A review by jaswoahreads
Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn
4.0
“I am angry that all we have come to value, perhaps even take for granted, is being ripped from us-one tile at a time.”
Ella Minnow Pea (say it aloud) is a novel set on the fictitious isle of Nollop, home of the supposed-creator of the pangram ‘the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog’. When the statue erected in honour of this begins to lose its letters, the Nollopian council decides it is a call from a higher power that they, too, should be losing the letters from their vocabulary.
The novel, written in a series of letters between various inhabitants of the island,and as they begin to lose their letters they (and the author) have to get creative in their communications to avoid the now criminal letters to avoid incarceration and potential banishment. What ensues is a very fun lipographic (learnt that word today) exercise which also tackles themes of totalitarian governments and freedom of speech - and how far people will go to preserve their freedoms. If you like quirky and unusual stories this is definitely one to grab! My main gripe with this novel is that it can be hard to keep up with the language as the story progresses and more letters are lost
Ella Minnow Pea (say it aloud) is a novel set on the fictitious isle of Nollop, home of the supposed-creator of the pangram ‘the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog’. When the statue erected in honour of this begins to lose its letters, the Nollopian council decides it is a call from a higher power that they, too, should be losing the letters from their vocabulary.
The novel, written in a series of letters between various inhabitants of the island,and as they begin to lose their letters they (and the author) have to get creative in their communications to avoid the now criminal letters to avoid incarceration and potential banishment. What ensues is a very fun lipographic (learnt that word today) exercise which also tackles themes of totalitarian governments and freedom of speech - and how far people will go to preserve their freedoms. If you like quirky and unusual stories this is definitely one to grab! My main gripe with this novel is that it can be hard to keep up with the language as the story progresses and more letters are lost