Review: Quirky fun in this outlandish adventure!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 18, 2011
This quirky, outlandish, and unpredictable book takes the reader places that are both unexpected and ridiculous. Written as somewhat of a parallel to Alice in Wonderland's zany adventure, each chapter starts with a fitting phrase from Lewis Carroll's classic that mirrors the happenings in Alice Harte's life. When reading this book, just as when reading the original "Alice," one has to suspend all logic and just let the wave take you where it will. Barbara Silkstone manages to weave details from the classic into this book in a way that pads out the rest of the book. Without that connection, I think the overall plot wouldn't have been as strong as it was. The connection between the two Alices was what made this book so interesting.  Although the story dragged and meandered a bit in some places, it was still interesting.The characters are a lot of fun in their wackiness. Nigel is somehow charming and comical, gross yet gallant. He's an engaging enigma who somehow has captured Alice's blind adoration. Of all the characters, I felt he was the one with the most life. Alice herself felt to me like she didn't quite reach her full potential as a character. She was almost there, but felt a little lacking somehow. Perhaps it was the choices she made and the way she went about things that didn't seem quite right. The other characters were quirky and fitting to their roles in the story. Leslie and Sunglasses, two main characters that have a lot of impact on the direction of Alice's life, seemed to disappear for a while in the middle of the book, leaving me to momentarily forget what Alice's conflict actually was. For that reason, it felt a bit like a few major sections to a story that came together at the end, but didn't interconnect as well as I had anticipated. In spite of some explanation, I still didn't feel like I totally understood Nigel's connection to the entire story.If you're in the mood to slide down the rabbit hole, this book will take you there.Read the full review [...]