book of books - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

The reason for choosing to read what is often seen as a children’s book by Lewis Carroll was firstly to read the text free of the film version confusion and secondly to remind myself of the book I have not read since being a child.

On the first point there are differences between the book and the film versions, I’m thinking of the Disney version here mainly, with the book being much more episodic and short and based in far fewer locations than you might imagine.

On the second it made me realise that although when I read it as a child we were being told to keep a look out for mathematical and historical references (the mad hatter being mad because of lead poisoning as an example) it is possible to read it and enjoy it as a story of the power of childhood imagination.

Plot summary
Alice falls into a dream after noticing a white rabbit hopping by and in her dream state she follows the rabbit down a hole that falls for a long time. At the bottom there are doors, mostly locked except one small door looking onto a garden, and a table with a bottle marked ‘drink me’. This drink shrinks Alice who then spends sometime regretting that she did not remember the key. Once she finally manages to get to the right size she encounters several characters including a hookah smoking caterpillar, a mock turtle and a Cheshire Cat. But what continues to be a theme is the white rabbit who finally reappears with the queen and the king in their kingdom of playing cards. A game of croquet with hedgehogs and flamingos is broken up by threats of mass executions. A final court scene is broken up by Alice growing back to her normal size and then as the playing cards attack her she wakes to tell her sister all about it.

Is it well written?
From a style point of view what you have to admire is the ability to keep a dream state going without constantly reminding the reader that Alice is dreaming. This is done primarily through the confusing use of language and the constant disorientation Alice experiences in both size and her interaction with the animals she encounters. If you put to onside the search for some deeper hidden meaning and appreciate the power of imagination then this is a work of inspiration as well as enjoyment. The slight problem for an adult reader is the stigma attached by reading a ‘child’s book’ but then as Harry Potter and Curious Incident of the Dog… have proved it is quite acceptable to read a title aimed in principle at a younger reader.

Should it be read?
It is the sort of book that gets read at school then forgotten and lost underneath the interpretations of the films, both cartoon and acted, that add to the excesses of the story. This is part of the Penguin Red series, which are short but important works the publisher has decided to brand for an adult readership. It deserves to be read by anyone who can look back and remember the dreams they had as children and appreciate the power of imagination that although strong in children sadly rarely flickers into life again this strongly except in the pages of the fiction written by Carroll and J.M Barrie.

Summary
Alice falls into a dream populated by white rabbits, mad hatters and an execution hungry Queen but wakes with a memory that will live with her forever

Version read – Penguin paperback Red Edition

Lunchtime read: Alice's Aventures in Wonderland

The book ends with a jolt as the dream ends and Alice finds herself back with her sister and the white rabbit running into the bushes. The final sentiments seem to be around the joy of childhood and the comforts that a Wonderland can offer.

“…how she would keep, through all her riper years, the simple and loving heart of her childhood; and how she would gather about her other little children, and make their eyes bright and eager with many a strange tale, perhaps even with the dream of Wonderland…”

Highlights from chapters nine, ten and eleven

* Having met up with the queen again Alice is told to accompany the Griffin and go and hear the history of the Mock Turtle, a sort of half pig and half turtle creature, that reminisces about the past

* One of the main features of his story is when he details a dance – the lobster quadrille – and explains a little bit about the underwater world to Alice, including telling her that whiting is used to colour and polish shoes

* But the memories are broken by a shout that the trial has started and Alice runs off to see the king and the queen in session trying a knave for stealing tarts in a case that seems to be based on a nursery rhyme

* Alice starts to grow and as she is finally called as a witness manages to upset the queen enough to be threatened with execution to which she replies that all they are is a pack of cards and they start to jump on her

* At that moment she wakes up next to her sister fighting off the leaves that have dropped on her from the tree above and tells her all about her dream and the characters in it

A review will be posted shortly…

Lunchtime read: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

My wife commented last night that Alice as standard reading in her convent school days and she expressed surprise I had chosen to read it. Having explained that I wanted a non Disney version she understood.

Already there are several differences with the first main one being that the book is incredibly episodic with one meeting with a character or set or characters being completed before another is started. There is only one character present almost throughout - the white rabbit – and apart from mistaking Alice for a maid he hasn’t spoken to her. There seems to be a habit of most of the characters of not really being able to engage with Alice in conversation or show any interest about where she has come from.

Highlights from chapters seven and eight

* In one of the most famous scenes from the book Alice heads to the mad hare’s home and stumbles across a tea party in full swing with the mad hatter, hare and dormouse all sitting round a table

* The mad hatter explains that because he annoyed time it is permanently six o’clock and tea time and to relieve the boredom they move places and tell each other stories - something they try to get the dormouse to do

* Alice keeps arguing with the dormouse over the story and then the hare and the hatter are rude to her and she leaves in disgust and comes across three playing cards painting roses from white to red to appease the queen

* At that moment the queen arrives and drags Alice into a came of croquet using hedgehogs for balls and flamingos for mallets and the monarch seems to have an obsession with issuing executions

* Her next intended victim is the Cheshire cat but without a body there is an issue about exactly how he could be executed and Alice lets it slip that the duchess might know – who is currently awaiting execution – so she is sent for

More tomorrow…

Lunchtime read: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Now Alice has managed to get away from the confines of the corridor she fell into there are more weird characters and perceptions of reality are challenged. Throughout it all Alice remains stoical and tries to be polite and clear despite her continually changing size.

Highlights from chapters five and six

* The next encounter is with a caterpillar smoking a hookah who asks Alice who she is and where she has come from – both questions that she struggles to answer but when the caterpillar hears that she wants to grow in size he disappears telling her over his shoulder that the mushroom can make her shrink or grow

* After some trial and error Alice manages to get to the right size to be able to approach a four foot high house that has a fish footman outside who is meant to be informing the duchess who lives inside that she has been invited to play croquet with the queen

* Alice barges inside to find the duchess sitting in the kitchen with the cook throwing saucepans and all manner of things at her while the duchess cradles a howling baby which she eventually hands over to Alice

* Alice cradles the baby that finally turns into a pig and she is left with the Cheshire Cat, who keeps disappearing, and tells her she has a choice of visiting the hare or the hatter, both of which are mad

More tomorrow…

Lunchtime read: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

The first difference between most of the film or cartoon versions I’ve seen and the book is that the action down the hole is taking a lot longer than I imagined. You expect Alice to go straight into the mad hatter’s tea party and bump into the queen but already a third of the book has passed and she is still not much further than where she started.

The other difference is that it is clear that there is a continued dream state because despite growing smaller and larger and facing other animals Alice never once seems to be that concerned other than to cry a bit for the world she is leaving behind.

Highlights from chapters three and four

* Alice and the animals swim out of her pool of tears and then play a game to dry each other out but how ever hard she tries Alice cannot get the mouse to share his family history and she frightens everyone off mentioning her cat and its liking for eating birds

* Then the white rabbit reappears running down the corridor and mistakes her for a maid and sends her back to his house to get another fan and a pair of gloves

* But once inside Alice notices a bottle saying ‘Drink Me’ and after drinking it she grows so large that her foot is up the chimney and her hand is out of the window where she uses it to try and grab the white rabbit and his gardener as they try to pull her out

* They then send a lizard, named Bill, down the chimney but Alice kicks him out and the poor animal is being helped by friends by the time Alice eats some cakes and shrinks back down to size

* She evades capture by the angry group of rabbit and his friends but now needs to find something else to eat to make her return to the same size as she was in the real world and she spies a mushroom with a caterpillar on top sucking on a hookah

More tomorrow…

lunchtime read: Alice in Wonderland

The book starts in just the way you remember it but what you get from reading the first couple of chapters is a very clever suggestion that this is a sleep state, a dream and all of the rules of normal life are suspended. On a film they would probably make the edges of the screen wobble or make it go cloudy but Carroll manages to do exactly the same effect with words.

Highlights from the first two chapters

* Alice is bored and tired on a hot afternoon and her mind starts to wander and then she sees a white rabbit running a,ong checking his wrist watch and so she decides to follow him and falls down a hole

* She falls for a long time in suspended motion and lands softly to catch sight of the rabbit again running off down a long corridor and heads after him but all of the doors along the corridor are locked

* She notices a curtain with a small door but she is too big to go through it but then she notices a small key that opens it and there is a garden beyond and a bottle on a glass table with a label ‘drink me’

* She shrinks but has left the key on the table so then notices a cake with a label ‘eat me’ and grows up to nine feet but then cries because she cannot go through the door and at that point the rabbit returns mentions being late for the duchess and speeds off

* Using thy rabbit’s fan Alice waves her self back to just inches high but then almost drowns in the pool of her own tears and is helped out by a mouse

More tomorrow…