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A review by cosybookcorner
Wonderland by Juno Dawson
4.0
Wonderland felt like a wild, drug infused haze, full of high society drama and eccentricities. It felt like Gossip Girl meets Heathers, with Juno’s signature level of depth and empathy. No author takes high society party girls and gives them such multifaceted dimension, weaving in topics of mental health and gender identity, quite like Juno does.
Wonderland was so raw, never shying away from tough topics. I really appreciated the honesty that Dawson brings to the character of Alice in terms of her gender identity. Alice is a young transwoman attending an all-girls school where no one knows her past history. She grapples with the anxiety over being ‘outed’ and how her peers would react to the knowledge of her being trans, and throughout the book we do see different characters learn this and how they react to it.
Something that I’ve not seen before in YA, yet feel is incredibly important, is how Juno treats Alice in such a sex positive light. Alice is a sex positive character, looking for sexual experiences with both men and women, and has not yet had bottom surgery – she’s very nervous about how this will be perceived, yet throughout the book Alice learns that she does not need to physically change her body in order to be a sexy, beautiful woman, yet the topic of fetishisation was touched on in a very poignant way. To read the perspective of a young trans woman embarking on sexual exploits with different people, and to not feel the need to conform to a stereotypically ‘female’ body type is wonderful and I hope will be meaningful and eye-opening to a lot of young people who pick up this novel. I don’t want to speak on the accuracy of this representation, but it is Own Voices.
Alice and other characters spend most of Wonderland in a alcohol and drug fuelled haze, which gives such a whimsical feel to the story – complete with larger than life plots which feel reminiscent of Pretty Little Liars, Dawson has woven a unique take on tropes I love to see in TV. This is what Juno does so well every time – raw, high class, elegant, dangerous drama but with more depth and sensitivity that I’ve seen anywhere else. This is the Alice and Wonderland retelling that every modern teen needs in their life. Wonderland is my third Juno Dawson book, and I can’t wait to read more from her!
TW: attempted rape, drug use, overdose, death, suicide, sexual assault, self-harm, arson, grief, fetishisation, transphobia.
Wonderland was so raw, never shying away from tough topics. I really appreciated the honesty that Dawson brings to the character of Alice in terms of her gender identity. Alice is a young transwoman attending an all-girls school where no one knows her past history. She grapples with the anxiety over being ‘outed’ and how her peers would react to the knowledge of her being trans, and throughout the book we do see different characters learn this and how they react to it.
Something that I’ve not seen before in YA, yet feel is incredibly important, is how Juno treats Alice in such a sex positive light. Alice is a sex positive character, looking for sexual experiences with both men and women, and has not yet had bottom surgery – she’s very nervous about how this will be perceived, yet throughout the book Alice learns that she does not need to physically change her body in order to be a sexy, beautiful woman, yet the topic of fetishisation was touched on in a very poignant way. To read the perspective of a young trans woman embarking on sexual exploits with different people, and to not feel the need to conform to a stereotypically ‘female’ body type is wonderful and I hope will be meaningful and eye-opening to a lot of young people who pick up this novel. I don’t want to speak on the accuracy of this representation, but it is Own Voices.
Alice and other characters spend most of Wonderland in a alcohol and drug fuelled haze, which gives such a whimsical feel to the story – complete with larger than life plots which feel reminiscent of Pretty Little Liars, Dawson has woven a unique take on tropes I love to see in TV. This is what Juno does so well every time – raw, high class, elegant, dangerous drama but with more depth and sensitivity that I’ve seen anywhere else. This is the Alice and Wonderland retelling that every modern teen needs in their life. Wonderland is my third Juno Dawson book, and I can’t wait to read more from her!
TW: attempted rape, drug use, overdose, death, suicide, sexual assault, self-harm, arson, grief, fetishisation, transphobia.