Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters
Mark Dunn
Ella Minnow Pea is at the center of a literal war of words, and it’s up to her to find a way to restore freedom of expression to the quirky island of Nollop before language disappears for good.
Named after Nevin Nollop
(creator of the famous pangram “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog”),
the island of Nollop is situated off the coast of South Carolina. Its citizens idolize the island’s
namesake—they have even memorialized the man and his immortal sentence through
a statue. This pleasant place is
infatuated with language and letter writing, and rightly so. However, the serenity of the idealistic and
linguistically limitless islanders is threatened when, one day, the letter “Z”
falls off of the statue. The island’s
councilmen rule this a metaphysical message from Nevin Nollop himself: the
islanders are to use the letter “Z” no longer, lest they be banished from the
island forever. Letter by letter, the
rest of the alphabet begins to fall from the statue, and Nollopites are forced
to eliminate each one from their vocabulary.
In an exchange of letters, Ella, her family, and their neighbors
cleverly try to navigate their evolving language as they realize the tyranny of
their government’s demands and seek to stop the linguistic lunacy.
This very witty epistolary novel is simultaneously a comical exercise in wordplay and a compelling tale of a community attempting to overcome its leaders assumed total authority over its members’ lives.
This very witty epistolary novel is simultaneously a comical exercise in wordplay and a compelling tale of a community attempting to overcome its leaders assumed total authority over its members’ lives.
Publication date: October 2002
Page count: 208pp
ISBN: 0-385-72243-5
This book sounds like it might be a fun read! I enjoy epistolary type books. I enjoy some of the 18th and 19th century books that are written this way. Can you image life with out the letter Z? No Zebras or zany ideas! How boring ;)
ReplyDeleteThis book is so great--the whole thing is about these people trying to communicate effectively as each letter of the alphabet falls from the statue and is then forbidden to be used. The epistolary aspect of the book is very effective, and it's just so clever overall. It's pretty funny, too, and definitely a good one for people who love words!
ReplyDeleteWell done, I love the title & premise. Feels like a softer & lighter take on totalitarian government? This book seems right up my alley, thanks for finding.
ReplyDeleteI will read for sure, maybe it will cancel out some of the stinkers I have read lately.
This book sounds amazing! Thanks for your witty review. This has just moved to the top of my list. The title reminds me of the children's picture book, L M N O Peas, which I absolutely love.
ReplyDeleteGreat review, the first sentence sums up the book and the following paragraph goes into more details. Looks very professional.
ReplyDelete