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Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters

Mark Dunn

3.88 · Rating details · 31,986 ratings · 5,731 reviews

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, which has ...more

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Paperback, 208 pages

Published September 17th 2002 by Anchor (first published October 1st 2001)

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Apr 20, 2011 Melki rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: EVERYONE!

Shelves: humorous-fiction, fiction-favorites, fantasy, dystopian, read-more-than-once, wordplay

*WARNING - This is MY FAVORITE book of all time, so there will be gooing, gushing and shameless pluggery!

Welcome to Nollop, a quaint, autonomous island that lies quite near Charlotte, SC. Though the islanders shun modern technology, they take pride in their educated citizenry. Language is practically worshipped here, to the extent that the island is named after native son, Nevin Nollop, the author of the sentence typing students everywhere have come to know and dread:

description

For 100 years, a cenotaph ho ...more

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Nov 07, 2012 Richard Derus rated it really liked it

Rating: 4.9* of five

This novel is about the unintended bad, and ridiculous, consequences of a very good idea. Nollop, an island off the American mainland, is a society rational and reasonable in its organization and actions. Its usage of the English language rests on the existence of the pangram, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." The founder of Nollop invested the pangram with great significance.

And now, in Ella's time, the letters of the pangram start falling off the founder's stat ...more

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May 23, 2009 Cecily rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: miscellaneous-fiction, ya, epistolary-and-letters, usa-and-canada, language-related, overrated

Clever + Silly = waste of time and paper.

A ridiculous book, masquerading as something intelligent and thought provoking. There are plenty of far better books that raise issues of totalitarianism, censorship versus free speech, superstition versus science, loyalty to friends and family versus loyalty to the state, the power of language etc in more enlightening, entertaining and less gimmicky ways. I realise my opinion is very much a minority one, so perhaps I'm overanalysing and taking it too ser Clever + Silly = waste of time and paper.

A ridiculous book, masquerading as something intelligent and thought provoking. There are plenty of far better books that raise issues of totalitarianism, censorship versus free speech, superstition versus science, loyalty to friends and family versus loyalty to the state, the power of language etc in more enlightening, entertaining and less gimmicky ways. I realise my opinion is very much a minority one, so perhaps I'm overanalysing and taking it too seriously.

*** SPOLIERS BELOW ***

The book is set in the present day on a fictitious island, where they venerate Nollop, who devised the pangram “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” as the shortest sentence using all the letters of the alphabet without resorting to proper nouns and abbreviations. That irritated me from the start, as you can obviously reduce it by two letters just by changing it to “A lazy dog”.

Anyway, this sentence is on Nollop’s statue and when a letter falls off, the island council decree that it is a sign from Nollop that that letter cannot be used in speech or writing. We are expected to believe that a culture that was built on reverence for the written word destroys all its libraries overnight because one letter fell off a statue (what sort of important statue has letters glued on, rather than carved?). The punishments are harsh for individuals too – exile for a third offence. Of course, gradually other letters fall off, and they are banned too, hampering communication and creating a culture of fear.

The story is told via correspondence between islanders: a contrivance to make it easier to tell and demonstrate the story and perhaps related to the fact this is the first novel of a playwright, although you sometimes have to glance ahead to see who a letter is from, as most of the characters write in a similar style. As Dunn conveniently bans rare letters first (Z, Q, then J), it’s not till half way through that you really notice much difference in style, other than the odd awkward neologism, e.g. birth-anniversary. Later on, they are allowed to use letters that sound roughly similar, but only in correspondence, e.g. phewgitiph for fugitive.

Presumably to add some much needed excitement to the story, an arbitrary deadline is set to devise an even shorter pangram and thus disprove the council’s theory. Pretty pointless when there is at least one perfectly grammatical and shorter pangram that is common knowledge, so it was just a case of waiting for it to crop up, as it duly did. Their perseverance was impressive but ultimately irrelevant: it was the serendipitous wish of an alcoholic falling off the wagon that saved them.

A weak love story is included, but that doesn’t really add much excitement either.

It's a totalitarian regime with a quasi theocratic motive rather than a socio-political-economic one. In fact we learn surprisingly little about the politics of Nollop. The other big subject that is raised but not addressed is race. In the introductory definitions, Dunn mentions “black and white citizens” (it’s 20 miles from S Carolina) and says it used to be called Utopiana, but I don’t think race is ever mentioned again. I’m not even sure which characters are which race, yet in a divided and disintegrating society, mightn’t any racial tensions, however minor, be exacerbated? And even if not, people’s colour might affect their feelings about whether or not to flee to the mainland. If he doesn’t use it in the story, I don’t know why he mentioned it at all.

In the first twenty pages or so, Dunn shows off by littering the text with obscure words (such as detachation, multype writudes, empyrean, extirpated, lucubrating, anserous and aposiopesis). Thereafter, he seems to tire of that game and stick to mundane words, until the second half when the vocab finally becomes somewhat constrained and contorted due to the letters that have been prohibited.

Given that the whole book is an exercise in literary exhibitionism, I found the misuse of apostrophes (e.g. Masons Guild, Parents and Teachers Association) and frequent omission of the definite article (e.g. “going to town centre”) inexcusable.

Writing with limitations, whether that be a min or max word count, limited vocabulary or limited letters, using rhyme or whatever can be a worthwhile intellectual exercise for a writer, but that doesn’t mean the result is worth publishing, otherwise we might as well read spelling tests for pleasure.

One could try to interpret profound truths from this book, but frankly I think it would be a waste of time. Read Nineteen Eighty Four, The Trial, Fahrenheit 451, Oryx and Crake, Cat’s Cradle, Riddley Walker, or The Handmaid’s Tale instead etc. ...more

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Feb 10, 2020 Beverly rated it liked it

Cute and clever, Ella Minnow Pea is an epistolary novel with an astounding wordsmith in the author, Mark Dunn. I usually love these sort of books written in letters and memos and such, but it got a little hard going towards the end when the missing letters combined with the phonetically spelled words made me want to tear off my hair shirt.

Let me explain. A tyrannical town council, think "Salem witch trials" town council starts banning letters in the alphabet after they start falling off of a si ...more

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Jul 25, 2011 Rebecca rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: laugh-out-loud, epistolary, political, reviewed-for-blog, absolute-favorites, 20-books-of-summer-2020, reviewed-bookkaholic, languages

(4.5) On my recent rereading I engaged more with the individual characters: Ella and her parents, aunt and cousin; other members of the community; and a few off-island visitors who lead the research into what’s happening with the letters. I was also struck much more by the political satire: freedom of speech is endangered in a repressive society slavishly devoted to a sacred text. Those who continue to use forbidden letters are turned in by their neighbors or enemies and get 1) a warning, 2) a f (4.5) On my recent rereading I engaged more with the individual characters: Ella and her parents, aunt and cousin; other members of the community; and a few off-island visitors who lead the research into what’s happening with the letters. I was also struck much more by the political satire: freedom of speech is endangered in a repressive society slavishly devoted to a sacred text. Those who continue to use forbidden letters are turned in by their neighbors or enemies and get 1) a warning, 2) a flogging or time in the headstocks, and 3) banishment. The council members see themselves as interpreting the will of Nollop, and believe the pangram to be a miraculous sentence that can never be bettered – but the citizens prove them wrong by creating a superior example (using only 32 letters, versus the fox’s 35) purely by accident.

A remembered favorite line that my husband and I often quote to each other – “No mo Nollop poop!” doesn’t actually exist (it’s “No mo Nollop pomp! No mo Nollop poo poo!”). My favorite alternative phrase is “terminal-cot” for deathbed once D is disallowed. I also love the new days of the week: Sunshine, Monty, Toes, Wetty, Thurby, Fribs and Satto-Gatto.

Laugh-out-loud silliness plus a sly message about science and reason over superstition: a rare combination that makes this an enduring favorite. I also recommend Dunn’s Ibid: A Life (2004), which is told entirely through the footnotes of a biography, taking “reading between the lines” to a whole new level. I haven’t enjoyed his other novels as much as these two.

Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.

From my original Bookkaholic review (2013):

Dunn’s first novel is a book of letters – in more senses than one. It is a fairly traditional epistolary, yes, but it also toys with the letters of the alphabet: the wordy citizens of the island nation of Nollop are zealously engaged in creating pangrams (pithy sentences that contain each letter of the alphabet) in tribute to their founder Nevin Nollop, who authored “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog,” the original pangram displayed in ceramic tiles on his statue in the public square. But things go awry when particular letters start falling off the monument.

A superstitious lot, the Nollop Council decide that the fallen letters can no longer be used, and so the characters’ missives become increasingly constrained as they have to avoid certain vowels and consonants. Their writing grows exponentially avant-garde and hilarious as they resort to circumlocutions, phonetic spellings, and not-quite-right synonyms – as is the case with Christian Bök’s poetry collection of univocal lipograms, Eunoia, extreme creativity often arises out of a tough linguistic stricture.Before long only L, M, N, O, and P can be used – which, handily, still allows for an approximation of the title character’s name, but offers very few other coherent language options.

A madcap journey through the English language and its use in literature: enjoy the ride. ...more

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May 07, 2016 DeB MaRtEnS rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: aplus-2016, memorably-good, quirky-fiction, classics

Ella Minnow Pea (LMNOP) is a broad satire, which is conspicuous in loudly broadcasting its themes of the consequences of unfettered political power dictated to a country (fascism) with its resulting creeping loss of rights which become the new normal, as well as neighbourly reporting and ridiculously contrived punishable offences to incite fear and maintain absolute power. But once you have that nicely established, you can get down to the idiosyncratic local tale on the island of Nollop, named a Ella Minnow Pea (LMNOP) is a broad satire, which is conspicuous in loudly broadcasting its themes of the consequences of unfettered political power dictated to a country (fascism) with its resulting creeping loss of rights which become the new normal, as well as neighbourly reporting and ridiculously contrived punishable offences to incite fear and maintain absolute power. But once you have that nicely established, you can get down to the idiosyncratic local tale on the island of Nollop, named after the esteemed author of the pangram, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."

The citizens are noteworthy due to their relative isolation of a century from America, after settling with their leader Nollop. In fact, those who live "stateside" can find these citizens "difficult to understand". As a reader we are privy to correspondence between its people, in the form of letters, technology and telephones unavailable to them.

A crisis of great magnitude is conceived by the island council when a tile bearing the letter "Z" falls from the celebrated sentence beneath the effigy of Nevin Nollop. It will not repaired because this must be a "terrestrial manifestation". Rather, "Z" will be excised from the vocabulary.

The eloquent and verbose Nollopians, whose vocabulary is reminiscent of that of a well-educated, upper class and perhaps scholarly individual from the early 1900s, don't take this well. They are astounded when all the bees are removed from the island and the apiary owner charged with violations, for describing the sound they make! The fulsome language of Ella, writing to her cousin Tassie about this, includes "words" familiar only within their island culture.

"For the bees speak the offending letter as their wont. They sing it into the hills, our ears ringing with its scissoresonance."

Of course more and more tiles fall, making conversation and writing even more difficult. The library is shut down, denuded of books which don't comply. Town and village people are banished after three violations; the councillors now call themselves "The Pentapriests" in respect of the lost letters. With the absence of "C" and "K", one character writes to another in thanks- appreciation- for the pullet soup, use of synonyms being a matter of survival and saviour of property which is being absconded by the bureaucrats for themselves.

Help arrives and a solution is found but not before the struggle to communicate becomes terribly arduous -and hilariously phonetic- there being only scant letters to work with.

"...ewe are propaplee reating mie last letter to ewe. It is simplee too tiring to write. To sae watt I most sae in langwage one mae onterstant. I am so sorree. Alwaes, Ella".

Ella Minnow Pea, A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn was written in 2001 and has a timeless appeal. It is taught in schools; there are Sparks notes on the Internet . It is broad satire woven with the intricate detail of wordsmithery (that's a neologism, a made up word and a portmanteau word: hybrid of two). The simple tale is deceivingly complex, its wordplay an art in itself. And the result is quaint, goofy and unlike anything else I have ever read.

I did experience intimations of "Gulliver's Travels", lurking in the shadows. How could it not?!! Island, politics, strange language and Yahoos... But Ella Minnow Pea is much more fun.

**Autocorrect was a real PAIN in the keister with this review. You think? Hahaha! ...more

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Dec 11, 2007 Kate rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, the-100-in-2007, books-i-own, humor, diaries-and-epistolary-novels, favorite-books, 5-star-reads

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 out loud and the ligh ...more

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Nov 07, 2012 Richard rated it really liked it

Recommended to Richard by: Richard Derus

Shelves: humour, america, 2013, reviewed, recs-by-friends, something-borrowed

Ella Minnow Pea is a girl who lives on a small island off the coast of South Carolina. This nation state, named Nollop after its founder, seems idyllic. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, tiles begin to tumble from Nollop's monument, and the Council interprets these as (pardon the pun) letters from heaven. But the island paradise soon degenerates into a totalitarian regime as hellish as anything conceived by George Orwell.

This, as other reviewers have noted, is a parable about the exercise of hum ...more

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Nov 15, 2010 Whitaker rated it it was ok

Shelves: fiction-1950-and-after, z_2010-read, fictitious-setting

Original Review

Georges Perec wrote a novel without using the letter "e" even once. Dunn works a similar gimmick by writing this epistolary novel about an island that bans the use of certain letters as these drop off, one by one, from the statute of the creator of the phrase, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."

"Z" is the first to go, then "Q", then "J". Things get really difficult, however, when "D" falls off. Speech, indeed communication of any kind, gets increasingly difficult as th ...more

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Nov 10, 2007 Beth rated it it was amazing

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 good to boot. It’s l ...more

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May 07, 2008 Megan rated it it was amazing

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 city council ...more

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Jun 11, 2020 Britany rated it really liked it

Shelves: bookriot, own, epistolary, 2020

This quirky novel kept coming onto my radar years ago, I picked it up from a bookstore in Hawaii on Oahu. I finally got an opportunity to read it.

The whole premise is set on a made up island off the coast of SC called Nollop, the island has their own government and everything is based on the one sentence Nevin Nollop created using every single letter in the English alphabet. The Quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The letters start falling off and the crazy island deems that it's a sign fro ...more

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Apr 16, 2014 MJ Nicholls rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: merkins, oulipians, novels

An inventive epistolary and lipogrammatic novel mixing the prisoner’s constraint, pangrams, and neologisms to form an Oulipian feast. Perhaps a little Oulipo-lite? Perhaps. But the prose is impressive and despite the partial cheat towards the end (using phonetic sounds for words) the lipogram is successful and the plot something of a statement about censorship and the privilege we have in the West to use our language to express whatever we wish (and abuse this on a word-by-word basis). As someon ...more

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Jan 10, 2021 Maria V. Snyder rated it really liked it

This was a fun quick read. And I was super impressed by the linguistic skills of the author, avoiding words with certain letters as the story progressed. Although, by the end, I was having a difficult time reading as substitutions were used for forbidden letters. Thankfully that didn't last long. ...more

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Dec 08, 2009 Book Concierge rated it it was amazing

Shelves: family, social-commentary, southern-lit, own, funny, literary-fiction, strong-women, concierge, dystopia, epistolary

5***** and a ❤

On a fictitious island nation off the coast of South Carolina, the people pride themselves on their literacy and writing. Their founder, Nevin Nollop, is credited with writing "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." A sentence that contains all the letters of the alphabet, and which is memorialized in the town square. But when a letter tile falls from the monument, the Council takes that as a "sign" from above, and decrees that they should no longer use THAT letter. The far- 5***** and a ❤

On a fictitious island nation off the coast of South Carolina, the people pride themselves on their literacy and writing. Their founder, Nevin Nollop, is credited with writing "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." A sentence that contains all the letters of the alphabet, and which is memorialized in the town square. But when a letter tile falls from the monument, the Council takes that as a "sign" from above, and decrees that they should no longer use THAT letter. The far-reaching ramifications of this, and subsequent, decrees (as more letters fall from the monument) test the imagination, strength and patience of the residents.

The novel is told in epistolary form, and their missives adhere to the ever more restrictive rules as the book progresses. From finding synonyms to creative substitute spellings and even use of numbers, Ella and her friends and family try valiantly to maintain communication. You wouldn’t think the loss of one letter of the alphabet would have much impact. But what if you lost “V” and could no longer express your love? Or “H” and could no longer worship? More importantly, as residents flee the restrictions (or are forced out due to violating the laws), the entire society begins to crumble. Still, Ella and a handful of family and friends fight against the edicts and with the hope of returning their beloved island nation to a place where literacy is once again appreciated.

I had read this before and had a lovely discussion about it with my college roommate’s daughter. A few years ago she gave me the special illustrated gift edition, which has been sitting patiently on my shelves along with other “special” books. I’m so glad I took it off the shelf and read it at this time. This is a wonderful little satire on the use/abuse of power, but it is also a love letter to all of us who love and cherish words.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

UPDATE: 02Dec14 - reread the book and updated my review.

************************

UPDATE: 08Sep20
I read this again and am horrified to recognize behavior in our current government's leaders that mimic the behavior of the leaders of this island nation. I didn't find it so funny this time around. Nor quite so enjoyable. Instead I felt anxious and afraid ... much like Ella and the other citizens of Nollop as their society crumbles. Still, I'm leaving my rating as it is.
...more

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Apr 21, 2017 Althea Ann rated it liked it

A post-apocalyptic book club selection (which is technically not post-apocalyptic, but we are flexible like that).

'Ella Minnow Pea' posits an independent island nation somewhere off the coast of North Carolina. The villagers there have opted for a simple life, embracing old-fashioned, small-town values. They're governed by a town council, and revere the (fictional) historical character of Nevin Nollop, supposedly the originator of the pangrammatic phrase, "The quick brown fox jumps over the laz A post-apocalyptic book club selection (which is technically not post-apocalyptic, but we are flexible like that).

'Ella Minnow Pea' posits an independent island nation somewhere off the coast of North Carolina. The villagers there have opted for a simple life, embracing old-fashioned, small-town values. They're governed by a town council, and revere the (fictional) historical character of Nevin Nollop, supposedly the originator of the pangrammatic phrase, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." A monument to him stands in a prominent place on this island which is named after him, featuring the remarkable phrase that made his reputation immortal.

The problems start when - ker-smash! - one of the letters falls off the monument. The town council decides that this is a message from beyond: Nollop is communicating to his followers that the letter in question should no longer be used, either in speaking or writing. Violators will be punished... and the penalty will be more severe for subsequent offenses. The ordinance is difficult to follow, but the citizens manage. Unfortunately, this is only the beginning - the glue holding the letters to the monument is aging, and soon, more letters are on their way earthward - and out of the vocabulary of the characters and the book.

It's a fun conceit, cleverly executed - although I have to say, the order in which the letters plummet and are eliminated is awfully convenient for the writer. I very much enjoyed the deadpan humor of the story, and the allegory concerning the methods that can be used for the gradual erosion of people's rights is smooth - and spot-on.

I have to say, though - I expected things to get a lot worse. Society on Nollop slides into a dangerous place, where neighbors are accepting corporal punishment, turning informant, becoming banished, acceding to asset forfeiture, forming underground resistance groups and committing acts of civil disobedience... and I did expect a huge disaster at the end. But, maintaining the light-hearted tone of the book, the author kind of skids to a halt before hitting the edge of the precipice, and turns it around. I understand why, but the result felt a bit anti-climactic.
...more

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Sep 26, 2008 Lucy rated it liked it

It wasn't until I told someone, out loud, what I was reading that I realized the title, Ella Minnow Pea, really sounded like the "LMNOP" of the alphabet song. Now, of course, I have no idea how I missed it. Ella Minnow Pea. LMNOP. Obvious. So obvious I wonder what else I missed. Such a clever title. Such a clever book.

Ella Minnow Pea resides on the fictional island of Nallop, off the South Carolina shore, where all the residents are brought up in reverence of syntax and language. The founder and It wasn't until I told someone, out loud, what I was reading that I realized the title, Ella Minnow Pea, really sounded like the "LMNOP" of the alphabet song. Now, of course, I have no idea how I missed it. Ella Minnow Pea. LMNOP. Obvious. So obvious I wonder what else I missed. Such a clever title. Such a clever book.

Ella Minnow Pea resides on the fictional island of Nallop, off the South Carolina shore, where all the residents are brought up in reverence of syntax and language. The founder and most celebrated resident, Nevin Nollop, was the author of the well known keyboard practice sentence, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." When the letter tiles creating this celebrated sentence beneath his statue begin to fall off, the self-righteous and clearly brainless members of the governing council take it as a sign that Nollop, himself, wants the usage of these letters to terminate. As a result, they ban all future use of the fallen letters. First "z" gets the ax, followed by "q" and "k". The residents of the island face severe and, frankly, far fetched punishment if the banned letters are used in writing, speech or music.

As the book is written through letters between friends and family members within the community, the reader witnesses first hand the difficulties in communicating without all of our precious 26 letters. Yes, we need our "z" and our "k"s, uncommon as they may seem. Life without the letter "d" is no life at all. End scene.

In spite of all of the author's cleverness, which is bountiful, I found this novel lacking. The author, Mark Dunn, brilliantly uses the English language in its most advanced form. While I'm sure I'm exaggerating, (but since this entire book is a satire, I feel it's appropriate here) I think at least 10% of the words throughout the book were words I had never seen nor heard before. Dunn either has an intimate knowledge of English vocabulary or an extremely thick thesaurus at his disposal. For language lovers, I've no doubt this book would be a delight.

For story, character, plot and reality lovers, however, the story isn't quite as accomplished. The author's not very subtle dig at organized religion as a vehicle for the blindly obedient to carry out the wishes of non-existent tyrannical beings got on my nerves. Likewise, the characters were so poorly developed that I was never quite sure who the letters were being written by or to whom they were being sent. As their relationships with each other was never the point of the book, however, I let it slide.

Ultimately, this is a show-off book about language but not one that really entertains or matters, because the story isn't funny, romantic, endearing, sad or slightly plausible. Just very, very clever. ...more

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Jul 25, 2017 Irene rated it really liked it

Clever, totally fun read about an isolated utopian community dedicated to the celebration of the English language. As lettered tiles drop off an old monument in the town square, the governing body interprets it is a supernatural sign that each letter should be removed from all spoken and written language. The verbal acrobatics that ensue is entertaining. This is also a satire of the ludicrous attempts to censure language and ban ideas and the small-minded autocrats that enact such policies.

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Nov 10, 2020 Alaina rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, 2020-ng, fantasy, dystopia, humor, sci-fi, contemporary

Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters was such a fun book to dive into. Not sure why this was never on my radar but I hope to find more books like it. So much was happening that made me laugh and smile.

Now my family has ALWAYS joked that English is my second language (even though it isn't). All I know is that I was a kid who made up my own pronunciations of words. If I didn't know how to say it.. well, just wait - I would say it in my own way. Of course that led to my family crying from laughing ...more

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Jun 24, 2015 Mike rated it really liked it

Shelves: reviewed, literature, fiction

Ella Minnow Pea starts as a cute, light hearted book about a fictional country that idolizes Nevin Nollop, the man who discovered the pangram "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dogs." Written in the form of letters between townsfolk, the tale turns to fear as letters from Nollop's famous line begin falling off a statue erected to his honor. The Island Council decrees it is the will of Nollop (dead for nearly a century) for his people to no longer use those letters. Any one found using them ...more

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May 06, 2009 Milan/zzz rated it really liked it

Indeed this was fast, interesting read but from time to time extremely challenging. Namely my level of English is not on such a high level to be able to fully absorb what this lovely novel offers. There were so many words I never heard before so in spite the fact I could catch the context I wanted to know their exact meaning. Therefore I had to have dictionary beside me (also English-English one). But in spite "hard physical" work this read was really enjoyable!

The idea is incredibly original an ...more

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Mar 15, 2010 ·Karen· rated it really liked it

Shelves: usa

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Jan 29, 2019 Dani ❤️ Perspective of a Writer rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2019, fiction-adult, g-a-strong-family, imo-couldnt-have-cared-less, imo-wish-i-never-touched, stand-alone, 1-review-needed, g-t-contemporary, book-club, imo-so-depressing-im-suicidal

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The short review...

Cover & Title grade -> ?

Why?

As a Writer...

⋆ ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Authenticity
⋆ ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Writing Style
⋆ ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Plot & Pacing
⋆ ⭐⭐⭐⭐ World Building

______________________
You can find this review and many others on my book blog @ Perspective of a Writer. See my special perspective at the bottom of my reviews under the typewriter...

Please like this review if you enjoyed it! *bow* *bow* It helps me out a ton!! ...more

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May 02, 2015 Wiebke (1book1review) rated it it was amazing

This book blew my mind. I had not expected what I got.
The writing first of all is amazing, especially as it gets more challenging as the story progresses.
The story itself touches so many aspects that it is unbelievable that this book is so short.
The format of only including letters is perfect, as it shows the effect of the changes and the struggles and hardship of the people a lot better than any other form of narration could.
This is a fast read that will impress you and leave you thinking long ...more

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Jul 20, 2007 Jessica rated it it was amazing

Shelves: own, knitting, all-timefavorites

This book came up in my timeline and I realized that I had rated but never reviewed it. What is there to say? Every time I come across my copy, or see it mentioned anywhere, I smile. It just makes me happy. As someone who loves books, and words in general, this book is a jewel.

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Feb 03, 2020 Katy rated it liked it

As literature this is just okay, but it shines more as satire. And as political satire, it is timely.

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Mar 28, 2016 Elle (ellexamines) rated it really liked it

Shelves: y-notowned, z-2016read, 4-star, literary-fiction

Ella Minnow Pea follows a town where letters are slowly being banned as they stop from a statue.

It's fun and it's clever. The amount of puns and linguistical jokes in here is awesome. I appreciated visually seeing the prose become sparser. Honestly, I can't imagine writing a book like this, and I'm really impressed by the author's talent.

Don't mistake this for just a simple gimmick; the author also incorporates a message about religion and banning books in here. The town council's fanaticism i ...more

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Sep 17, 2008 Kathryn rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: lovers of letters and language

Shelves: tyler-and-kate-bookclub

Book Number Two in the "Husband-and-Wife" (aka Tyler-and-Kate) Book Club! ;-> Hugely successful! We both loved it. Wonderfully creative. Love-letters to the English language and the human spirit, and also a cautionary tale on the dangers of wearing blinders in politics and religion. A thoughtful tale, and a joy to read! Highly recommended to all my friends who love language and letters (both epistolary and alphabetical!)

...more

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Jul 11, 2020 Janelle rated it it was amazing

Shelves: library, 2020

Once I started this brilliant little book I found it near impossible to put down.
It’s a novel of letters, all of it is correspondence. It’s also a novel about letters and language, and the language is wonderful and expressive and clever. A real joy to read.
Ella Minnow Pea (say it out loud) lives on the island of Nollop named after Nevin Nollop who came up with the sentence “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” using all the alphabet. This sentence is on his statue and then the letter Z ...more

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Sep 24, 2010 Jasmine rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: american

At some point (in my review, or the comments, or maybe in the comments on MJ Nicholls review) I refer to Foer's new book as an attempt to mass market the avant-garde. I mean some people hate this, I think these are the same people that are annoyed about the "twilight gets teenagers to read argument." Well I for one am a big fan of all of the ways that we are attempting to expand people's minds. I don't think people who are seriously literary should forgo the avant-garde or read twilight in place At some point (in my review, or the comments, or maybe in the comments on MJ Nicholls review) I refer to Foer's new book as an attempt to mass market the avant-garde. I mean some people hate this, I think these are the same people that are annoyed about the "twilight gets teenagers to read argument." Well I for one am a big fan of all of the ways that we are attempting to expand people's minds. I don't think people who are seriously literary should forgo the avant-garde or read twilight in place of better literature, but I do think interspersing them with other books is reasonable and they help those people who haven't realized books are fun to develop their literary snob status. My point being there are reasons all books exist even the twincest books.

I bring this up because I think this is another attempt to popularize an avant-garde idea. This is kind of like oulipo for the masses. It even goes to the trouble to define lipogram at the beginning (along with epistolary and pangram, the first another nonstandard literary format, the second a kind of elitist literary obsession).

The novel is able to use these concepts without alienating the traditional reader because everything in the novel is heavily explained. You know why the letters are being removed and why that's a problem. I haven't read Perec, but I assume his is not quite his clear simply because the first section in this book uses all letters and specifies what will be removed when, including specific rules (no replacing with asterisks).

The other thing that makes this novel a bit easier to read than some of the traditional avant-garde (not all christie malry is very much in this vein) is that it takes a position on the state of the world today. The book reads as an interesting commentary on politics and religion. How long will we let people control us, how many rules will we pretend to be okay with before we are forced to change something? Who are these gods these rulers that we submit to? And those of us who submit who are we?

This was a book that I was going to read, but not ever really going to read if you know what I mean. But I forgot my book at home yesterday and needed something to read, since super discounts had just ended I'd bought everything I really wanted to read from the pile and this was the first book I could think of that I wanted to read. I'm really glad I forgot my book. ...more

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Play Book Tag: (POLL BALLOT) Ella Minnow Pea / Mark Dunn - 5***** and a ❤	5	27	Sep 15, 2020 01:28AM
Play Book Tag: Ella Minnow Pea - 3 stars	1	11	Jun 09, 2020 01:11PM
What's the Name o...: SOLVED. Seeking the book about letters falling off a statue, and then being banned from use. [s]	3	17	Apr 06, 2020 07:14AM
Similar Books	3	8	May 03, 2019 07:37PM
Dystopian Society: Ella Minnow Pea:...by Mark Dunn	3	8	Jul 06, 2016 10:13AM
2015 Reading Chal...: Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn	3	14	Oct 24, 2015 04:47PM

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About Mark Dunn

Mark Dunn

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Mark Dunn is the author of several books and more than thirty full-length plays, a dozen of which have been published in acting edition.

Mark has received over 200 productions of his work for the stage throughout the world, with translations of his plays into French, Italian, Dutch and Hungarian. His play North Fork (later retitled Cabin Fever: A Texas Tragicomedy when it was picked up for publica ...more

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“Today we queried, questioned, and inquired. Promise me that come tomorrow, we will not stop asking why.” — 12 likes

“Perhaps in time, Ella, the words we have lost will fade, and we will all stop summoning them by habit, only to stamp them out like unwanted toadstools when they appear. Perhaps they will eventually disappear altogether, and the accompanying halts and stammers as well: those troublesome, maddening pauses that at present invade and punctuate through caesura all manner of discourse. Trying so desperately we all are, to be ever so careful.” — 12 likes

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