My Book review on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Jessie Willcox Smith's illustration of Alice surrounded by the characters of Wonderland. (1923)

I wanted to share my book review of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland:

« Well, I've often seen a cat without a grin, but a grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever saw in all my life! » -Alice

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a novel originally written by Lewis Carroll in 1865.

Charles Lutwidge Dogson, aka Lewis Carroll, was an English writer born on 1832 and he died in 1898. Children's litterature, fantasy, poetry and so much mire were the genres he used to write. His most famous books are The Hunting of the Snark, Jabberwocky and of course Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass. He liked to use logic, fantasy, and word play. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a novel which talks about a girl named Alice, who was bored by reading a book with her sister and then, a white rabbit in a waistcoat passes by and Alice follows it, which results for her to fall down in a rabbit hole, which leads her into a fantasy world, lived by many stranges creatures.

The story is very well described (characters, backgrounds) and we can find many poems and songs such as « Twinkle Twinkle, Little Bat » which is a parody of Jane Taylor's Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Lewis Carroll had a very interesting writing style : since he was a mathematician, he used many mathematical references : for example, in the first chapter, Alice was growing and shrinking, we can see her at differents sizes, which could be an hint to maths. Carroll also used French in his novel : in the second chapter, Alice thought that the mouse she met may be French, so she said the first sentence of her French copybook, which is : « Où est ma chatte ? » (Where is my cat?). The novel also has a lot of illustrations in it, showing differents scenes. A lot of characters appear in this wonderful story : Alice is the protagonist. This young girl is rather sweet and polite, but she won't hesistate to express her opinions when she wants to even if she's talking to the Queen of Hearts. She wears a knees-lenght dress with flat shoes and she has long hair. She also has got an older sister.

The White Rabbit appears at the very begining of the book. He wears a waistcoat. He's a servant of the Queen and King of Hearts in Wonderland. He's very loyal toward his superiors, but he can be pompus toward his subordinates.

The Queen of Hearts has a very short temper. Her most famous line is « Off with their heads! ». Her favourite hobbie (beside ordering executions) is croquet.

The King of Hearts is more gentle than his wife. When someone is about to be beheaded, he quietly says « pardon ». But when he acts as a judge, he can be immature.

This novel is very well written, even if the English used in it is the old one, the illustrations can help us when we don't understand. The characters are all very funny, and they all have differents personalities, we can become attached to them very quickly. The fantasy is just incredible, this novel can be read by children and adults because even if this book is addressed to children, there is a meaning behind that only a mature adult can see.

What I liked the most about this novel is how different the characters are, their personalities make them funny : for example, just imagining a card shouting « Off with their heads! », I can't help finding that funny, even if someone is going to be executed.

The reason why I decide to read this book is because when I was younger, the Walt Disney's version of Alice in Wonderland was one of my favourite Disney's films during my childhood, so I thought : « Why not read the original version? », and I did. I highly recommenc Alice's Adventures in Wonderland for its magic. When you begin to read it, you're being carried away by its fantasy, its characters, its world, everything about this novel is simply amazing.

The book is composed of twelve chapters : Alice follows the White Rabbit and fall down in a rabbit hole. There, she sees a hall with many locked doors of differents sizes. Through one of the doors, she sees an attractive garden, but she's too tall to fit in. On a table, she discovers a bottle labelled « DRINK ME » and she did, because of it she become small enough to read the key on the table, but then, she eats a cake with « EAT ME » written on it, but she become so tall that her head hit the celling. Because of that, Alice cries, and her tears flood the hallway. After touching a fan, she shrunk again, and swims through her own tears. There, she met a strange mouse and thus, her adventures begin...

Boina Moinamkou.