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3.15 AVERAGE
3.15 AVERAGE
This is one of those books that could have been brilliant but it just fell short for me. An historical retelling of Alice in wonderland sounded right up my street however I couldn’t connect with any of the characters and it was bozzarly written (not Lewis Carroll bizarre either). The plot or lack of was okay, the friendship between Alice and Alfred was sweet but that’s all I really liked about this book.
I do wonder if I’d have listened to the musical first if I’d have liked it more and I do still plan to listen to it/watch it if it ever comes to England. I love musicals so hopefully I’ll enjoy that more.
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I really enjoyed "Alice By Heart" as a musical (also written by Steven Sater, with music by Duncan Sheik) when I saw it at the MCC Theater a couple of years ago. I thought it was effective in ways few Alice adaptations can manage: it captured some of the weirdness and whimsy of Carroll, while grafting on narrative stakes and thematic resonance that gave it life and some animating sense of purpose. The world certainly needs no more Wonderland iterations, but I thought this one justified its existence.
These successes mostly don't translate to the novel. On the page, "Alice By Heart" is almost totally inert. Though the characters are situated in a blitz shelter in a London underground station, the real setting of the novel is inside the head of Alice Spencer, our young heroine, as she struggles with her helplessness. There's nothing wrong with an interior novel, of course, but Alice's mind is decidedly not an interesting place to be. Lacking much in the way of insight, she mostly just desperately wishes the bad things in her life would go away (the war, her friend's illness, an overbearing nurse). And don't we all? But as an emotional hook to pull us through chapters and chapters of tedious inaction, it's pretty underwhelming.
And then there's Sater's prose. The tiny kernels of character and plot in this book utterly collapse under the weight of his frankly ridiculous curlicues of linguistic fancy. The language is so silly and overwrought that it's really the main character of the novel. Some of his sentences are kind of fun to read, but plenty of them just sit there being pointlessly and ostentatiously cluttered with imaginary adjectives and other such nonsense.
I hoped that this novel might delve deeper into the ideas and themes that made the stage show feel fresh and worthwhile. Instead, Sater has created another Alice riff that fails to provide a meaningful reason for being. Two stars.
These successes mostly don't translate to the novel. On the page, "Alice By Heart" is almost totally inert. Though the characters are situated in a blitz shelter in a London underground station, the real setting of the novel is inside the head of Alice Spencer, our young heroine, as she struggles with her helplessness. There's nothing wrong with an interior novel, of course, but Alice's mind is decidedly not an interesting place to be. Lacking much in the way of insight, she mostly just desperately wishes the bad things in her life would go away (the war, her friend's illness, an overbearing nurse). And don't we all? But as an emotional hook to pull us through chapters and chapters of tedious inaction, it's pretty underwhelming.
And then there's Sater's prose. The tiny kernels of character and plot in this book utterly collapse under the weight of his frankly ridiculous curlicues of linguistic fancy. The language is so silly and overwrought that it's really the main character of the novel. Some of his sentences are kind of fun to read, but plenty of them just sit there being pointlessly and ostentatiously cluttered with imaginary adjectives and other such nonsense.
I hoped that this novel might delve deeper into the ideas and themes that made the stage show feel fresh and worthwhile. Instead, Sater has created another Alice riff that fails to provide a meaningful reason for being. Two stars.
kind of difficult to read if you haven’t seen the musical, but i love the musical so i already knew i loved the story. i do think it’s better in musical form rather than as a a book because the choreography and prop use is one of the best things about it.
dark
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Just slow, meandering and the main character is painfully insufferable.
I was gifted this book in exchange for an honest review.
3 star
This was a great premise to blend historical fiction and the whimsy of Wonderland. I didn't have a huge connection to the story and the jumping between book and reality took away from the story for me. I feel like it was a great way to show how light can be shed on really dark times through the power of books. If you are a fan of historical fiction, I think you'll love this.
3 star
This was a great premise to blend historical fiction and the whimsy of Wonderland. I didn't have a huge connection to the story and the jumping between book and reality took away from the story for me. I feel like it was a great way to show how light can be shed on really dark times through the power of books. If you are a fan of historical fiction, I think you'll love this.
My reader's heart is shattered but I loved this so very much. Sometimes revisiting childhood books in a new way hurts - sometimes it heals. This book does both.
I need to preface this review by saying that I saw the off-Broadway production of ALICE BY HEART, the show that this book is based on. I LOVE that show. It is a brilliant piece of theatre and when I heard there was going to be a book based on the same story, I knew I was going to love it. So I was going into the biased, and while I'm warning you all of that, I don't really care. I still loved this book.
The story plucked all of the same heartstrings. It's a raw and emotional story about friendship and growing up. Additionally, it is a commentary on the meaning of books and storytelling. How it shapes, wrecks, and completes us all at once. However, the most powerful thing the book for me is the dealings of loss. Sater replicated those messages, feelings, and sensations from the production perfectly to the page.
ALICE BY HEART is a beautiful homage to the original texts by Carroll. They deliver the story in a similar, visual style that winds and weaves the reader through the world of Wonderland, Alice's mind, and her history. The complementary nature of the WWII bunker and Alfred's impending death are integrated beautifully and tragically. All of that said, if you haven't read the original texts, this might be a difficult book to get into. If you don't understand the allusions Saten is making, you might struggle with the language, the flow, and the structure of the novel.
Finally, I love that some of the lyrics made it into book. Not only was I transported back to the world of the musical, but I got so much more history and depth from the characters and the story that the stage production didn't (and really couldn't provide). I love how Saten expanded the story for this adaptation and he did an excellent job.
Conclusion: Buy when in Hardcover
The story plucked all of the same heartstrings. It's a raw and emotional story about friendship and growing up. Additionally, it is a commentary on the meaning of books and storytelling. How it shapes, wrecks, and completes us all at once. However, the most powerful thing the book for me is the dealings of loss. Sater replicated those messages, feelings, and sensations from the production perfectly to the page.
ALICE BY HEART is a beautiful homage to the original texts by Carroll. They deliver the story in a similar, visual style that winds and weaves the reader through the world of Wonderland, Alice's mind, and her history. The complementary nature of the WWII bunker and Alfred's impending death are integrated beautifully and tragically. All of that said, if you haven't read the original texts, this might be a difficult book to get into. If you don't understand the allusions Saten is making, you might struggle with the language, the flow, and the structure of the novel.
Finally, I love that some of the lyrics made it into book. Not only was I transported back to the world of the musical, but I got so much more history and depth from the characters and the story that the stage production didn't (and really couldn't provide). I love how Saten expanded the story for this adaptation and he did an excellent job.
Conclusion: Buy when in Hardcover