Skip to main content

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn: book review

 


Ella Minnow Pea (2002) is set on the fictional island of Nollopton in one year from July to November.

 

Nevin Nollop has just used all of the letters in the English alphabet to make a sentence: Thequick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. 

 

Villagers on the island write letters to each other as a form of communication—instead of phone calls. Through these letters, a young girl, Ella Minnow Pea, and her family—learn that Nevin Nollop is a hero for using all the letters of the alphabet to make a sentence. He will have a statue erected in his honour after his death. 

 

When he dies, his statue has his famous sentence displayed for all to see. One day a letter from the sentence drops off. The villagers take this as a bad omen. 

 

A rule of the island is that the letter that drops off the statue cannot be used ever again, in writing, or in speech. 

 

To break the bad omen, the villagers need to create a new sentence—a new pangram with all of the alphabet’s letters. Then another letter falls off the monument. Oh no, the omen is getting worse. The villagers need to hurry, but they are not as clever as Nevin Nollop. And then another letter drops off: ‘the growing fear coils about us.’ 

 

As more letters drop off, communication becomes restricted. The islanders want to bend the rules. Are they allowed to use ‘ph’ insead of ‘f’? Even more letters fall off. 

 

To match the dilemma of the villagers, the author restricts his writing–no z, no q, and so on, as the letters fall off Nevin Nollop’s statue: ‘Pharewell. Pharewell. Tho we were not phrents 4 long, I will so miss ewe.’

 

It becomes an interesting race against time to free speech from the omen–and to free speech. Ella Minnow Pea fights for freedom of expression. 

 

This is more than a comic tale. It is a satirical look at censorship, totalitarianism, superstition, and the power of language. It misses the intellectual mark, but the intent is there, and it’s interesting nonetheless. 







 

 

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.


MARTINA NICOLLS

Website

Martinasblogs

Publications

Facebook

Paris Website

Animal Website

Flower Website

SUBSCRIBE TO MARTINA NICOLLS FOR NEWS AND UPDATES 

 

 

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author  of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce  (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...
1 comment
Read more

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing...
1 comment
Read more