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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
First published in 1865
Published in Puffin Books 1946
Reissued in this edition 2014
Novel
Summary
The story follows Alice, a young girl living in Vicorian era England. One day she is lying on the grass next to her reading sister. She begins to dissapear into a very peculiar dream. She follows a white rabbit into a rabbit hole and ends up falling down into “what must be the centre of the earth”. She has all sorts of adventures with the various strange creatures in Wonderland. Mad Hatter, Caterpillar, Red Queen of Hearts, Cheshire Cat, March Hare, Mock Turtle. All incredibly strange indescribable characters. Though I will try to give a description nevertheless. Red Queen of Hearts is the ruthless ruler of the rigorous authoritarian regime that has Wonderland in its grasp, you could say her hobby is having people beheaded. Mad Hatter and March Hare have both been cursed to having an eternal tea party. Caterpillar is a shisha-smoking, you guessed it, caterpillar that gives Alice some advice. Cheshire Cat is a cat that dissappears and reappears on its own accord, Alice builds up some kind of quasi-friendship with him. Then we have Mock Turtle, a sulky half turtle half cow that likes to tell people about his history and is about to be turned into Mock Turtle soup. I think Mock Turtle is my absolute favourite character in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I absolutely adored this book. I might have shed a quick tear at the note at the end, featuring an almost Shakespearian view of childhood and the inevitability of growing up. That note elevated the entire book for me. This book doesn’t have a plot. It is, in Lewis Carroll’s own words, “nonsense”.
Assignment
Creative Writing: write a diary entry for Mock Turtle.
Dear Diary,
You must know by now that I have been cursed. I might have mentioned it in every single diary entry so far. I’m truly sorry you have to deal with me being melancholy all the time. It’s just hard knowing that you got robbed of the perfect turtle life. I’m half cow and half turtle for Goodness sake. An abomination! And, ‘better yet’, I’m about to be turned into a bloomin’ soup! The only thing I can do for the time being is tell people about my history, maybe it’ll prevent this from happening to another innocent little turtle.
Love,
(Mock) Turtle
First published in 1865
Published in Puffin Books 1946
Reissued in this edition 2014
Novel
Summary
The story follows Alice, a young girl living in Vicorian era England. One day she is lying on the grass next to her reading sister. She begins to dissapear into a very peculiar dream. She follows a white rabbit into a rabbit hole and ends up falling down into “what must be the centre of the earth”. She has all sorts of adventures with the various strange creatures in Wonderland. Mad Hatter, Caterpillar, Red Queen of Hearts, Cheshire Cat, March Hare, Mock Turtle. All incredibly strange indescribable characters. Though I will try to give a description nevertheless. Red Queen of Hearts is the ruthless ruler of the rigorous authoritarian regime that has Wonderland in its grasp, you could say her hobby is having people beheaded. Mad Hatter and March Hare have both been cursed to having an eternal tea party. Caterpillar is a shisha-smoking, you guessed it, caterpillar that gives Alice some advice. Cheshire Cat is a cat that dissappears and reappears on its own accord, Alice builds up some kind of quasi-friendship with him. Then we have Mock Turtle, a sulky half turtle half cow that likes to tell people about his history and is about to be turned into Mock Turtle soup. I think Mock Turtle is my absolute favourite character in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I absolutely adored this book. I might have shed a quick tear at the note at the end, featuring an almost Shakespearian view of childhood and the inevitability of growing up. That note elevated the entire book for me. This book doesn’t have a plot. It is, in Lewis Carroll’s own words, “nonsense”.
Assignment
Creative Writing: write a diary entry for Mock Turtle.
Dear Diary,
You must know by now that I have been cursed. I might have mentioned it in every single diary entry so far. I’m truly sorry you have to deal with me being melancholy all the time. It’s just hard knowing that you got robbed of the perfect turtle life. I’m half cow and half turtle for Goodness sake. An abomination! And, ‘better yet’, I’m about to be turned into a bloomin’ soup! The only thing I can do for the time being is tell people about my history, maybe it’ll prevent this from happening to another innocent little turtle.
Love,
(Mock) Turtle
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Well. That was weird. Again. I feel like every time I reread this book it'll just get more and more confusing, and that's one of the loveable parts of this book. It's ever so timeless, and was crafted so well for kids, and even at my age, I still really enjoyed it. I didn't read any kids' classics as a kid, except "A Wrinkle in Time", and with this book I have continued to try to read more classics, but unfortunately, I haven't really been keeping to my promises, so uhh. Yep. Katherine strikes again, not fulfilling something she wants to do. *sigh* Either way, I thought this book was great. Kind of (really) weird? Check. Kind of dark? Check. Kind of (amazingly) fun? Check. It did get a bit too annoying for me in some parts, but overall I thought that it was just really fun. I can see how this book can be a gateway book, for many kids out there, and can still entertain those that are older. It's a book that can make you laugh, while simultaneously making you mad, which if I do say so myself, is quite a hard thing to achieve. I mean, they're practically opposites. However, I really did like following Alice around, and seeing how she got through this strange and weird world. The world was gorgeously crafted, and I definitely wish that there would be more on this world, without the crazy, creepy stuff. Cough cough jabberwocky cough cough. I loved seeing all the different 'groups' Alice spent time with, how they interacted with her, and what she thought of them. It's such a strange and random book that you could interpret it many ways and still just enjoy it for the fun story that it is. I can understand why you wouldn't like this story, but I loved it, and it'll definitely be a reread for me. :)
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
adventurous
fast-paced
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Yes
“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll is another one of those classic novels that I have managed to avoid reading. To be honest, I am not a big fan of the various movies either as I found them all to be a little bit random for my liking so I wasn’t sure how much I would actually enjoy reading this. However, as the ebook was free on Project Gutenberg I decided to finally take the plunge and give it a try.
For anyone living under a rock who doesn’t know the story, it follows a young girl named Alice who follows a rabbit down a rabbit hole into a fantastical and magical world. Whilst undertakes a mad cap adventure in which she encounters talking animals, potions that change her size and a royal court made up of playing cards.
If the plot above sounds rather silly and nonsensical then this would be because it is. There really is no distinct plot and the characters are quite weakly developed. I suspect children may enjoy the various random leaps from one crazy event to the next as it would stop them getting bored. However, as an adult it meant I found it hard to get engrossed or feel something for the characters, especially when you consider the rather cheap method Carroll uses to end the story. None of this was helped by the fact that I also didn’t like Alice as a character; she irritated me with her obnoxious tendencies and bouts of temper tantrums. For a young child like Alice this type of attitude can be par for the course but it really didn’t endear her to me at all.
I did still find the book quite enjoyable however as some of the various events Alice encountered on her journey were imaginative, colourful and at times rather amusing. In addition Carroll does a great job in portraying the entire adventure from Alice’s viewpoint even if she as a character annoyed me. The way in which she reacts and tries to rationalise what she is seeing against the black and white way she has been taught does come across as something a child would do. Then of course we also get to see Alice’s mind wander off in various tangents which reminds me of how my own young daughter can sometimes act.
Overall, I did enjoy finally reading this classic and for all the randomness and strange events, I managed to understand and follow it a lot easier than some of the movies. At times the book is varied and fun but it is let down by the weak and at times rather cruel characters in addition to a disappointing plot and finale. Personally, I will probably give “Through the Looking Glass” a read in the future just to see if Carroll can create something that captures both his imagination alongside an entertaining story.
For anyone living under a rock who doesn’t know the story, it follows a young girl named Alice who follows a rabbit down a rabbit hole into a fantastical and magical world. Whilst undertakes a mad cap adventure in which she encounters talking animals, potions that change her size and a royal court made up of playing cards.
If the plot above sounds rather silly and nonsensical then this would be because it is. There really is no distinct plot and the characters are quite weakly developed. I suspect children may enjoy the various random leaps from one crazy event to the next as it would stop them getting bored. However, as an adult it meant I found it hard to get engrossed or feel something for the characters, especially when you consider the rather cheap method Carroll uses to end the story. None of this was helped by the fact that I also didn’t like Alice as a character; she irritated me with her obnoxious tendencies and bouts of temper tantrums. For a young child like Alice this type of attitude can be par for the course but it really didn’t endear her to me at all.
I did still find the book quite enjoyable however as some of the various events Alice encountered on her journey were imaginative, colourful and at times rather amusing. In addition Carroll does a great job in portraying the entire adventure from Alice’s viewpoint even if she as a character annoyed me. The way in which she reacts and tries to rationalise what she is seeing against the black and white way she has been taught does come across as something a child would do. Then of course we also get to see Alice’s mind wander off in various tangents which reminds me of how my own young daughter can sometimes act.
Overall, I did enjoy finally reading this classic and for all the randomness and strange events, I managed to understand and follow it a lot easier than some of the movies. At times the book is varied and fun but it is let down by the weak and at times rather cruel characters in addition to a disappointing plot and finale. Personally, I will probably give “Through the Looking Glass” a read in the future just to see if Carroll can create something that captures both his imagination alongside an entertaining story.