Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Ella Minnow Pea: A Progressively Lipogrammatic Epistolary Fable by Mark Dunn

10 reviews

michaelion's review against another edition

challenging funny informative inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

What an amazing and PERFECT book!!! I was imagining the book being taught in English classes and how this would've made me so excited to read. I was so excited to read it at 24 years old, I read it without the audiobook! What a cool challenge to have kids try to write without certain letters! The history of the island is also interesting too, which meant for students learning bigger, more archaic words! I knew I was gonna give it 5 stars before I was 25 pages in. 

It's also a good representation of so many things kids will encounter as they get older. Idol worship / fanaticism / religious cults, fascism and political activism against it. What a perfect book! What a perfect book!!!

Unrelated to the book, whenever I get a new pen I always tested it by writing "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog." I find out IMMEDIATELY I've been writing the sentence wrong FOR YEARS!!!!! I know there was a time when I wrote it right! What happened!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Religious bigotry, Bullying, and Police brutality

Moderate: Death, Violence, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Self harm, Death of parent, Deportation, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Pandemic/Epidemic, Abandonment, Grief, Ableism, and Murder

Minor: Gaslighting, Racial slurs, and Misogyny

laguerrelewis's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful informative lighthearted reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I have heard nothing but praise for this book, and I’m happy to say it certainly met my expectations!! In equal measure heartwarming & funny as it is horrifyingly relevant, this is a quick read that paints an unfortunately believable picture of censorship and the slippery slope to totalitarianism. Reminds us of how important language, community, and our freedoms truly are.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deportation

Moderate: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Confinement, Xenophobia, Violence, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, and Death

Minor: Suicide attempt

starlitpage's review against another edition

challenging funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment and Deportation

Moderate: Alcoholism, Religious bigotry, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Gun violence

qrschulte's review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book had an interesting premise, but the focus on staying true to the “joke” of the book about letters being removed from a society’s vocabulary being told through letters (epistolary), was a bit much in my opinion. The characters weren’t that compelling, and a whole lot of nothing happened for it all to get resolved real quick in the last 20 pages (which incidentally were pretty blank).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Self harm, and Deportation

Moderate: Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Addiction, Grief, Death, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Torture, Religious bigotry, and Confinement

cheye13's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Deportation and Suicide attempt

Minor: Police brutality, Ableism, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Violence, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

The R slur is used in casual passing on pg 131 (hardback edition). Most other tags relate to the enforcement and punishments with regard to the illegal letters. Being epistolary, there is a casualness and distance from the actual events described.

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

dark emotional funny tense

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Self harm, and Suicide

Moderate: Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, and Death of parent

Suicide warning is more to be safe - either way, the death in question is a result of self-harm.
Further warning for uses of the G slur and the R slur, once each. There is also a romantic subplot between a 19 year old and a ~24-26 year old that I found uncomfortable.

evnfig's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This book was great. Fairly easy in concept and scope but oddly challenging in other ways, this book was a quick and entertaining weekend read. As letters of the alphabet are outlawed, it makes communication harder for the characters, but more entertaining for the reader. It's a book about freedom of expression and the power of language. It makes a point about totalitarianism and it's a love letter to the written word. Highly recommend.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Mental illness, Police brutality, Suicide, Alcoholism, Gun violence, and Religious bigotry

misse3's review against another edition

dark funny hopeful informative reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Gun violence, Death, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Police brutality, Murder, Death of parent, and Suicide attempt

rbacon's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

This book is so clever, honestly I'm just in awe of how unique a concept this is. The letter writing style only added to the world building. I would have loved to have read more about what happened after, and got to know some of the characters that were introduced later in the book a bit better, but also I am perfectly satisfied with the ending I got.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Murder, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Gun violence, and Alcoholism

eleanora's review against another edition

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, and Suicide attempt