Broken Teaglass: broken potential
581619
For a book that could have been the Holy Grail for wordies everywhere, Emily Arsenault's The Broken Teaglass was a let down. The setting for a brilliant mystery novel is there: an intriguing job, a saucy love interest, an unsolved murder, creepy neighbors - books greater than you and me have been built on a foundation of far less. Yet somehow with Teaglass, the whole was not greater than the sum of its parts.

The tidbits divulging the behind-the-scenes secrets of dictionaries are priceless. For word-lovers and budding linguists, the questions of "who gets to decide which words are real?" is finally answered, complete with counter-theories and the philosophy behind the process all tied up with a neat little bow: in a thoughtful piece of dialogue, characters debate whether to search for new words only in text, or to include conversation as well. Arsenault uses her characters wisely to explain some very murky ideologies.

But the rest of it, the side stories and the intrigues surrounding such a rich setting, are poorly executed. The novel, it seems, exists in two disjointed acts. Act One focuses on our protagonist Billy's neighbors who offer him conversation and a beer at the end of the day and offer the reader an unsettling feeling that maybe Billy should lock his door at night. This sentence on page 14 sets it up:

"Maybe it was a sort of omen that my first encounter with Tom was on the very first day of work... He was bald but for a few long clumps of hair growing out of the sides and back of his head, all pulled into a then ponytail at the back. His body matched his hair - stringy, skinny, and formless in his lawn chair."

Scary, right? Well, not scary for long. By the half-way point in the book, we never really hear from Tom or the rest of the neighbors again. They have dropped off the pages. The "omen" of the first meeting is never revealed.

Instead we are introduced to Billy's unfortunate struggle with cancer during his senior year of high school. Now five years later, he spends the second half of the book in the throes of an existential crisis as he begins to accept his remission with copious amounts of booze and a lackadaisical approach to dictionary editing. Arsenault makes sure the murder mystery is solved by the end of The Broken Teaglass but for this one tidy knot, there are several loose threads left dangling.
3423920
I broke the glass. I need a replacement on the glass.
3958653
Would really want to love the product but the price doesn't justify how thin the glass is. When I received the product the top of the teapot shattered as soon as I lifted it from the box. The teapot is beautiful but its thinness can be a hindrance as my $6 teapot has a slightly thicker glass and lasted longer. Other wise The teapot would have been nice if it hadn't shattered as soon it was out of the box.
3600661
I used to really like these glasses because they are double-walled to keep my drink insulated and they look slick. I ordered several of them about 3 years ago, but my supply has dwindled due to slightly above average rates of breakage. The walls are super thin and they tend to shatter into a million pieces when bumped. Unfortunately, today my glass broke in a scary way.

I was halfway through my iced tea and I noticed a bit of liquid in the rim where I had just sipped. Not on it, in it. After some inspection, I noticed shards of glass camoflagued as ice.  Basically, the inside wall had cracked halfway through my drink and luckily did not make its way into my mouth. Not pleasant.

I'm throwing the rest of my cups away and pretty much never buying double-walled glasses again.
2154951
This is the third tumbler I've gotten from teavana, and the sipping mechanism keeps breaking. If it were not for this, I would love it, but as it's fairly easily fixable, I live with it, but the fact that it's the third tumbler, the first two actually broke, yeah. Not stellar.
2137868
I had ordered a pair of these about 2 years ago, but since then they had both broken from use.  I recently ordered a few more pairs to be able to have some both at home and at work, and when I opened them up after they arrived I could immediately tell that something had changed in the manufacturing process.  Not only were the boxes containing the glasses more professionally designed than before, but the glasses themselves have an even bead around the top, thicker than before, which makes me think they will be less likely to break.  I love using these for tea, so I can see the color of the liquor, but am also having some coffee in one right now.
1148257
This mug is beautiful, but useless. Every time I unscrewed the top to take a drink, tea would pour down the sides and puddle beneath. Sometimes with the top on, a puddle would somehow form. I kept using it because it was so expensive and quite lovely. The other day it cracked, the inside glass from the outside. I'm not sure how. It was not dropped or banged and did not shatter, but simply separated, so I threw it out. It lasted a total of 2.5 months. :(
3936695
The tea is wonderful. It's beautiful to look at and it tastes great. The pot, on the other hand is incredibly thin and fragile glass. The lid broke just by setting it on to the pot once hot water was added. I feel like I have to be far to careful with the pot than is practical because of how fragile it is.
2331643
The glass was shattered to the piano. I did not have time to have this fixed for Christmas so I am going to a glass place to see if I can get a glass cut for it.
1517835
These lovely glasses should be saved for the most sober occasions as they are delicate and quite fragile.  For everyday drink ware, especially involving any alcoholic beverage, they are out of the question.  After a few of my popular Tequila Nuclear Options during our neighborhood game night, it quickly became obvious these were not going to make it beyond the last round of Twister.  These shatter if turned over on a cocktail table or even dropped a short distance on our very plush carpet.  The next morning at least one was broken and another cracked when they simply bumped against one another in the kitchen sink.  The durability of these glasses is quite disappointing indeed!  However, I still award three stars for their beauty, price when on sale, and the several compliments I received on them from guests in the early evening before our last Twister challenge was canceled due to the danger to bare feet.
3456216
This is a really good teapot in terms on functionality. The infuser is great, the design is great, the handle is great and it makes good tea!

The 1 star is because it's far too fragile. I would like to see if any of the reviewers who gave this teapot a higher rating managed to use it for a reasonable length of time without breaking it. The slightest tap and it shatters. Mine broke on the second pot. It's so frustrating and I was absolutely loving it up until then. I was emptying the last of the tea into my cup and the lid fell off, smashed off the spout and cracked itself in half. Operator error perhaps but if the pot can't take a little knock, then I doubt it would survive in most households.
4598172
I am a big fan of Jasmine Becket-Griffith' fairy sculptures and her paintings. I purchased the "FAE Fairy" as a Christmas present. However, when I opened the package, the Fairie's wing was broken off.  This has NOT been the case with other sculptures from this artist I have purchased.

I returned the broken unit with no issue through Amazon's return service. I then ordered a new one, expecting it to arrive safely. However, the second unit also arrived  broken. This time, it was the dragon's wing that was broken off and actually rattling between the Styrofoam.  Likewise, I returned that one with no problem through Amazon.

The sculpture is beautiful and I do not believe it is the packaging that is the main problem. I believe the unit is simply too fragile to be sent in such a ubiquitous method as pre-formed, encapsulating Styrofoam.  A better option would be to consider the fragility of the keep parts of such figurines, and strengthen/thicken them in the manufacturing process.  Then use multiple layers of bubble wrap to mail out the unit.

The two star rating reflects only the frustration with two damaged units. However, as with all Beckett-Griffith's work, the sculpture is work of art.
1854560
The first thing that struck me about this iced-tea maker was how THIN the glass was on the pitcher, but to my surprise I broke the plastic on the top of the unit first.  I knocked the unit over (my fault) but the plastic is so thin and brittle it cracked like an egg.  I could still make tea with it, so it lasted another few months until the pitcher inevitably broke from filling it with ice.

It's astounding that the pitcher of an ICED TEA maker isn't built to withstand filling it with ICE from a refrigerator's ice dispenser.
629513
Interesting concept, and the ice wedge really works - however we broke it while removing the silicon wedge at the 2nd use, and it broke in a very significant number of minuscule glass shards.  NOT made of tempered glass. For over $20 a piece, this is not a quality product.  The concept is fun and ingenious, however I hurt myself (the glass cut my hand in two places when it broke) and it took a while to track down all the minuscule glass shards while guests and small children were waiting for the vacuuming to be done.  Very disappointed.  Fun idea,  bad quality product.  Very disappointing, and dangerous.
4939691
the glass is broken ;( it really make me sad waiting for that glass and then i find it broken
2700969
This wasn't broke, but its a miracle that it was not. The glass candle Was rolling around inside the box loose. Whoever boxed it must not be very smart or don't care if things get there in one piece. Thats the last thing I order from that place. I mean seriously, look at this picture how it was when I opend it.
4509671
These glasses are beautiful and contribute a lot to the overall enjoyment and experience of a good whisky. That being said, I had a glass that broke for no apparent reason. It has not been dropped or handled in any way that would be harmful, a chunk simply snapped off during normal washing. I am sure that there are bound to be a few lemons, it is just sad to get one.