Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters in Around the World in 80 Books

Sep 30, 2007 Sarah rated it really liked it

Shelves: owned, book-club, book-club-rg, books-about-books, dystopian

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. The epistolary f ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jan 25, 2011 SarahC rated it it was amazing

Shelves: modern-tales-and-myths

I am so glad I read this remarkably written novel. It is a unique story about how quickly censorship can enact the destruction of society and the individual.

Through a strange spiritual devotion to the man Nevin Nollop who created the typing exercise sentence “the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog,” the High Council of the nation of Nollop begins edicts on the use of letters of the alphabet as they drop from a monument to Nollop in the capitol’s town square. The Council believes if the lett ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jan 29, 2018 Nadine in NY Jones rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, is-it-real-or-is-it-memorex, humor

This book is immensely silly, incredibly clever, and endlessly enjoyable. It also makes me start writing weird things, like "endlessly enjoyable." I can only imagine how much fun Dunn had with writing this (and how equally frustrating it must have been!!) This is a short, quick, fun read; there's no reason not to read it, and so many reasons to read it!! I hope it is being assigned in high school English classes around the world, because I can only imagine how much fun a classroom would have wit ...more

Like · see review

Mar 30, 2008 Sera rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, own, literary-fiction

A novel of letters about letters and the role of censorship in a small fictional town called Nollop. What if the government started banning the use of certain letters in the alphabet in both speech and writing one at a time? How would people communicate? Would people rebel or flee to another country? These are some of the questions that the author tackles in what seems to be a cute, clever, little book, but turns out to be so much more. As time goes on, I love this little gem of a story more and ...more

Like · see review