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A review by katykelly
Wonderland by Juno Dawson
4.0
Alice updated for relevant issues, themes and groups. Clever stuff.
It would really help for a reader/listener to know Carroll's original, or the regular references will be wasted. The updating feels fresh, smart and is full of memorable characters, often playing on traits and lines from the children's book.
Alice now is a teenager, and the White Rabbit is her missing friend Bunny. Visiting Wonderland by invitation, she find it a sensualist days-long party where norms and expectations go out of the window, and other young people she knows are congregating for various purposes.
As is usual with Dawson, themes of sexuality, coming-of-age, teenage relationships and sex itself are not shied away from, with some graphic content here making this feel authentic.
Like Carroll's Wonderland, can Alice trust anyone? Even herself?
Without giving anything away, the plot, characters and even quotes from the book (as well as references to the author) fill the story. And yet it feels completely contemporary. I did find the denouement a little cliched, but everything that came before it was original and well thought-out.
I listened to this via Audible, and enjoyed hearing Dawson's own voice narrating her own creations, with a range of accents and tones. She brought Alice's mixture of young libidinous adult and vulnerability out very well.
With twists and other issues that fall outside the remit of the classic story, it's a combination of update and modern adolescent novel. Drugs, sex, sexual violence, gender identity, this is for older teenagers really, and does contain unapologetic (sexual) swearing and some scenes that might upset younger readers.
Cleverly done. Lots for book groups to talk about with this one. For ages 14 and above.
With thanks to Nudge Books for providing a sample Audible copy.
It would really help for a reader/listener to know Carroll's original, or the regular references will be wasted. The updating feels fresh, smart and is full of memorable characters, often playing on traits and lines from the children's book.
Alice now is a teenager, and the White Rabbit is her missing friend Bunny. Visiting Wonderland by invitation, she find it a sensualist days-long party where norms and expectations go out of the window, and other young people she knows are congregating for various purposes.
As is usual with Dawson, themes of sexuality, coming-of-age, teenage relationships and sex itself are not shied away from, with some graphic content here making this feel authentic.
Like Carroll's Wonderland, can Alice trust anyone? Even herself?
Without giving anything away, the plot, characters and even quotes from the book (as well as references to the author) fill the story. And yet it feels completely contemporary. I did find the denouement a little cliched, but everything that came before it was original and well thought-out.
I listened to this via Audible, and enjoyed hearing Dawson's own voice narrating her own creations, with a range of accents and tones. She brought Alice's mixture of young libidinous adult and vulnerability out very well.
With twists and other issues that fall outside the remit of the classic story, it's a combination of update and modern adolescent novel. Drugs, sex, sexual violence, gender identity, this is for older teenagers really, and does contain unapologetic (sexual) swearing and some scenes that might upset younger readers.
Cleverly done. Lots for book groups to talk about with this one. For ages 14 and above.
With thanks to Nudge Books for providing a sample Audible copy.