Lucien Young (1) (1988–)

The paraody of Alice in Wonderland to describe the rabbit-hole of nonsense that Brexit has become is perfect. It is a book written for those wishing to remain and not leave the EU, or at least to understand that the lies that were fed to the public were what created a leave result.

The characters lend themselves, with the Cheshire cat (or in this case the Cheshire Twit) being Farage, the Caterpillar (or in this case Corbyn-apillar) being Jeremy Corbyn, Tweedledee & Tweedledum (or in this case Tweedleboz & Tweedlegove) being Boris Johnson & Michael Gove, the White Rabbit (or Camerabbit) being David Cameron, and the Queen of Hearts (or Heartlessness in this instance) being Theresa May. And the perfect metaphor of Humpty Dumpty (or Trumpty Dumpty) of Donald Trump.

The story not only gives a detailed rundown of the events so far and what has taken place, it displays them for what they are - complete madness. The story is also full of songs and poems of verse to help support it.

I particularly liked the ending and wished that it was true - if nothing else because I am a devoted Prince fan and wish his death had been just a bad dream.

Despite finding myself laughing , there was a sense of surreal perversity as it really is not a joke, it is the truth about something that is current and ongoing, the madness of it has not yet stopped. And I am scared that it won't.

The ending sums it up perfectly with: "Was I dreaming then or am I dreaming now? Am I in a sane world dreaming of madness, or a mad world dreaming of sanity?"

A topical book that I hope one day will reflect a temporary time of madness the UK took on.… (mais)

Probably better than the market space gives it any reason to be. Like the 'grown-up' versions of Enid Blyton and Ladybird Books that have been filling the high-street bookshops (and latterly the charity bookshops) for the last year or two, this is a comedy-headline gift choice: whoever the publisher expects to read it, it isn't the person handing over their money. The business model is plain in the fact the publisher can give away a free audiobook version as a podcast.

That said, Alice in Brexitland does have a bit more substance than many of its stablemates. The targets are the same as those in every other satire of Brexit, and the jokes the ones you would expect, but Lucien Young does do a nice line in straight irony ("I suppose I'm meant to oppose the government... but I prefer to sit here all day, feeling self-righteous") and the modular structure of the Alice narrative means he can keep things ticking along by shifting from target to target.

I also find a peculiar joy in the timeliness of it all; the fact that, while these jokes may be obvious now, they'll be meaningless in a few years. In fact, given the outcome of the recent UK general election, a lot of it's looking out of date already. (A year is a very long time in British politics these days...) I like getting it, I like being in the on the gag in a way the me of 2020 presumably won't be.

Like I say, I can't recommend anyone fork out of any of their own money to read this sort of thing, it's just too lightweight (and the publisher has made other arrangements if you're the sort of freak who still likes to read what they buy) but it wouldn't be an embarrassing present to buy someone. Though I'm sure they'd have preferred the book tokens.… (mais)