*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:For 100 years, a cenotaph honoring Nollop's remarkable vulpine-canine sentence has stood in the center of town. Then, one day, the Z tile falls to the ground and shatters.The town council, in their wisdom, decide that this is a sign from the Great Man himself, expressing a Nollopian desire that the letter Z be utterly excised - fully extirpated - absolutely heave ho'ed from all oral and written communication.In a letter to her cousin, Tassie, island dweller Ella notes that it is just a funny little letter, after all. It will hardly be missed.But Tassie disagrees. I am so fearful, Ella, as to where this all may lead. A silly little letter, to be sure, but I believe its theft represents something quite large and oh so frighteningly ominous. For it stands to rob us of the freedom to communicate without any manner of fetter or harness.So, what happens to someone who accidentally utters a dreaded Z word?As laid out by the Council, first offenders receive a public reprimand. For a second offense, violators may choose flogging or head-stocks. A third offense is punished by banishment from the island. Refusal to leave upon order of the Council will result in death.Death.Soon, libraries are shuttered and textbooks confiscated, lest no one read the offending letter. But for the most part, the people survive. There are a few problems; some islanders have more trouble adapting than others.And then another tile falls.And another.The personal letters exchanged between the residents are both hilarious and heartbreaking, as the writers attempt to cope with their dwindling alphabet: You were right about the fallout from this most absurd law. Not only does it cripple communication between islanders, it builds rock walls between heartsSlips of the tongue. Slips of the pen. All over town people hesitate, stammer, fumble for ways to express themselves, gripgrasping about for linguistic concoctions to serve the simplest of purposes.G go tonite at midnite. No more G. So long G.There is such a delicious contrast of horror and humor here. While I'm laughing my head off at the part where they loose the D and have to invent new days of the week . . . For Wednesday, please use WettyI'm crying over Tassie's letter to Ella describing her mother's reaction to the ban: "And yet, deep inside," she tells me, "I am angry and rebellious." "In my head," she tells me, "I am reciting what I recall of my niece's last letter, allowing the illegal words to baste and crisp. I cook the words, serve them up, devour them greedily. In the sanctuary of my thoughts, I am a fearless renegade."She closes her letter with: Never stop writing.This is the third time I've read this book, and I'm always moved by the plight of the islanders, how much they love language and literature, and their utter sorrow at having all that they love stolen. If nothing else, the novel serves as a stunning reminder of how insidiously our rights can be stripped away from us. And it starts with something as simple as one silly letter.Now, perhaps I should mention how much I enjoyed using ALL THE LETTERS on my keyboard as I typed this review. I reveled in their shapes and truly, truly appreciated them. I hope to never take them for granted again.You'll take my letters when you pry them from my cold dead hands!
I decided to read this book after my friend Emma said it was one of the most creative books she's ever read. I admit, this one was certainly refreshing.Told in the epistolary style, Ella Minnow Pea follows the trials of the island residents of Nollop as they struggle to maintain control of their language as more and more letters fall into disuse. The reader gets to know the characters through the notes they write to each other. When members of the alphabet start being banned across the island, it becomes more difficult for the residents to communicate without using the forbidden letters. As people fall victim to banned-letter use, they are punished and eventually banished from the island. The only thing that can save them is the creation of a new pangram to replace "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." It is up to Ella Minnow Pea, one of the few remaining island habitants, to revive the entire alphabet so that the banished may return to Nollop and have free use of all 26 letters again.I found the book to be a quick, entertaining read. I love Dunn's ingenious renaming of the days of the week and months in the year as replacements for their proper names which become unspeakable/unwritable due to the presence of banned letters (e.g., Thursday becomes Thirby). As more letters fell into disuse as the novel progressed, it got slightly difficult to read the correspondence between the characters as quickly as in the beginning, because most of the words were being spelled differently (phonetically) so as to avoid using forbidden letters. But I was able to decipher the notes nonetheless.The ending of the book was a big "how did I not see that?" moment. I quickly raced back several pages to look for the clues that I missed. I literally said, "That's so clever!" when I got to the end of the book.More than just a delightful and comic tale about the alphabet, Dunn's first novel also portrays the effects of a totalitarian government and false worship. **spoiler alert** The leaders of Nollop become so obsessed with Nevin Nollop and the cenotaph built in his memory, that they see the fallen letter tiles as messages from beyond the grave...when, in fact, it's just the deterioration of the adhesive used to place the tiles on the monument. The rules they enforce on the residents, without much thought and no consultation, are harsh and cruel. Soon the people who thrive on their love of language find themselves slaves to it.A fun read with a deeper message. Definitely glad I read this book.
What do You think about Ella Minnow Pea (2002)?
I was seriously underwhelmed by this book, which actually meant I was very disappointed. The concept is great and I admire the author's skill and perseverance at finding words to convey a story through diminishing letters, but I still wasn't grabbed by it. I felt cruel and wicked not liking poor Ella. FROM THE PUBLISHERElla 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 banned the use of certain letters of the alphabet as they fall from a memorial statue of Nevin Nollop. As the letters progressively drop from the statue they also disappear from the novel. The result is both a hilarious and moving story of one girl’s fight for freedom of expression, as well as a linguistic tour de force sure to delight word lovers everywhere.
—bookczuk
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 and truth, English is not my mother tongue but I do believe Mr. Dunn has done it fantastically well. It's a pure delicacy for all linguistic geeks (which I am but in my mother tongue).What I especially like about this book was one augmented but great image of totalitarian regimes. The initial spot of bother was something so insane that it's quite impossible to comprehend but everything from that point was absolutely realistic and absolutely terrifying. There were no freedom of speech, your first neighbor is quite probably the stoolpigeon, government was controlling everything and government is full of power-thirsty schizophrenics (as usual)... Probably that's why I didn't find this book as funny as many did. It didn't make me laugh but then I don't think that was its intention after all.Highly recommending.
—Milan/zzz
I love-love-LOVE this tongue-n-cheek, epistolary, cautionary, crazy-brilliant lipogram-tale! Oh the madness!!! Oh the marauding wordy-nerdy-fun!!!! Poke-in-the-eye truths encompassing the dangers of complacency and passivity and the unquestioning blinding-blinders of status quo en masse!!! This is my third adventure with Ella Minnow Pea, and it just keeps getting better. My first foray was years ago, back in North Carolina. A book club selection that kicked-off quite a firestorm discussion; an either love or hate sort of read. As f*r this w*rdy-nerd, it's a FIVE-STAR-L*VE-LETTER, B*DACI*US great read!!
—Pamela
