false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167945737m/28294.jpg 28294 12 The year is 1968, and as France is torn apart by social and political anarchy, the noted eccentric and insomniac Anton Vowl goes missing. Ransacking his Paris flat, his best friends scour his diary for clues to his whereabouts. At first glance these pages reveal nothing but Vowl's penchant for word games, especially for "lipograms," compositions in which the use of a particular letter is suppressed. But as the friends work out Vowl's verbal puzzles, and as they investigate various leads discovered among the entries, they too disappear, one by one by one, and under the most mysterious circumstances ...<br><br>A Void is a metaphysical whodunit, a story chock-full of plots and subplots, of trails in pursuit of trails, all of which afford Perec occasion to display his virtuosity as a verbal magician, acrobat, and sad-eyed clown. It is also an outrageous verbal stunt: a 300-page novel that never once employs the letter E. Adair's translation, too, is astounding; Time called it "a daunting triumph of will pushing its way through imposing roadblocks to a magical country, an absurdist nirvana of humor, pathos, and loss." 2310135 book 1990 A Void (Verba Mundi) total:291|5:93|4:99|3:69|2:24|1:6| 291 1122 672 57 0 11 false false Fri May 23 23:45:10 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 05 16:55:11 -0700 2008 A Void. I doubt I'll go far in my try, but will admit to a strong curiosity, though his story might not turn out so amazing. No doubt this was a blast to craft, but, I hazard, not as muc...more...]]> 4 5 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu Dec 27 20:18:51 -0800 2007 Sat Dec 29 15:53:15 -0800 2007 more...]]> 3 4 false false Sun Jul 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 09 11:19:36 -0700 2009 Tue Nov 03 23:57:03 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 3 false false Thu Sep 27 14:50:03 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 28 07:51:20 -0700 2007 kills me. Every time. The insomnia that has plagued me my whole life comes from the way I obsessively think about words and combinations of words. This is what goes through m...more...]]> 2 3 false false Fri Mar 30 11:00:32 -0700 2007 Fri Mar 30 13:30:48 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Jun 13 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 05 08:59:22 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 14 13:06:42 -0700 2009 A Void (La Disparition) is at the same time absorbing and frenzied. Oh, and did I forget to tell you that, nowhere in its 284 pages except for the "Metagraphs" at the end does the letter e appear? I had already read Life: A User'...more...]]> 3 1 false false Fri Feb 20 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 09 20:25:51 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 20 18:29:02 -0800 2009
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Fascinating read not only because the book was written with it's void, but also because it was translated into a language that relies on the missing vowel, so much....more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Nov 21 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 07 22:37:22 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 07 22:37:22 -0800 2009
Anton Vowl goes m...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Mar 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Dec 25 16:35:21 -0800 2008 Sun Mar 29 19:18:04 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Sep 02 12:48:21 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 02 12:55:59 -0700 2008 A Void -- a novel in which the letter e never appears -- from The Book of Lists, which I read and re-read as a teenager. However, I just checked The Book of Lists and there is no mention of either Perec or his novel, a strange disappearance completely in sy...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Nov 03 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Jul 17 17:11:22 -0700 2008 Tue Nov 04 07:19:29 -0800 2008 once more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Mar 02 18:42:50 -0800 2008 Sun Mar 02 18:51:14 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 true false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Mon Aug 20 06:58:57 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 22 12:43:47 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Jul 20 09:58:16 -0700 2007 Fri Jul 20 10:17:40 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Sep 09 16:35:25 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 09 15:59:01 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 09 16:35:25 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 1 false false Tue Apr 22 09:05:19 -0700 2008 Thu Apr 24 16:09:11 -0700 2008
First o...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2000 Wed Mar 26 13:33:48 -0700 2008 Wed Mar 26 13:42:49 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 21 23:25:49 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 21 23:33:57 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Mon Apr 16 00:03:21 -0700 2007 Mon Apr 16 00:09:08 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu Oct 01 17:13:44 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 01 17:15:12 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=28294