The Broken Teaglass: A Novel (Hardcover)

~ Emily Arsenault (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Arsenault's quirky, arresting debut, two young lexicographers find clues to an old murder case hidden in the files at their dictionary company. Billy, the narrator, is a strapping recent grad with a football player's physique, a penchant for philosophy and a painful chapter in his past that he hasn't quite closed. Mona is a girls' college grad with an ambivalent relationship to her stepfather's wealth and a habit of falling for older, wiser men. The two are drawn together by tantalizing clues left—they assume by a former employee—in the company's citation files. As Billy and Mona spend more and more time hunched over the mysterious cits from a book called The Broken Teaglass, they realize the murder may involve colleagues and acquaintances who are still roaming around the office, and Billy struggles to overcome the challenges of entering the adult world and leaving his old life behind. The result is an absorbing, offbeat mystery–meets–coming-of-age novel that's as sweet as it is suspenseful. (Oct.)
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Review

“Charming and witty are not the usual adjectives used to describe a mystery novel, but in the case of Emily Arsenault’s debut, all expectations and definitions must be relinquished. Not since A. S. Byatt’s Possession have I come across such a fascinating secret history as the one hidden within the pages of The Broken Teaglass and the ones we all carry inside us.”—Christopher Barzak, author of One for Sorrow and The Love We Share Without Knowing

“This debut novel has a delightful premise, crisply drawn characters, and a subtle sense of humor. Word nerds, too, will enjoy the peeks at the procedure of making a dictionary. . . . The very definition of a promising debut.”—Booklist

“Arsenault's quirky, arresting debut ... [is] an absorbing, offbeat mystery–meets–coming-of-age novel that's as sweet as it is suspenseful.”—Publishers Weekly

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Press; 1 edition (September 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553807331
• ISBN-13: 978-0553807332
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #25,644 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A mystery with words as characters, September 29, 2009

By	L. Schwemm (Connecticut) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The journal reviews have presented this book as a mystery and a romance, and someone else described it as a young-adult novel targeted at 20-somethings, but I feel that both classifications are too limited. Billy, the main character, is extremely compelling, even to this middle-aged reader, and the mystery and romance definitely do not dominate Billy's development as he negotiates his way through the first few months at his first post-collegiate job. Arsenault vividly captures the environment of cubicles and office relationships/negotiations and I was reminded of my first job after college -- of trying to make sense of the people around me and the work that was being done, but this novel has much more to offer than a glimpse at office life. The setting of the dictionary company provides the opportunity to use words as an integral part of the story - and without these words Billy's story might have been just another tale of someone "finding himself." Instead, the words of the dictionary, and of the research files, and of the characters, weave themselves in and out of various lives -- from Billy's neighbors to his officemates to the countless people who contact the dictionary company for clarification and solace - and in and out of various times, from the beginning of the dictionary to the younger days of retired employees to Billy and his peers achieving adulthood.
Yes, there is mystery, there is a touch of romance, there is twenty-something angst, but there are intriguing characters that made me think and ponder and want to read more.

15 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lexicography, philosophy, and a violent death...., November 6, 2009

By	K. M. "literary devotee" (California) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)

If you have ever wanted to know what lexicographers (writers, editors, and compilers of dictionaries) do, The Broken Teaglass: A Novel takes you inside the library-like lair of the Samuelson Company alongside new hire Billy Webb, a recent college grad who majored in philosophy. On his first day he is assigned to read the front matter of the Samuelson dictionary. Soon after he graduates to perusing magazines for new or unusual word usage. Within months he is allowed to, under supervision, review existing definitions and propose new ones. And, in time, he is asked to field questions from the public. He and the other editors assiduously (a bit like bees expanding the honey comb) add to the huge collection of accumulated word usage citations and counter-operationally pillage the drawers when researching word history or evolution. The office is generally hushed and the work done mainly in solititude, but Billy does get to know some of his colleagues. One in particular, Mona Minot, becomes an investigative partner (and perhaps more?) when she points out an odd citation that seems to be from a 1985 novel called THE BROKEN TEAGLASS, by Delores Beekmim. However, neither the book nor the author can be traced by ISBN number or other means. Billy and Mona start methodically checking "cits" for more of these TEAGLASS entries. Which editor compiled these citations? And why? Do some of the other employees know more than they let on? What about Mr. Phillips, a retired editor who spent forty years at Samuelson? Can he shed any light on the Beekmim entries, especially those that drop hints about a dead body?

In Emily Arsenault's premiere novel, she aptly follows oft-repeated advice to write what one knows. She was a lexicographer...before she moved on to teaching, library work, and Peace Corps service in South Africa (where she penned this novel). THE BROKEN TEAGLASS is a delightful, laid-back intellectual mystery. It relies on the "mild" accumulation of banalities as Billy goes about his unexceptional life working, feeding himself, visiting his parents, talking with the neighbors in unglamorous, "far cry from Manhattan," Claxton, Massachusetts. At times its placidity may stir impatience in the reader, but perseverance gradually reveals a rich core of insight into the main characters and the paradoxes and challenges of their seeimingly insular, almost monastic lives. The old adage about still waters running deep is embodied here, as Billy, his boss, Mona, and others unhurriedly give up crucial bits of themselves to each other and, even more, to the reader. One of the lexicographers at Samuelson tells Billy, " 'I've spend my life putting life's complexities into pat, formulaic little nuggets. I prefer not to do it with my own moral ambiguities.' " But solitude and its consequences aren't just the product of an office environment but of the people there and their actions. Billy begins to see how old secrets, attachments, and loyalties can shape life; and he, in tune with his philosophical bent, asks himself whether he can and should break away from or stay at Samuelson. As he encapsulates it: " 'It isn't our most courageous or most cowardly acts that matter most....It's what comes after those moments. It's what we do NEXT that defines us.' "

This is a wise, gently humorous, occasionally cheeky novel. It deftly steers into an edgy denouement that cleverly gathers together several plot strains. Perhaps best of all, it savors the value of language and yet reminds us that true communication and understanding are gained through much more than words. Warmly recommended. 4.5 stars.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fascinating mystery, September 30, 2009

By	Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews (#1 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Billy Webb who just graduated from college begins working as a lexicographer at Samuelson Company publishers of an annual dictionary. Already employed there in a separate cubicle but in a similar editor assistant position is Mona Minot.

Mona begins to find some strange notes referencing a book THE BROKEN TEAGLASS. She shows her notes to Billy, but neither can find the tome. They conclude someone previously employed at Samuelson left the citations, but not why or what they refer to. As they dig deeper and begin to put meaning to the notes, they begin to believe a murder occurred and some of their cubicle mates may have been involved.

This is a fascinating mystery filled with suspense that hooks the audience who wonder along with the lead couple whether a homicide occurred and if some of the cubicle mates were involved. In some ways the story line is a coming of age transition tale as Billy struggles with the biggest life change he has ever faced having just graduated from college. Fans will enjoy this cerebral amateur sleuth as two young lexicographers search for the seemingly nonexistent BROKEN TEAGLASS.

Harriet Klausner