Rating: 
Summary: Vivacious and delightful
Review: 'Ella Minnow Pea' is a delightfully diverting novel filled with wit and imagination. Its lovingly crafted structure is a real breath of fresh air -- one would be hard pressed to find another book like it out there. One must admire Mark Dunn not only for his lively imagination but for his awe-inspiring power over words. It is fun to see how he manages to continue telling his story while avoiding use of a growing number of letters in the alphabet. Never once does his prose sound forced or simple, even after he must resort to using his remaining letters to phonetically sound out his words. The plot (citizens on an island off the coast of the US rebel after their government begins restricting their use of the alphabet) could have easily been silly, cliched and like a poor man's 'Animal Farm' but instead forges out its own solid identity and endears itself to the reader through its inventiveness and wit. One can't help but enjoy 'Ella Minnow Pea'. I read it in one afternoon and my only complaint is that it had to end.
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Summary: Amazing Novel
Review: ...not onlee es thes book a romp, but et es a soseeal kommentaree on the abuse oph power.
Rating: 
Summary: Unique concept
Review: A progressively lipogrammatic epistolary fable. Doesn't that just about sum it up?!"The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" is the town of Nollop's motto. The famous phrase was created by Nevin Nollop, for whom the small island off the coast of NC is named. The motto is proudly displayed on large letters in the center of town. When the letter "z" suddenly falls off the town's sign, the town council decides that it's a message from Nollop to excize the letter z from the alphabet. However, as more and more aged tiles drop, the challenge to literary lovers to devise a shorter sentence than Nollop's, becomes all-encompassing - because only this will convince the town council that Nollop isn't the ominscient presence they believe him to be. Told completely in the form of letters from one townsperson to another, or council members to the public, or between relatives, its delivery is very unique. A lot of the writing, however, seemed to be far above the average person's vocabulary. Became amusing as the letters available for usage dwindled. 5/5 for originality, but the unlikely vocabularies possessed by EVERY letter writer detracted a bit from the overall rating. Worth a read, but didn't quite live up to its expectations for me.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely charming
Review: A very good read for a lazy weekend. The technique of presenting the story in letters first re-inforces that Nollop is a place that takes literacy seriously. Secondly, it makes an easy format to pick up the book and put down when needed. The next chapter is always looked forward to like a letter from a friend. The story itself is a witty Lottery-esque vision of when a community's traditions go haywire and subjugation to authority takes a back seat to common sense. The writing is carefully constructed (you'll see why when you read it) but is still a breezy read and doesn't feel forced or stilted at all.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely charming
Review: A very good read for a lazy weekend. The technique of presenting the story in letters first re-inforces that Nollop is a place that takes literacy seriously. Secondly, it makes an easy format to pick up the book and put down when needed. The next chapter is always looked forward to like a letter from a friend. The story itself is a witty Lottery-esque vision of when a community's traditions go haywire and subjugation to authority takes a back seat to common sense. The writing is carefully constructed (you'll see why when you read it) but is still a breezy read and doesn't feel forced or stilted at all.
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Summary: Go Ella!!!
Review: Able, pretty young wordsmith saves folk from excesses of zealots and jeering quislings.
Well, that's 73 letters, much too long to compete with Nevin Nollop's famous pangram, or those coined by the people of Nollop as they struggle to save their language from destruction. But Dunn and his heroine Ella have at least inspired me to try. This book was published in 2001, and was probably written before 9/11/01. But when the more timid Nollopians justify the growing restrictions on their freedom, the excuses often sound eerily familiar. ("We must be united at this time of crisis" etc.)
This extremely thought-provoking fable prizes freedom while showing how some quake before jack-booted censors.
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Summary: Ditto!
Review: An amazing play with words. (My personal favorite November substitution: Norepinephrine)
Rating:
Summary: A parable for our times
Review: Ella Minnow Pea (LMNOP) and her family live in the Republic of Nallop, an independent island off the southern coast of the United States. It is named for the man who invented the phrase "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog", and when the letters of the phrase on his statue begin to fall off, the government takes it as a sign from the founder that those letters can no longer be used in Nallop. Progressive discipline for violating the prohibition in speech or writing will eventually, after three offenses, result in banishment.
Ella and her valiant family bravely seek to survive this decree, as shown by the letters that make up this wonderful novel. As each letter falls, so too does the letter disappear from the family's correspondence, and yet they creatively contrive to communicate without them, and to fight the decree while retaining their love for one another and their dignity.
The book is both charming and thought-provoking, funny and timely. Because in the end, we are all faced with decisions from those in power--of whatever political stripe--that seem just as absurd and irrational as those of the Nallopians. Ella Minnow Pea may be the Gulliver of our times.
Rating:
Summary: A funny, unusual, witty novel that many will find wondrous
Review: ELLA MINNOW PEA by Mark Dunn is a great novel on many levels. First of all, it's funny. Next, it's unusual. Then, it's witty and wise. It relates the story of one girl's fight for freedom of expression. You see, Ella is a girl that lives on the island of Nollop off the shoreline of the Palmetto State. The island is named after Nevin Nollop, a sort of deity on their lands, for he was the one who originated the immortal phrase "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog." There is a large statue of Mr. Nollop on the island with his immortal phrase written underneath. However, due to some faulty adhesive properties, the letters have started to fall off, shattering on the ground. The government is up in arms about what to do in regard to the falling letters. Is it Mr. Nollop's spirit dropping them? Is Mr. Nollop telling them something from the ether? The totalitarian government thinks it so, so every letter that drops is one less letter the natives are allowed to speak or even write. Goodness me! What are the residents to do now that the letter T has dropped off? And the Q? And the D? As the letters fall from the statue, they also fall away from the novel, leading the reader into a quirky tale that linguists will love and people with happy imaginations will delight in. Dunn, a writer of startling inventiveness, has written something that perhaps will be around years later, delighting young and old. It is that good of a tale. The story itself is in letters, epistolary notes between residents on the island. The main protagonist (Ella Minnow Pea) is a uniting of letters, L, M, N, O, P. There are letters everywhere, strung together twixt this word and that. Sadly, the government of Nollop takes those letters away, snapping the ties that make, strung together, letters words, and words thoughts. It leaves our dear Ella Minnow Pea to her own wiles, fighting for friends, family, and freedom. If you mind your Ps and Qs, you'll find this story wondrous and something that you'll give your friends to read and then they'll give it to their friends. --- Reviewed by Jonathan Shipley
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Summary: Ella Minnow Pea - Dunn
Review: Ella Minnow Pea is a triumph! While I dislike calling it "experimental fiction" - this usually implies style over substance from which this novel did not suffer - this novel is a prime example of what an author can create when abandoning traditional novel structure. Not only does Dunn draw the reader in through his absorbing story, but also through the challenge he set for himself - to tell a story using a rapidly disappearing alphabet. Ella Minnow Pea is a quick but satisfying, absorbing read. Not only is it a satire about the world in which we live but its also a celebration of language. So, you're thinking all this sounds rather boring? Think again.
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