After Alice: A Novel (edição: 2015)

This is the story of what happens to Ada, Alice's friend, who falls down the rabbit hole after Alice and has her own set of adventures. They are, curiouser and curiouser, very much like Alice's adventures.

I did not like this book. I struggled to finish it but since I liked Wicked, I thought it would get better. It never did. The next day after I finished this I got up and immediately thought, "Man, that book was not good."

I didn't like anyone in this book. At all. Not even Ada. Or Darwin.

I liked how every other chapter was about the sister, Lydia (Not likable. Not in the least.)and the next chapter would be down in the rabbit hole.

And what's up with the Siam kid? I know the original Alice was political and entirely over my head, but I just didn't get this.

And the words! The wordy words! I had to read the sentences many times over and I just didn't feel like looking up all those words I didn't know. That may have more to do with me than with the author, but I felt like he was too clever and showing off a bit too much. Too much thinking for not much result.

As an aside, I really loved Alice as a kid. Through the Looking Glass was one of my favorite books. ( )

His strangest fairy tale to date I believe. Not sure that one needed to be written. ( )

His strangest fairy tale to date I believe. Not sure that one needed to be written. ( )

Clever and beautiful prose with many laugh out loud lines. I appreciated the use of alliteration in particular. ( )

So, to preface this, I’ve only read one other book by Maguire, Wicked. So, I’m somewhat familiar with his writing, in that it’s dense and wordy. After Alice was definitely an easier read than Wicked because there’s only so much new story to tell and it’s unnecessary for him to over explain the setting.

Now, I looked at Goodreads and noticed it’s rated with 2.77 stars, and I’m confused as to why. I found this so inventive and interesting compared to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass because it runs on the assumption that Alice had actually left Oxford and found somewhere new, rather than dreaming. Her family and friends spend the whole novel looking for her, but Ada is the only one looking in the right place.

The novel switches between (mainly) Ada, a friend mentioned in Carroll’s work, and Alice’s sister, Lydia. Ada has some physical deformities that are looked down upon by most others in her society. From what I gathered, she’s got severe scoliosis, or something like that, because she has to wear a metal corset to keep her posture as straight as possible. Alice seems to be the only one who does not look at her like she is her disability.

Lydia, on the other hand, knows Alice to disappear frequently, and thinks she’ll turn up sooner or later. Lydia tries to hide it, but is dealing with the death of her mother and the now absence of her father, and Alice’s floaty personality. She’s an average 15 year old girl for the time.

I think the reason this book was not received well is because readers wanted something like Wicked, or something like Alice in Wonderland, and it’s neither. Maguire perfectly mixed Victorian England with a beloved work to make something different. There are wonderful nods to the original work, but there are characters we learn more about and ones that aren’t mentioned until the end. I also think there’s some sort of commentary being made here, but I don’t feel like figuring it out.

Overall, I really enjoyed this and gave it 5 stars. I believe this is a super creative book and that it should be read with nothing else in mind. Take it for what it is and try not to compare it to other things. ( )