Review: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Through The Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: One day, a young girl named Alice is sitting on the riverbank with her sister, when she sees a curious looking white rabbit. She soon after falls into the magical world of Wonderland, where she meets a series of strange creatures.

Through the Looking Glass: Nothing is quite what it seems once Alice journeys through the looking-glass, and Dodgson’s wit is infectious as he explores concepts of mirror imagery, time running backward, and strategies of chess-all wrapped up in the exploits of a spirited young girl who parries with the Red Queen, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, and other unlikely characters

Title: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking Glass
Author: Lewis Carroll
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Pub Date: 7^th February 2005 / 5^th February 2015
Pages: 208 / 224
ISBN: 9781447279990 / 9781447280002

Rating:

Have you ever had a conversation with a child? It’s quite possibly the strangest and most entertaining experience, ever. Their minds work at 100mph; each thought leading to another, then another – within a minute you’ve covered a dozen different subjects each relating to the previous in the most tenuous, yet creative ways.

This is how I felt whilst reading Lewis Carroll’s classic, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland; it was as if I was talking to my niece (who can’t actually talk yet, but it’s how I imagine our conversations would go!). It was completely refreshing; I loved the feeling of being thrown into a world of childish fantasy. One where the simplest, truest answers are the most hilarious because, who is ever simple in real life?

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.”
“I don’t much care where –”
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.”

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass are a rare breed of book; books that entertain and enlighten both the adult and the child. These stories have aged extraordinarily well and I’m sure Alice’s adventures will no doubt continue to fascinate us for years to come.