SOURCE: "Georges Perec. A Void," in Review of Contemporary Fiction, Vol. 15, No. 2, Summer 1993, pp. 200-01.

In the following review, Malm suggests that the missing "e" in the lipogram A Void is symbolic of the loss of loved ones.

It is impossible to convey the oddities and beauties of this text. There are plots within plots, mysteries within mysteries, times within times, shadows within shadows. The text is, in a sense, a whirlpool. Perec, in effect, wants to suggest that language (is there a world within a word?) is an attempt to convey consciousness; it is the "bond" that connects us (even though we take words for granted). By compelling us to understand that our very existence as social creatures depends on language, he forces us to hear and say and write with concentrated (consecrated?) understanding. As one "character" puts it: "dumb-struck, as I say you and I, although...