The Broken Teaglass

By: Emily Arsenault

Narrated by: Eileen Stevens, Oliver Wyman, Therese Plummer

The dusty files of a venerable dictionary publisher, a hidden cache of coded clues, a story written by a phantom author, an unsolved murder in a gritty urban park. All collide memorably in Emily Arsenault's magnificent debut, at once a teasing literary puzzle, an ingenious suspense novel, and an exploration of definitions: of words, of who we are, and of the stories we choose to define us.

In the maze of cubicles at Samuelson Company, editors toil away in silence, studying the English language, poring over new expressions and freshly coined words - all in preparation for the next new edition of the Samuelson Dictionary. Among them is editorial assistant Billy Webb, just out of college, struggling to stay awake and appear competent. But there are a few distractions. His intriguing coworker Mona Minot may or may not be flirting with him. And he's starting to sense something suspicious going on beneath this company's academic facade.

Mona has just made a startling discovery: a trove of puzzling citations, all taken from the same book, The Broken Teaglass. Billy and Mona soon learn that no such book exists. And the quotations from it are far too long, twisting, and bizarre for any dictionary. They read like a confessional, coyly hinting at a hidden identity, a secret liaison, a crime.

As Billy and Mona ransack the office files, a chilling story begins to emerge: a story about a lonely young woman, a long-unsolved mystery, a moment of shattering violence. And as they piece together its fragments, the puzzle begins to take on bigger personal meaning for both of them, compelling them to redefine their notions of themselves and each other.

Charged with wit and intelligence, set against a sweetly cautious love story, The Broken Teaglass is a tale that will delight lovers of words, lovers of mysteries, and fans of smart, funny, brilliantly inventive fiction.

©2009 Emily Arsenault (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

“A literary gem.” (New York Times Notable Crime Books of 2009)

“Word lovers won't want to miss this one.” (Library Journal)

“The very definition of a promising debut.” (Booklist)

Unsatisfying

How a dictionary is revised and added to is definitely interesting. Also, the characters had a great deal of potential. What I found unsatisfying about the story was how very slow and unsubstantial the plot development felt.

In a word...BORRRRRRRRRING!

I was taught that when you can't, won't or don't have anything good to say about someone or something, don't... So read between the lines.

Not only for grammarians; a good mystery & subplot

I didn't expect to like this book, as I suspected it would assume I would be fascinated by the dissection of both the dictionary and words. It does both; but only to set the groundwork, and as a secondary musing. I normally don't care for dual character voices, as they never seem to sound as though they were recorded at the same time, or in the same room. However, this carries it off without the annoying pauses where you can imagine the splicing occurs, and isn't as distracting. The depth of the story is in its analogy to the meaning all the characters place on their lives. It almost tries to sound boring at first; but, in spite of yourself, you get caught up in the seemingly whimsical escape from the mind-numbing work of the lexicographers. My only complaint, given it purports to be in all ways grammatical, is that they, like so many authors/editors ignore the correct use of past tense and adverbs. The HEAD of the lexicographers incorrectly uses adverbs such as "drive safe" rather than "safely". Also, they must have missed the class on tenses, as well; as "sunk" is used instead of "sank" and "stunk" instead of "stank". Aside from those editorial faux paux, it is really an intriguing story.

Production flawed

I am baffled by the production decisions made for this audiobook.

Whose idea was it to approach narration in such a disjointed way, whereby a female narrator steps in to deliver just the female dialogue (while the male narrator adds an infuriating "she said" etc to the end) -- and vice-versa. I've enjoyed multiple-narrator books before (notably The Time Traveller's Wife) but in those cases the narration followed a narrative structure where characters alternate point of view chapters.

People fail to understand that the experience of an audiobook is not meant to be equivalent to a trip to the theatre. It's closer to reading, and the narrator and producers' job is to get out of the way and let you forget you're listening to an audiobook the same way your forget you're reading a book on paper. Every self-conscious jolt between narrators reminds you that it's an artificial process -- in this case far more artificial than the usual, which is really just storytelling.

I'm convinced that whoever thought this approach could contribute to listeners' enjoyment of the book has never listened to an audiobook.

Not a bad story but almost impossible for me to appreciate.

Banal

Insipid twenty somethings populate a weak story about pseudo-intellectual corporate work ethic. It's held together by an evener weaker subplot ("murder mystery") with a Law and Order style twist. Disappointing and not worth the credit.

DULL DULL and FLAT

Like watching paint dry. Could have been good but as dusty as the library where it is set.

Jarring narration ruins story

First off, you will be more inclined to like this book if you are the kind of person who routinely does a search that begins with the phrase "Etymology of the word (include your favorite strange word here)..."

Also suitable for the person who peruses the dictionary for fun. And likes a slowly unfolding read.

The primary narrator does a great job catching the lost, slacker tone of the main character, a recent college grad who finds himself in a small New England town working in the deadly unexciting world (at least by this book's description) of dictionary editors.

My main gripe with this is the disconcerting narration provided for the secondary characters.

The main character is, for example, describing a conversation with Mona. When it's Mona's turn to talk, a brand new female voice springs in, says Mona's lines, and then the male voice comes back in to say, "Mona said."

I've never heard an audiobook do this and it's really jarring. I did get used to it and fell into the small mystery of this book. And I do mean small.

I think this book strived to be something like "The Secret of Lost Things." Or maybe even something a little gothic like "The Thirteenth Tale" or even one of Carlos Luiz Safron's book-centric tales. At least in terms of loving books and words.

There are some brilliant moments in terms of prose. There is some seriously good writing here, and the characters are clearly drawn, unique, and even likeable in their unlike-able-ness (yeah, I know I won't find any etymology on THAT one).

All in all, it's a small, nice story, but not great. It's very slow...and I LOVE slow books.

Save your credits

I thought that the premise of the mystery was unique and promised good reading. However, the story dragged so badly, I must admit that I only finished it because I paid for it, and frankly, I had nothing else to read at the time. Beyond the plot, the woman who read Monica's part had such a terribly nasal voice that it actually irritated me. Save your credits...

Mystery smystery and romantic downer.

Though the book was fairly entertaining, I probably would not recommend to a friend. The mystery and the romance don't go far. I kind of place it in the category of the "Choose your own ending" mystery books that I would read as a child. Characters are dull, but at least I can say that it was worth finishing, but by no means was I on the edge of my seat.

The Broken Teaglass

This book was okay. I was really excited to listen to it based upon the description. I liked the general idea of the plot but just found it lacking in some parts. I think I was looking for a little more excitement rather than detective work.

I thought the narrators did a nice job and enjoyed learning more about lexicography. If you are interested in learning about how a dictionary is created and enjoy a mystery, you'll like this book.