are done very well, as are some of the minor characters. The setting is excellent - one doesn't often think about how dictionaries are made, but the process is fascinating. I wouldn't mind reading a series of books with this setting.

The reason I gave the book 4 out of 5 stars was because I thought the plot lacked tension and purpose. The reader begins to understand the meaning of the mysterious notes before the main characters do, and once the reason for the notes is revealed, there is a feeling of letdown. The most dangerous part of the story happened in the past, is unchangeable, and becomes more of an academic exercise for the young protagonists. If there had been an impending event which hinged on the past, it would have provided more tension for the story. At one point, I found myself wishing the story would provide a WOW moment, and make the leap into contemporary fantasy, and I could envision the missing suspense being added in that way as well.

Having said that, I still enjoyed reading the book all the way to the end, and this was due to the author's clever characters, wonderful setting, and very readable voice. I'm looking forward to this author's next work. ( )

The book has an interesting premise -- a mystery, perhaps a murder, hidden in the filed citations of a dictionary company. The plot, unfortunately, is a bit plodding and doesn't seem to go anywhere. Even the a-ha moments seemed to get lost in the prose. An OK read, but the author didn't deliver on her excellent concept. ( )

I liked this book. It is an unusual story using a Dictionary company as its backdrop. If you like lexicography, it will amuse you. There is not much action in the book. Rather, it relies on subtle changes to the characters based on their investigation into another character's story. The cubist element of using out of sequence snippets to reveal this other story is especially clever. I think it is a valiant first effort. ( )