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A review by robotswithpersonality
Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn
Absurd and disturbing and fascinating all together.
I mean, anything so centred on words, language is a good bet for me to love, and this is indeed as of now, a 2024 favourite.
To start with such a fanciful promise and then follow it to what history grimly indicates is the next step and then...
The creativity in finding ways to communicate when arbitrary restrictions are placed on English as one once knew it, almost like word puzzles throughout, especially after the phonetic forms come into it.
The standard considerations about how restricting word usage, censorship affects the institutions common to communities: schools, libraries, news papers, and their staff.
And then of course the ever darker implications of controlling a populace, people informing on each other, people living in fear, people suffering and dying. And the parallel often seen in such circumstances, power hungry group just getting more dictatorial, religious zealotry beyond sense, the denial not just of what once was acceptable, but of reality where it does not suit the new world view. The manipulation not just of what is available for use, but also the further appropriation when power maddens (i.e. land grab in the name of religion).
And the lightbulb moment near the end? Oh, boy. I love being swept away in a story, because I was not looking for it, did not see it, and that made the revealed moment of discovery so much better.
⚠️Attempted suicide, use of slur, alcoholism
I mean, anything so centred on words, language is a good bet for me to love, and this is indeed as of now, a 2024 favourite.
To start with such a fanciful promise and then follow it to what history grimly indicates is the next step and then...
The standard considerations about how restricting word usage, censorship affects the institutions common to communities: schools, libraries, news papers, and their staff.
And then of course the ever darker implications of controlling a populace, people informing on each other, people living in fear, people suffering and dying. And the parallel often seen in such circumstances, power hungry group just getting more dictatorial, religious zealotry beyond sense, the denial not just of what once was acceptable, but of reality where it does not suit the new world view. The manipulation not just of what is available for use, but also the further appropriation when power maddens (i.e. land grab in the name of religion).
And the lightbulb moment near the end? Oh, boy. I love being swept away in a story, because I was not looking for it, did not see it, and that made the revealed moment of discovery so much better.
⚠️Attempted suicide, use of slur, alcoholism