Reviews
Fun literary concept! Feels like the story comes secondary to this novelty, which is not unexpected but I hoped this would overcome it. I think full books structured through letters just aren’t my favorite as they’re often not as exploratory and remain more surface-level. For example, lots of letter between people in the same household just isn’t believable! This, along with all very formal voices, just wasn’t hitting the mark for me.
Enjoyable, silly, quick read. Not revolutionary, but a worthwhile wordplay + warning on religious fanaticism.
Yes, I have stayed up to an ungodly hour to finish this book - I could not bear to put it down. My reading experience of Ella Minnow Pea has been full of nothing but pure delight. This is a work of art; linguistic porn. Language is a construct we take for granted. Communication is an innate, vital need. What happens when you take away the safety net? On second thought, what happens when you take away any of the safety nets that we so mindlessly assume are constant and everlasting?
Ps: if the events of this tale were to ever happen to us, please see to it that I am swiftly dispatched - I have not the strength of LMNOP.
That was the most delightful reading experience I've ever had the joy to realize. Yeah, this shit is hard.
** spoiler alert ** No vowels fell until the book was 83% done, and even then it was a U. What a cop-out.
a surprisingly relevant epistolary novel about the dangers of linguistic prescriptivism and religious fanaticism.
Highly inventive and passionate. The relief inspired at the culminating liberation of the Nollopians' vocabulary is a powerful reminder of the joy of language and expression. Wonderfully experimental.
Weird but interesting. Not my favorite
i was not expecting the book to turn as sad as it became at some points—caught me off-guard because i was expecting a light read, and in a way it was an easy, quick enough read; but still one that deals with issues that have only become increasingly relevant since the year this was published in a way that emphasizes the importance of humanity, hope and courage. of not giving up even in the darkest hours.
3,5owls This was different but good!
definitely a fun, cute little book! good if you’re looking for a fast little read! it only took me two hours! ❤️
THIS BOOK! Everyone needs to read this book. It is, in my opinion, the greatest work that explores the English language and how far we as a people are willing to go to keep our words, and thus ourselves, no matter who tries to censor us. The ending was phenomenal and even better than I expected. I couldn’t stop reading it. It’s perfect.
Being a fan of Georges Perec's "A Void", this book was a great short read. Talks about societal issues like censorship and totalitarianism, while also being lipogrammatic. The ending was a bit weird, but overall, fun for a single session read.
An interesting social commentary with language.
I actually started reading this book this morning and didn't put it down until I finished it;) This was quite an enjoyable, clever little book although I didn't find it as enchanting as James Thurber's The Wonderful O. Still it is a lovely read:)
This was a super interesting book. I found it harder to connect with the characters since it was written with letters that the different characters would send each other (although I understand why this method was used). Near the end I found it harder to read since there were so few letters able to be used it looked like a child had written it. This novel really made me look at the different lettered being used and think about how I use such a wide variety of letters everyday.
Love it. Sometimes hard for non-native English speakers because the characters/author have/has to use so many synonyms, but overall very enjoyable!
The writing is phenomenal! The author really knows how to work with words and synonyms. This was a lot sadder and more serious than I expected but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
** spoiler alert ** Unique and intriguing format. The last chapters/letters were hard to read through because of the phonetic spelling, but it was definitely worth it.
I think the idea behind it is very clever and I love the playing with language. However, the story is a bit silly at times and I wasn't very invested in the characters. Usually I'm not a fan of epistolary novels, yet it works brilliantly in this case. Overall enjoyed it.
Intelligent in its simple style and rather fascinating. That plus, a read easily finished in one sitting? This word nerd is happy. 🥰
Highlights