Comments on Alice I Have Been

Hello from Inds!

I can't get it together while I'm here to write a full post (and also, to be honest, I didn't truly enjoy the book) but I have to say that Ferah is right, the Reader's Guide is really important! It was my favorite part of the whole book.

I think my problem with the book is summarized in Ferah's paragraph about Alice being the victim and thinking she is plagued by misery all the time. I felt that in the first section, I liked Alice (as a child) - she was funny and spunky. When it skipped to 10 years later, as a young adult, I felt that she had lost that fire; it seemed out of character to me that she had taken the whole issue with Mr. Dodgson lying down (no pun intended!) instead of fighting for the truth. I understand that later she accepts this as the shortcomings of a child who was anxious to stay out of trouble, but it just wasn't believable to me. I did like the older Alice; the stories about her sons were the most enjoyable -- the reactions she had to losing them seemed the most real and touching. I loved the story about finding her middle son on the floor in the library, trying to read Alice in Wonderland.

I did feel that the author did a great job of flushing out the characters - I hated the older sister, sometimes the mother, definitely Mr. Ruskin, and loved the prince, etc. But I did think the plot was a little thin. I remember reading the back cover and the book was described as having a bit of a mystery, and I just felt the "mystery" was a total disappointment. We spent the whole book wondering what actually transpired between her and Mr. Dodgson that would ruin two lives so fully...and it was just a kiss that was described earlier in the novel?

I don't think I'm being particularly eloquent at this time with points about why I had issues with the book. I will revisit it later. But I do remember reading that both Vaishali and Antara liked the book, so I want to hear some good things about the book from you guys! Maybe I can look at it in a new light.