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kajoreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
- The premise and the setting were interesting.
- I enjoyed a lot of the commentary around transness.
- The Alice in Wonderland retelling aspect was kinda fun.
- There were some weird jokes and descriptions that came across like microaggressions.
- The mental illness rep was questionable at best.
- I wish the MC’s internalized misogyny was addressed better.
- Overall, the book simply didn’t live up to my expectations. The synopsis had me hoping for an investigative mystery. This wasn’t that.
- The resolution was underwhelming.
Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Drug abuse, Self harm, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Vomit, Gun violence, Abandonment, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Transphobia, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Deadnaming, Racism, Violence, Ableism, Blood, Incest, Forced institutionalization, and Biphobia
thebookishnerd_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Drug use, Mental illness, Violence, Vomit, and Sexual content
Moderate: Deadnaming, Suicide, Classism, and Alcohol
Minor: Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Transphobia, and Abandonment
literarylily's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Dysphoria, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Deadnaming, Mental illness, Drug use, Self harm, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Incest, Sexual assault, Cursing, Animal death, Murder, and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Cultural appropriation
lucystolethesky's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Abandonment, Drug abuse, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Self harm, Deadnaming, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Outing, Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Addiction, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Death, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Body shaming, Violence, Bullying, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Transphobia
alexa_bmn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Transphobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Death, Sexual assault, and Drug use
Moderate: Incest and Deadnaming
morebedsidebooks's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Drug use
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Transphobia, and Vomit
Minor: Deadnaming, Death of parent, Incest, Animal death, and Alcoholism
Also drugging and mentions of an overdose death occur in the book.anettainkeri's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, and Sexual content
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
Minor: Gun violence, Incest, and Vomit
fiekesfiction's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
It is very hard for me to describe “wonderland” by Juno Dawson because it was not what I expected it to be.
“If my hair isn’t blue, how will anyone know I’m transgender?”
“Natural colours only,” she says for the millionth time.
I smile slightly “Ms Grafton, I think I left natural behind years ago, don’t you?”
The story follows Alice. After she had a one night stand with Bunny, the girl has disappeared and no one seems to care. When she tries to find out what happened to her, Alice ends up in a strange party for the elite.
Even though this is written in a funny way, the story has a lot of darker things going on. Especially in the beginning with Alice making sarcastic comments, the story felt a bit light and I thought it would just be a quick fun read. But soon I realised that was absolutely not the case.
She winks again and walks off with my phone. It feels a lot like she’s removed a vital organ. I’d rather she’d taken a kidney to be franks, I have two of those and can’t watch memes on either.
Juno Dawson is very good at adding topical themes to her story in a clever way.
The Alice in wonderland retelling is very well done. This story has the same surreal feeling of things not being quite right, as the original story does. The wonderland in this case is obviously the different lives extremely rich and privileged people live. The world is a bit different for them.
It’s really obvious which characters are based on the original Alice in wonderland characters, but it was actually fun to compare them. I did think this story doesn’t really have a ‘plot’, mainly Alice is just stumbling around not really knowing what she’s doing, but it makes sense with the way this story ends and I think it also adds to the feeling of “wonderland” since the original tale is also really not a lot more than Alice trying to understand a strange world. The themes were great, the writing was funny and the main character was flawed but well developed.
“Is our collective self-esteem so waferthin that we rely on compliments from strangers for sustenance?”
I would recommend this to anyone who wants a very different and diverse story with themes of feminism and class.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Rape
that_bookworm_guy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Throughout the book, there are quotes from Alice in Wonderland woven throughout and characters that share similarities to the original characters.
The story is interesting and strange, and honestly wild. But very enjoyable.
It's dark, and it's messy and focuses a lot on mental health. But as a trans person, I could see a lot of similarities in mine and Alice's experiences. I love being able to see parts of myself in fictional characters.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Death of parent, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Hate crime, Vomit, Violence, Transphobia, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Self harm, and Mental illness
Minor: Incest