Cover of The Great Passage

The Great Passage

by Shion Miura · 2011

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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.

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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.

Genre
literary fictionliterary fictionMore like thisLess of thisromanceromanceMore like thisLess of this
Themes
diversitydiversityMore like thisLess of thiswriterswritersMore like thisLess of this
Setting
2010s2010sMore like thisLess of thisJapanJapanMore like thisLess of thisAsiaAsiaMore like thisLess of this
Audience
adult
Length
medium · 222 pages

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