Update Book 52: Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
Say it out loud with me now: Ella....Minnow....Pea. Cute right?! This is a book written in letters about letter. The story is about the fictional island of Nollop off the coast of South Carolina, named for the author of a pangram (vocab word of the day meaning: a phrase, sentence or verse composed of all the letter of the alphabet). Nollop penned the infamous sentence:
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
The island of Nollop has immortalized this sentence in monument form on a hill above their city (think HOLLYWOOD). When Letters begin falling off of the monument the high council of the island rules that it is their dear Mr. Nollop who, speaking from the grave, is telling them to stop using that letter. The consequences of using the letters are very strict. The first to fall is the little used "Z*" followed by Scrabble killer "Q." When "D" tumbles and vowels make their way down, things go from terrible to worse.
I should mention that the islanders have an impressive vocabulary. They are a civilization based on the use of fancy words. This is a brilliant book, written entirely through letters by the censored island inhabitants. It was so interesting to see how, as each letter was removed from use, they chose to express themselves. This is a novel for word lovers. It is quick and witty. The message of "Ella Minnow Pea" is that an unchecked government can become oppressive (also a few notes on religion and cults.)
What I loved about this book is that it is so different! What an interesting idea for a book. Obviously Dunn is something of a wordsmith to so carefully weave a story that slowly eliminates letters from use. I fully recommend this novel to anyone who is up for a bit of a vocabulary challenge!
Also an interesting note, this book was recommended to me by the girl who sat next to me during jury duty. It was not available at Barnes and Noble so I had to special order it. I'm glad I made that leap of faith! Book recommendations from new sources are always appreciated!
*Just a quick note: t I used the "little used letter-Z" a grand total of NINE times in this post including the title.
No comments:
Post a Comment