Ella Minnow Pea: A Progressively Lipogrammatic Epistolary Fable
by Mark Dunn
Ella Minnow Pea: A Progre...
Mark Dunn |
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 2511)
Read in May, 2008
Ella Minnow Pea is a first novel by Mark Dunn who is in fact a successful writer of over 25 plays. The novel structure is epistolary, which means that the story unfolds via letters between the characters. This is supposed to add greater realism to the story and demonstrate differing points of view without recourse to the device of an omniscient narrator. The approach was a popular 18th century device but mostly abandoned for most of the 19th and mid 20th century with the notable exceptions of Dr...more
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Read in June, 2007
I found this book at the Wilderness Library and very nearly didn't buy it. Just looking at the title, the words didn't exactly compute and I thought, "hmmm, this book seems kind of silly." Then I read "A Novel in Letters" and my shameless snoop side came out. I love, love, love reading books that are comprised of letters, I feel like I'm really snooping in someone's mail or diaries, and it makes it so interesting. So I picked up Ella and on my way to the car, said the title o...more
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Read in January, 2008
I love the concept of this book: letters of the alphabet are being banned one by one, so the book uses fewer and fewer letters as it progresses, and the people are fighting against this governmental oppression.
For the first half I thought it was fantastic, but I was disappointed by a couple of things later on. First, I expected that as letters were removed the author would continue to use normal spellings, but there came a point when that was given up as too difficult, and the author resorte...more
For the first half I thought it was fantastic, but I was disappointed by a couple of things later on. First, I expected that as letters were removed the author would continue to use normal spellings, but there came a point when that was given up as too difficult, and the author resorte...more
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Read in December, 2005
This book has been on my “to read” list for a long time. It sounded interesting: a book in which the characters revere language and the alphabet, and when letters fall from the statue that celebrates their culture, they are also dropped from the novel.
I’m pleased to report, first of all, that this book is wholesome, despite being on the national market and not just the LDS one (so many books I’ve picked up this year I’ve had to return to the library, unread).
And this book is go...more
I’m pleased to report, first of all, that this book is wholesome, despite being on the national market and not just the LDS one (so many books I’ve picked up this year I’ve had to return to the library, unread).
And this book is go...more
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Read in April, 2008
This is a story about the overly articulate residents of the small island of Nollop (named after Nevin Nollop, the creator of the aforementioned pangram). Due to his love of literature, and words, the island reveres him as a God, even though he came up with that pangram 7 generations before Ella’s time. This a story of government gone mad with power, with religious preoccupations dominating over common sense. This is a story of individual letters of the alphabet being banned from oral and writ...more
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Read in August, 2007
My mom recommended this book to me at a time when I didn't have anything else to read, so I gave it a go.
I did not enjoy this book. The premise is cute, but far-fetched enough that I never actually believed it. In fact, I believed the events of the story less and less as things got more and more ridiculous. I kept asking myself, "Why don't the characters do this, or do that?" It was all just too implausable.
Once a story is so utterly implausable as this one was, all you're ...more
I did not enjoy this book. The premise is cute, but far-fetched enough that I never actually believed it. In fact, I believed the events of the story less and less as things got more and more ridiculous. I kept asking myself, "Why don't the characters do this, or do that?" It was all just too implausable.
Once a story is so utterly implausable as this one was, all you're ...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommends it for:
wordsmiths, vocab-lovers, Jasper Fforde fans
On the fictional, language-obsessed island of Nollop, a statue stands erected to the memory of the man who composed the famous pangram, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." One day, a letter-tile falls from the pangram and as a result the island Council outlaws use of that letter. As more tiles fall, more letters are banned, and the island dwellers must fight for freedom of speech in its most literal sense.
This is a cute, clever, witty, and original book which I loved. Th...more
This is a cute, clever, witty, and original book which I loved. Th...more
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Read in April, 2008
Ella Minnow Pea is a quick read, written entirely in letters (the type you mail) using fewer and fewer letters (the type you spell with) as the story progresses.
Set on the fictional autonomous island of Nollop, where the citizens revere Nevin Nollop for his astounding contribution to humanity: the sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog," which uses every letter of the alphabet.
As the letter tiles on his 100+ year old statue begin to fall, the island's councilmem...more
Set on the fictional autonomous island of Nollop, where the citizens revere Nevin Nollop for his astounding contribution to humanity: the sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog," which uses every letter of the alphabet.
As the letter tiles on his 100+ year old statue begin to fall, the island's councilmem...more
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When I picked the book up I was a little hesitant to read it at first because I happened to flip open to one of the letters closer to the end. Don't be scared by those letters. They don't comprise too much of the novel to become annoying and when the book is read in sequence the verbal tricks are less noticeable and much easier to bear.
I'm not the hugest fan of epistolary fiction, but it began to warm on me as I read. The characters are all very sweet and once you get them sorted out this bo...more
I'm not the hugest fan of epistolary fiction, but it began to warm on me as I read. The characters are all very sweet and once you get them sorted out this bo...more
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Read in April, 2008
This was a very cute book. It was about an island community devoted to it's founder who came up with the phrase, "A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog," supposedly the shortest pangram known to man. They have a monument of the founder with the sentence spelled out in tiles in the middle of the town.
When one of the tiles falls, the city council gets together and decides that it is their founder speaking to them from the grave, so they make it illegal to use the letter on t...more
When one of the tiles falls, the city council gets together and decides that it is their founder speaking to them from the grave, so they make it illegal to use the letter on t...more
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Read in October, 2007
Interesting concept that made for an interesting and thought provoking book. When I told a friend about the storyline, she laughed like crazy and said it sounded insane!
Some of the other people that have read this book didn't seem to like it because it didn't seem plausible to which I respond...it's not supposed to be. I think it's purpose is much more subtle than the basic premise of the book. While reading, I couldn't help thinking about governments that were known to heavily censor the...more
Some of the other people that have read this book didn't seem to like it because it didn't seem plausible to which I respond...it's not supposed to be. I think it's purpose is much more subtle than the basic premise of the book. While reading, I couldn't help thinking about governments that were known to heavily censor the...more
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
People who like words and politics
Someone I trust recommended that I read this book some time ago but when I went to pick it up it was just seemed too weird (and boring. Last week a good friend (who loves the English language and books) whose taste in books overlaps with mine to a great extent told me that she thought I would like it so I gave it a try. I did like it even though it was more than a little difficult to suspend disbelief (the book is about an island where letters of the alphabet are being banned from use one at a t...more
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Read in June, 2008
Ella Minnow Pea is an epistolary novel set on the fictional island of Nollop, off the coast of South Carolina. Nollop, named for the island's most famous resident, Nevin Nollop (the man who invented the pangram, The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over the Lazy Dog), is an independent nation that prides itself on its advanced command of the English language. One day a tile falls from the mnument erected to Nollop, the "z" found in "Lazy." Nollop's council rushes to decide what to do; a...more
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Read in May, 2008
I loved this perky, word-exacting fable; it was a quick read--a touch zany at times but thoroughly enjoyable.
And yes, I did intentionally use all the letters of the alphabet in the first sentence. It is, admittedly, harder than it seems.
The book is in the form of letters written among the inhabitants of a small island nation who prize, above all, their literary and vocabulary skills. When letters begin to fall from the city's motto (The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog), the c...more
And yes, I did intentionally use all the letters of the alphabet in the first sentence. It is, admittedly, harder than it seems.
The book is in the form of letters written among the inhabitants of a small island nation who prize, above all, their literary and vocabulary skills. When letters begin to fall from the city's motto (The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog), the c...more
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Picking up this book and glancing over the quaint Victorian portrait on its cover, I was expecting a light, enjoyable book with a touch of the romantic. But what I had not expected to encounter was such blazing cleverness. Set in a the sort of Utopian society of Nollop, where the culture is based on words, it centers around the sentence written by the society’s hero- a sentence containing all the letters of the alphabet, with minimal repetition. Revered by all, the sentence is displayed on til...more
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Read in March, 2008
To quote from the first page, "A quirky novel with pages of zany, jumbled lexicon". Perfect for anyone who is lover of the English language, especially if you want to add some new words to your vocabulary. It will definitely make you appreciate how important simple letters such as "Z" and "Q" are, and what you would miss by not being able to use them anymore. It's the story of a town that steadily removes one letter from the alphabet from their lives in a cultish de...more
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
anyone who loves words and the english language
It's a quick read as the story unfolds in letters written between family members and friends. Here's the description:
"Ella Minnow Pea is a girl living happily on the fictional island of Nollop off the coast of South Carolina. Nollop was named after Nevin Nollop, author of the immortal pangram,* “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” Now Ella finds herself acting to save her friends, family, and fellow citizens from the encroaching totalitarianism of the island’s Council, ...more
"Ella Minnow Pea is a girl living happily on the fictional island of Nollop off the coast of South Carolina. Nollop was named after Nevin Nollop, author of the immortal pangram,* “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” Now Ella finds herself acting to save her friends, family, and fellow citizens from the encroaching totalitarianism of the island’s Council, ...more
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Read in March, 2004
recommends it for:
to lovers of language and wordplay
It's a story, told in letters mailed back and forth between various members of a community that honors the memory of native son Nevin Nollop, inventor of the pangram "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog".
This reverence goes a bit overboard; the letters of that phrase start falling off the monument and the council determines that the use the fallen letters is therefore forbidden. Lawbreakers are chastised, punished, then finally exiled. To save the community, the tit...more
This reverence goes a bit overboard; the letters of that phrase start falling off the monument and the council determines that the use the fallen letters is therefore forbidden. Lawbreakers are chastised, punished, then finally exiled. To save the community, the tit...more
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Read in February, 2002
recommends it for:
word freaks
While not the most compelling story ever written, this book has a gimmick, and if it's something you love it's something you'll love. If not, then not. And there it is.
The plot takes place on a fictional, English-speaking island where letters of the alphabet are slowly getting banned (don't ask why, it's ridiculous). The story, told through correspondence between two characters, is subject to these same rules, so the characters have to communicate without them. It's surprising how much y...more
The plot takes place on a fictional, English-speaking island where letters of the alphabet are slowly getting banned (don't ask why, it's ridiculous). The story, told through correspondence between two characters, is subject to these same rules, so the characters have to communicate without them. It's surprising how much y...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommends it for:
EVERYONE, especially in a time when our government is beset by religious fundamentalism.
I've been looking for Ibid: A Life by this author for years. Today, I finally found it-- but it didn't look as good as I thought. Fortunately, this gem was sitting right next to it on the shelf.
Ella Minnow Pea is a relatively simple little satire about fanaticism told with a wonderful sense of energy and fun. As the story progresses, it also acquires darker undercurrents of divorce, madness, and death, flowing tragicomically from the extension of one ludicrous idea. I'd almost ...more
Ella Minnow Pea is a relatively simple little satire about fanaticism told with a wonderful sense of energy and fun. As the story progresses, it also acquires darker undercurrents of divorce, madness, and death, flowing tragicomically from the extension of one ludicrous idea. I'd almost ...more
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