About After Alice
• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow (October 27, 2015)
Down the rabbit-hole, where adventures await . . .
When Alice toppled down the rabbit-hole 150 years ago, she found a Wonderland as rife with inconsistent rules and abrasive egos as the world she left behind. But what of that world? How did 1860s Oxford react to Alice's disappearance?
In this brilliant new work of fiction, Gregory Maguire turns his dazzling imagination to the question of underworlds, undergrounds, underpinnings—and understandings old and new, offering an inventive spin on Carroll's enduring tale. Ada, a friend of Alice's mentioned briefly in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, is off to visit her friend but arrives a moment too late—and tumbles down the rabbit-hole herself.
Ada brings to Wonderland her own imperfect apprehension of cause and effect as she embarks on an odyssey to find Alice and see her safely home from this surreal world below the world. The White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, the bloodthirsty Queen of Hearts—droll and imperious as always—interrupt their mad tea party to suggest a conundrum: If Eurydice can ever be returned to the arms of Orpheus, or if Lazarus can be raised from the tomb, perhaps Alice can be returned to life. In any case, everything that happens next isAfter Alice.
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Review: Like most people, I've read Wicked. I actually read Wicked before it headed off to be a huge Broadway musical. I loved it. I never got around to the other books, but for some reason, the After Alice book appealed to me.
Who doesn't love Alice in Wonderland?
Unfortunately for me the book didn't grab me. In fact, I was totally confused for the first few chapters as to what was going on. For a short book, of less than 300 pages, it was a tough read, and that made me sad because I really loved Wicked.
The problem is that where Wicked was a fun read and an interesting take on the Wicked Witch, this wasn't much of a fun anything to do with Alice in Wonderland. Ada wasn't a character that you easily warmed to and when you look at the people in her life her governess and Alice's sister are equally unpleasant.
I really wanted to like this so much more, but when all is said and done, I think it would probably be better if I re-read Lewis Carroll's Alice.
Rating: 3 flowers
About Gregory Maguire
Gregory Maguire is the New York Times bestselling author of Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister; Lost; Mirror Mirror; and the Wicked Years, a series that includes Wicked, Son of a Witch, A Lion Among Men, and Out of Oz. Now a beloved classic, Wicked is the basis for a blockbuster Tony Award–winning Broadway musical. Maguire has lectured on art, literature, and culture both at home and abroad. He lives with his family near Boston, Massachusetts.
Find out more about Gregory at his website and follow him on Facebook.
1 comments:
Thanks for being a part of the tour.
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