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The Great Passage
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
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Publisher's Summary
A charmingly warm and hopeful story of love, friendship, and the power of human connection. Award-winning Japanese author Shion Miura's novel is a reminder that a life dedicated to passion is a life well lived.
Inspired as a boy by the multiple meanings to be found for a single word in the dictionary, Kohei Araki is devoted to the notion that a dictionary is a boat to carry us across the sea of words. But after thirty-seven years creating them at Gembu Books, it's time for him to retire and find his replacement.
He discovers a kindred spirit in Mitsuya Majime - a young, disheveled square peg with a penchant for collecting antiquarian books and a background in linguistics - whom he swipes from his company's sales department.
Led by his new mentor and joined by an energetic, if reluctant, new recruit and an elder linguistics scholar, Majime is tasked with a career-defining accomplishment: completing The Great Passage, a comprehensive 2,900-page tome of the Japanese language. On his journey, Majime discovers friendship, romance, and an incredible dedication to his work, inspired by the bond that connects us all: words.
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Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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- Anonymous User
- 08-12-2018
Geeky, charming
Who would ever think that a story about dictionary publication could be so charming, funny and engaging. Generally, translated stories should be written in a way that disguises the fact that in was originally written in another language, but this story is an exception to that rule given that the central theme is the meaning and organisation of Japanese words. Juliet Winters Carpenter mixes the right amount of Japanese in for the content to stay relevant and interesting. Brian Nishii as usual does a great job performing for the audiobook. I recommend also trying to track down the film which does a terrific job of bringing the story to life.
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