It took me a few times to actually get into this novel. while i knew it was missing "e"s i still felt the need to make SURE that there REALLY weren't any for the first couple of pages, the first couple of times i tried. i picked it up again in law school, when i could no longer concentrate on any detail, and found that i loved the book for the mystery story it told. i am one lazy human being, but perec references other cultural events, art, literature, etc to supplement descriptive words that would require the use of the missing vowel (though sometimes he just gets rid of them-the main character is Anton Vowl) and i would actually get off my ass to look them up so that i got a fuller picture of the story he was telling.

even madame bovary didn't make me lament the fact that i couldn't read the french original the way that this book did. damned ignorant american that i am, i was only able to enjoy it in english, but i can imagine that anyone who could enjoy both versions would get double the pleasure and double the fun.