Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters

delightful

Lots of fun and an interesting play on words.

A cute fun quick read. I enjoyed very much

witty and fun!

On the fictional island of Nollop, named for the fictional creator of pangram "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog," things are going from bad to worse. When one letter of the pangram, then another, then more still fall from Nollop's statue, the provicial, superstitious council takes it as Nollop's command from beyond the grave and progressively strikes each letter from use, under penalty...more

On the fictional island of Nollop, named for the fictional creator of pangram "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog," things are going from bad to worse. When one letter of the pangram, then another, then more still fall from Nollop's statue, the provicial, superstitious council takes it as Nollop's command from beyond the grave and progressively strikes each letter from use, under penalty of law. The story is told through letters and documents written by the Nolloputians as they adjust to a life where expression is increasingly constrained. In telling the story, Dunn is more concerned with tuggging at heart strings than flaunting the literary acrobatics needed to make Ella Minnow Pea work. Good on him. But beneath the story is also a layer of nostalgia for a more heavily literate era and a nation of letter-writers and rhetoricians. This, not the lipogrammatic gimmick, is Dunn's true celebration of language.   hide

Absolutely delightful!! This is one of the most unique and imaginative books I have ever read. The story, told through letters, is about a town that idolizes the phrase "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." The sentence is displayed in tiles in the town center and one day, they begin to fall one by one. As the lettered tiles fall, the citizens are banned from using that letter. So every...more

Absolutely delightful!! This is one of the most unique and imaginative books I have ever read. The story, told through letters, is about a town that idolizes the phrase "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." The sentence is displayed in tiles in the town center and one day, they begin to fall one by one. As the lettered tiles fall, the citizens are banned from using that letter. So every few pages the writer faces the challange of writing without using a letter of the alphabet. It gets quite tricky at the end, just try writing without an a,e, s, t, etc... The author gets very inventive!! I don't know how to better describe this book, I wish I could because it really is a wonderful story told in a very inventive way. It really was a joy to read!!   hide

An interesting take on the alphabet....

A short, but charming lipogrammatical epistolary novel. The story line is o.k., but the premise and skill of the writer is remarkable. Basically, each chapter is written with one less letter of the alphabet than the chapter before. I tried to write a blog once after reading the book, just omitting one single letter, and it was challenging. I can't imagine writing a whole novel using less and...more

A short, but charming lipogrammatical epistolary novel. The story line is o.k., but the premise and skill of the writer is remarkable. Basically, each chapter is written with one less letter of the alphabet than the chapter before. I tried to write a blog once after reading the book, just omitting one single letter, and it was challenging. I can't imagine writing a whole novel using less and less letters as the novel progresses. Perhaps this is why it was so short? In any case, I would recommend a read by those enraptured by language and grammar and of course books. If you have any desire to read my attempt at a lipogram, you can check that out on my myspace blog here: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=37905033&blogId=459377070   hide

A clever indictment of government becoming to big for their britches until the Minnow Peas bring them down to earth with the written word. Mark Dunn must have had great fun obsessing over letters while putting this book to page, although I suspect he was banned for that period from associating with other humans. A delightful read especially if you enjoy language for its own sake.