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2.74 AVERAGE
2.74 AVERAGE
Ugh...my brain hurts. Fantastic concept but in usual Maguire style, it was just too much. I didn't feel smart enough to read this book in the beginning and that just really turned me off. Mostly, I just wanted to be done with it.
I liked that this book was written in a similar fanciful style as Carroll's original Alice stories. Unfortunately I felt that jumping between timelines (Ada in Wonderland and Lydia in Victorian England) as frequently as it did, detracted for the overall story for me. I felt that it was choppy and difficult to keep up with at times. Also the introduction of the third timeline (Siam) was a nice balance, except that those snippets were even shorter, thus accentuating the choppiness of the story.
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I have really liked most of the books by this author. This was an exception. It was the longest short book I have ever read. And not at all filled with the whimsy and fancy I wanted.
I picked up this book because as someone named Alice, I enjoy a bit of Alice in Wonderland every once in a while. The premise of the story is interesting. We pick up right after Alice has fallen down the rabbit hole. While her sister is looking for Alice, Alice's friend Ada has also found the rabbit hole and fallen down herself. Ada is a very different heroine than Alice, because she is much less pleasant and is constrained by a back brace. The whole book is a search for Alice, both in the real world and in Wonderland, though Alice only makes a very brief appearance in the end.
While I enjoyed the premise of the book, I found the attempts at nonsense kind of exhausting. While Ada was in Wonderland, the author obviously attempted to make it sound Wonderland-y, something which I'm not sure can possibly be done very well.
While I enjoyed the premise of the book, I found the attempts at nonsense kind of exhausting. While Ada was in Wonderland, the author obviously attempted to make it sound Wonderland-y, something which I'm not sure can possibly be done very well.
I'm not sure how I feel about this book. It's definitely inspired by Lewis Carol's writing style. But it spends a lot of time looking for errant children and less time in Wonderland than I had hoped for. Siam as a character also turned the story sad. Why is Darwin in this book? Why are half the characters in this book for that matter? There so much of nothing interesting going on. The story could have been so much more!
I wanted to like this book but it took me two tries and a quarantine to finish it so I don't think I liked it much at all.
I wanted to like this book but it took me two tries and a quarantine to finish it so I don't think I liked it much at all.
I am a fan of Gregory Maguire. I am not a fan of this book. It seemed like Maguire was trying so hard to imitate the voice of Lewis Carroll's Alice books that he failed to take the time to craft a good story.
When Alice disappeared down the rabbit hole, what happened to the people left behind