The theory behind this thought is interesting and worth a couple tumbles through the head. That, however, isn't necessarily important. It's an interesting premise, but don't think it through too much because it'll hit logic's Swiss cheese. By limiting language to 500 words, needless things such as emotions and imagination no longer get in the way of practicality. The result was the Melting and almost extinction of mankind. The idea is that language enabled unnecessary/useless thoughts, which hindered people to listen and act accordingly in the past. Language is key in this tale, or rather, the attempt to abolish it. When her master goes missing and a wounded traitor of the Arc shows up at her door, her world is turned upside down. Not only does she distribute the allowed list, but categorizes no longer used words and files them away in case they might someday be necessary again. Letta holds a rare and important position she's the Word Smith's apprentice. Speaking any other word is punished by banishment and certain death. Here, language is controlled and only 500 words are allowed.

Letta lives on a future Earth, where the big 'melting' has left only a few survivors in a place called the Arc.

I guess, her just always being able to sneak around successfully seemed pretty memorable.With a wave of greeting to The Giver, this story tackles the power of language, emotion, imagination and bravery in a controlled world which is trying to strangle all four. What was one of the most memorable moments of The List? In fact, I'd argue they'd just get resourceful, obeying the 'letter of the law' and not the 'meaning of the law.' But, despite the glaring flaws, it was a fun story, and spurred some amusing discussion among my family. My point is, refusing to teach a word doesn't inherantly make humans dumber. If you've ever told a group of kids they can't talk, it's irrelevant because they sure will still get their messages accross.

But the concept is pretty strange, since humans would have just immediatelly adapted with say, secret signs etc. This is like, the worlds goofiest dystopian- where they decide the human language is the enemy, so they eliminate words. Listened to this on a road trip with my kids. If you could sum up The List in three words, what would they be?

The wordsmith patricia forde