#mark dunn

"For the present, it is easier for us to turn away. Our repulsion, you see, will not spur us to revolt until this plague moves much closer to home."

Starts off silly, turns into dystopia. Love it. How fitting for our times.

The computer algorithm coming up with the exact same sentence. THE sentence. I don't know. Something about it just... I don't have the ability to put it into words or to even begin to make sense of how it makes me feel but it makes me wish I had other people who loved the book to discuss it with.

Because is so refreshing to read something with a different format and epistolary novels nevel fail to amaze. Because the format, forcing the writing to change, adapt and suffer the same path of the story while the letters slowly fade away, is so interesting. Because , as English is not my first language, it was kinda of a double challenge for me to understand since the beggining. So, good thing that I love hard challenges. Because is funny to notice how the restriction of direct words create almost letters of poetry. Beautiful, horrendous, poetry. Because it criticize such important themes nowadays, like censorship, autoritarism, idolatry and much more. Because resilience in dark times is the key. Write. Speak. Think. Because small acts of resistance, like writing a single letter when they demand you to not, it's bigger than you think. Because in the hardest time, Ella showed how important reaching the hand out for community can be helpful, if not by working together, maybe by staying together then. Because I love the little humanity conveyed in every letter: People being in love, people making fun of each other, people creating friendships, people falling in love or complimenting a stranger hat. people. people. people. Glimpses of humanity all around. Because the answer of something that only the praised as god could do, what a lot of people were desperated to achieve, was hidden and lost in the everyday. Daily forgotten divinity, if you may let me say. and because, lastly, Ella Minow Pea coming from LMNOP is so soo satisfaying.

Like Ella please, a woman has just died.

I think the book conveys a really powerful message concerning the damage that can be done just by banning words (or, in the book's case, letters).