An epistolary novel about missing letters of the alphabet, the very concept of this book is a pun.
The letters that make up this book are both the medium and the message, as the senders, Ella & Tessa and occasionally others, struggle to communicate with a decreasing variety of letters as well as the punishments and consequences for failing to comply with the limitations. Bases around the deification of originator of the sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." and a Council that decides that when a letter falls from the monument, it becomes illegal to use. Eventually only "LMNOP" remain before the island people are saved by:
"Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs."
Amusing enough to spend the time with, but not quite worth popping to the top of the TBR stack for its own virtues. ( )

A short novel, written in the form of correspondence between the inhabitants of a fictional island, Nollop, off the coast of South Carolina. The inhabitants of Nollop worship the person, Nevin Nollop, who created the sentence, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." They are enamored with the fact that the sentence includes every letter of the alphabet, and thusly deify Nollop. They hold the written word so highly that they do not have computers or cell phones, and constantly write letters to each other, even throughout the course of the day.

Centrally located in their village is a statue of Nollop with his infamous phrase written on tiles atop the monument. One day, a letter falls, and the High Council deems it a divine sign from the long-departed Nollop that they should stop using said letter. What follows is a near Herculean feat as people try to continue communicating with each other as one tile falls after the other, resulting in the prompt banishment of the letter from all vocabulary. It demonstrates how the loss of letters, vocabulary, and ultimately language can result in isolation, loneliness, fear, and the dissolution of society as a whole.

An absolutely fantastic and fun read! It feels incredibly light-hearted and humorous despite being a dystopian novel. I HIGHLY recommend listening to the audiobook - it has a full cast of characters that brings the correspondence to life, and makes for a wonderfully dynamic listen. I also checked out the hard-copy because I wanted to SEE the correspondence between the villagers, and it is also worth picking up. I found it especially fun to try to decipher the correspondence with the lack of usable letters. I'll likely be purchasing this one for my personal library. ( )

Adorable story, very engaging and enjoyable read. Loved it.
Highly recommend! ( )

What a tale1 And what originality! This was a joyous read. Dunn's use of language is marvelous fun, while also getting at a very important point: freedom of human expression is essential to creativity and community. Highly recommend! ( )

A creative and well-executed idea of a alphabet-worshipping community descending into totalitarianism. With a simple yet effective plot, the story treats us to some linguistic delights (before some necessarily terrible shockers!) as well as how such a dystopia could happen. Now I just have to find and read Flatland and that will fulfil my childhood desires/delights for these concept novels. ( )