A Void

At first I found A Void to be very difficult to follow because I couldn’t understand Perec’s references to particular people and events. However, I think the overall intent of the novel is rather interesting. I think it’s interesting, definitely intentional, that Perec named the character Vowl which is missing the vowel ‘e’… I often read it as if the ‘e’ were there anyway because I expected it to be every time his name came up. Also, I noticed Vowl had a slight obsession with the number 5 and after reading The History of the Lipogram, I realized ‘e’ is the 5th letter of the alphabet. But like other people asked, why would anyone take the time to write a novel this way? It seems far too difficult and time consuming. But obviously there’s rationale behind every author’s work and I wonder how writing a novel as a lipogram affects the way the reader comprehends the story and what they take away from it.