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3.15 AVERAGE
3.15 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
mysterious
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book is such a good reminder of how stories can bring people together and be a source of comfort in difficult times.
challenging
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My favourite niche genre of book is "kids who cope with trauma by escaping into fantasy realms via books" and Alice by Heart seemed like it would be a perfect fit for this genre. Sadly it wasn't. Confusing, clunky, and just altogether disappointing I had trouble understand what was happening while reading. Maybe musicals adapted from books just aren't meant to be turned back into books.
Read my full review on my blog: Book Review: Alice by Heart by Steven Sater | Not Sarah Connor Writes
Read my full review on my blog: Book Review: Alice by Heart by Steven Sater | Not Sarah Connor Writes
Excellently written, especially considering that it is an adaptation of a musical. I love the musical, so that absolutely contributed to most of my enjoyment of the book. If you want more context for the musical, read it. However, if you are just looking for a book to read, I wouldn't recommend this one. Listen to the musical, get attached to the characters, then read this.
I listened to the music of Alice by Heart on youtube and it was lovely, but wowsers this book was on drugs-- which in a way is fitting since Lewis Caroll was. I think this is a case of lost in translation of mediums from the stage to the page. Unlike a traditional play, in the case of musicals you can't directly cut the dialogue from the script and paste it into a book without missing a huge part of the story, since songs are used to further the narrative. Unfortunatley, it feels like that's what happened. The constant switch from fantasy to reality was jarring and somewhat unclear. There was so much going on at all times that I didn't connect with any of the characters. I could see how this format works in a musical, but as a novel it was all over the place. There were a few parts that were particularly frustrating and I never felt like there was any payoff for I wasn't a huge fan of the puberty plot line regarding Alice, nor the other characters role in emphasizing that theme. I could tell the author was using the story as a vessel to convey Alice growing up, confronting her feelings, and becoming a woman, in the way Lewis Caroll did with the original, but it was too on the mark and not very well done.
I would be interested in seeing the musical, but this book is a pass for me.
Spoiler
Alice FINALLY getting to Alfred before he died. It drove me crazy how many times she almost reached him only to have the nurse would call her back... AGIAN. It happened so often it became annoying.I would be interested in seeing the musical, but this book is a pass for me.
steven sater stop taking about boobs challenge
ok so. i’m emotionally attached to the musical version of this on so many levels, but my god, this just....... really wasn’t it. two stars just for the beloved characters and concept. also that cover. but i wasn’t feeling this.
the writing was so. fucking annoying. beyond the incessant, unnecessary mentions of alice’s boobs (seriously- wtf???), it was really prose-y but in like. a nonsensical way, not a nice one. it made it really had to get through, because every sentence felt like a whole puzzle i had to figure out unnecessarily. i also thought the writing style made it a lot harder to connect to the characters. i wanted more deep-thinking and paragraphs about characterization and deep thoughts, and instead that time was spent on meaningless prose. alice was kind of annoying, there wasn’t nearly enough alfred. i didn’t mind the other characters though.
also, i wasn’t able to get into the alice x alfred bits beyond the flashbacks. see, they started out cute, but then alice is just like. internally monologuing about kissing alfred and it’s kind of uncomfortable. there isn’t even much on what a kiss would mean to her, just the base physical thing. idk. not my cup of tea.
on that note, however, the flashbacks were really cute. they made me tear up a tiny bit at one point.
i also enjoyed the bits of history & the photographs within this version; it added something to the story that i thought the musical was a bit lacking in.
ok so. i’m emotionally attached to the musical version of this on so many levels, but my god, this just....... really wasn’t it. two stars just for the beloved characters and concept. also that cover. but i wasn’t feeling this.
the writing was so. fucking annoying. beyond the incessant, unnecessary mentions of alice’s boobs (seriously- wtf???), it was really prose-y but in like. a nonsensical way, not a nice one. it made it really had to get through, because every sentence felt like a whole puzzle i had to figure out unnecessarily. i also thought the writing style made it a lot harder to connect to the characters. i wanted more deep-thinking and paragraphs about characterization and deep thoughts, and instead that time was spent on meaningless prose. alice was kind of annoying, there wasn’t nearly enough alfred. i didn’t mind the other characters though.
also, i wasn’t able to get into the alice x alfred bits beyond the flashbacks. see, they started out cute, but then alice is just like. internally monologuing about kissing alfred and it’s kind of uncomfortable. there isn’t even much on what a kiss would mean to her, just the base physical thing. idk. not my cup of tea.
on that note, however, the flashbacks were really cute. they made me tear up a tiny bit at one point.
i also enjoyed the bits of history & the photographs within this version; it added something to the story that i thought the musical was a bit lacking in.