Ella Minnow Pea: A Progressively Lipogrammatic Epistolary Fable

Rating:
Summary: Innovative
Review: This book is very unique. The subject matter & the way the book is written is very innovative! It is also warm and funny. The characters live in Nollop, a fictional country where writing is the main form of communication (no phones). The events that ensue when the use of certain letters is prohibited are hilarious, and paradoxically, heartbreaking. The book is written in such a way that the author himself has to restrict his writing to eliminate the prohibited letters--and he does a fabulous job. A must read!

Rating:
Summary: Ella Minnow Pea
Review: This book throw words at you that you've never heard before! DIRECTIONS: Think about having dictionaries in supply. You won't believe the words in this book! Try this one freehanded:epistolary. Like I said, you needed a dictionary. Late in the book, someone overuses the remaining letters(yes,on a fictional island that depends on a "god" named Nollop who "created" the sentence "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" and the letter tiles start falling down). Thisssss is a goooooooood bookkkk. Good byeeee. (get it?)

Rating:
Summary: ONly if you have a brain
Review: This book was a fun and literary book. Not for the mind which needs consistency. The characters are basic, but the story is well-developed. This book is a quick, light, and intelligent read.

Rating:
Summary: right up there with "84, Charing Cross Road"
Review: This charming little tome is going on my list of ESSENTIAL books. I sat down one night to read the first chapter and looked up two and a half hours later when I finished the entire thing. If you like words and the way they fit together, you'll love this book. And if you like books written as letters (like "84, Charing Cross Road", "Griffin & Sabine", or even "The Jolly Postman"), you will adore this book. Even notes left on the kitchen table are charming in how they play into the story. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Rating:
Summary: right up there with "84, Charing Cross Road"
Review: This charming little tome is going on my list of ESSENTIAL books. I sat down one night to read the first chapter and looked up two and a half hours later when I finished the entire thing. If you like words and the way they fit together, you'll love this book. And if you like books written as letters (like "84, Charing Cross Road", "Griffin & Sabine", or even "The Jolly Postman"), you will adore this book. Even notes left on the kitchen table are charming in how they play into the story. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I've read in years
Review: This creative, intriguing novel follows the swift disintegration of an imaginary civilization when the letters on a statue they revere begin to fall, and their island government deems this a sign that they are to no longer use these letters in speech or writing.
The novel is written in the form of epistles, and as the story progresses we see the struggles of the correspondents to communicate without using the forbidden letters.
The book can be read as a cautionary tale, a political and/or religious allegory about censorship, idolatry, and the ease with which unwise laws can be passed, often unwittingly. The result of forbidding people to use certain letters of the alphabet is catastrophic; it results in physical punishment, exile, the breakup of families and loss of property -- even death.
Yet this novel is also a creative and entertaining read, uplifting and, in places, humorous. I highly recommend it to anyone who is fascinated with language.

Rating:
Summary: Linguistic fun
Review: This is a charming read that's part puzzle, part satire, and pure fun all the way through.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully Unique
Review: This is a GREAT read, and I'd recommend it to anyone, especially to those who are really into the English language. A very fun book that you won't want to put down and will wish it wasn't over when you're finished.

Rating:
Summary: Linguistic Brilliance
Review: This is a must-read for anyone who cherishes the lost art of letter-writing or anyone who has any wordplay inclinations whatsoever. Dunn has spun a tale that manages to be all of the following: a detective short story, a Scrabble game, a political fable, a love story, and even a futuristic Orwellian comedy. This playwright has mastered the "man v.s. society" theme in plays and has now translated his wisdom to the fiction world.... I hesitate to sing any more praises, lest I disclose the book's secret, which is precisely the heart of his lingusitic brilliance.

Rating:
Summary: Bring your dictionary
Review: This is an incredibly fun book with a very interesting premise. I've never seen anything written like this before and Mr. Dunn's linguistic skills amazed me! That being said, the fact that the islanders have elevated language to a form of art coupled with the dilema they find themselves in necessitates the use of some interesting words with which I was totally unfamiliar. I DID NOT have a dictionary with me (I read this on a train cross-country) and wished I had.

The story itself was so fun and the writing was so creative and fascinating that I could hardly put it down. Do make sure you have a dictionary though.