Eleven is a 2006 novel by David Llewellyn

David Llewellyn (author)

David Llewellyn , is a Welsh novelist. He grew up in Pontypool and graduated from Dartington College of Arts in 2000. His first novel, Eleven, was published by Seren Press in 2006. His second novel, Trace Memory, a spin-off of the BBC drama series Torchwood was published in March 2008. Everything...

 and published by Seren Press

Seren Press

Seren Books is a small independent publisher of English language books by authors living in Wales. Seren's aim is to bring Welsh literature to a wider audience. The press takes its name from the Welsh word for 'star'....

.

Eleven is unusual in that it is written entirely in the form of emails, drawing to a certain extent upon the tradition of epistolary novel

Epistolary novel

An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. The usual form is letters, although diary entries, newspaper clippings and other documents are sometimes used. Recently, electronic "documents" such as recordings and radio, blogs, and e-mails have also come into use...

s. The action of the novel is limited to a single day, between the hours of 9am and 5pm.

It is a recent addition to a growing number of fictional works dealing with the events of 9/11 and its aftermath, following Windows On The World

Windows on the World (novel)

Windows on the World a novel written by Frédéric Beigbeder was first published in France in 2003. The English translation by Frank Wynne was released March 30, 2005 by Miramax Books.-Plot summary:...

by Frederic Beigbeder

Frédéric Beigbeder

Frédéric Beigbeder is a French writer and literary critic. He won the Prix Interallié in 2003 for his novel Windows on the World and the Prix Renaudot in 2009 for his book Un roman français...

, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a 2005 novel by Jonathan Safran Foer.The book's narrator is a nine-year-old boy named Oskar Schell. Two years before the story begins, Oskar's father dies on 9/11...

by Jonathan Safran Foer

Jonathan Safran Foer

Jonathan Safran Foer is an American author best known for his novels Everything Is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close...

, and the short story "The Last Days of Mohammed Atta" by Martin Amis

Martin Amis

Martin Louis Amis is a British novelist, the author of many novels including Money and London Fields . He is currently Professor of Creative Writing at the Centre for New Writing at the University of Manchester, but will step down at the end of the 2010/11 academic year...

.

Reception

Niall Griffiths

Niall Griffiths

Niall Griffiths is an author, who has published six books to date. He has also written travel pieces, restaurant and book reviews, and radio plays...

 wrote that, "It conveys an almost unbearable poignancy". Rob Dawson, writing in Gay Times

Gay Times

Gay Times is one of the United Kingdom's leading gay magazine for gay and bisexual men.-Publication and content:...

(August 2006) commented that, "The characters are a little too stereotypical at times", while Nicholas Clee in The Guardian

The Guardian

The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

(January 6, 2007) described it as "a funny (and) disturbing view of a disaffected age". Author Ray French voted it one of his "Top Ten Black Comedies" in The Guardian.

See also

• September 11, 2001 attacks in popular culture
• e
  E (novel)
  e is a comic novel by Matt Beaumont first published in 2000. Written in the epistolary tradition, it consists entirely of e-mails written between the employees of an advertising agency and some of their business partners...
  
  , a 2000 novel by Matt Beaumont
  Matt Beaumont
  Matthew Beaumont is a British novelist and former copywriter.Beaumont made his debut in 2000 with the comic novel, e. The Novel of Liars, Lunch and Lost Knickers, which consists entirely of e-mails composed by the staff of one advertising office...
  
  also entirely composed of e-mails