Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Puffin Classics)

Customer Reviews

• One of the best books I have read (no exagerration)  Jul 24, 1999 (28 of 32 found this helpful)

  While this is generally considered a "children's book", Alice In Wonderland can only be fully appreciated by adults or teenagers. It contains so many private jokes, grammar puns, and other such stuff that a child would not understand it, really. I first read it when I was in first grade, a rather hard book really for first graders, and loved it incredibly. But rereading every year of my life since then (I am now fifteen) one finally can truly relish the great puns and imaginative ideas that Carroll (or Dodgson, his real name) placed within this extremely random book. Yes, there really isn't much of a single plot. It jumps from place to place. Just like a real dream. I don't understand why some people think that this is "scary" for little children though. C'mon, the Wizard of Oz and Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes (when the bough breaks, the cradle will fall- if little children aren't afraid of THAT, I don't what would scare them) is more frightening than this beautifully-crafted story. Note that the Queen of Hearts, though she has an insatiable urge to decapitate every person she sees, never really kills anyone- the Griffin says so. It's not frightening, rather, it's full of what little children like- randomness, smiling cats, violent-tempered queens, talking rabbits, and imaginary animals. If one is discovering this book for the first time, let it enchant you. If you are re-discovering this book, find in it the things you couldn't find before. If you are simply re-reading it for the fiftieth time (like me), then enjoy every single moment of it. It really is one of the best books I have read, right up there with- dare I say it- Colour Purple and Les Miserables. Yes, even Les Miserables.

• The best edition of Alice  Mar 31, 2000 (10 of 10 found this helpful)

  This is my preferred copy of AAIW, and I have several. The quality of the illustrations is superior, because they were made from recently excavated printing blocks. The result is they reveal greater detail than I had seen before, leaving me more impressed than ever with John Tenniel's talent--as if Lewis Carroll's wasn't enough. A beautiful, beautiful book.

• It's so logical, it doesn't make sense!  Jul 16, 1999 (8 of 9 found this helpful)

  Most people think about "Alice in Wonderland" as being some little kid book about nonsense. Actually, Lewis Carroll was a very smart man. He invented Wonderland to show people truths in their own world most people wouldn't even bother thinking about. In fact, I think the whole point of the book is that even though Wonderland seems so unreal and full of nonsence, it's really just the same as our own world! I admit, I was curious about what a book so popular written for children would be like. It was great! I'd recomend it to anyone!

• The Adventures of Alice Could Be Any Dream  Oct 23, 2002 (6 of 7 found this helpful)

  I very much enjoyed this book because it was full of pure fun reading. Some books drag from the very beginning, but this children's story didn't. There were surprises from the start. This book is an all original example of using your imagination. Lewis Carrol was gifted enough to let his imagination go wild, and to write it down on paper. This book inspires me to write any sort of crazy thing that is worth writing. This book is about Alices adventures from the time she saw the peculiar White Rabbit with a waistcoat and watch. She meets thrilling but very arguementive creatures and charectors such as the caterpiller who smokes, the Duchess and her baby which turns into a pig, a Mock Turtle, a gryphon, and the most famous the Chesire cat and the Queen of Hearts. This book is a bit different than the Disney movie. There are other charecters in the book that are not mentioned in the animated movie. and I think the book is more bizarre.

• Beautiful and amazing illustrations!  Jan 13, 2000 (2 of 2 found this helpful)

  As a person who likes to collect different illustrated versions of "Alice in Wonderland", this edition by Angel Dominguez (Artisan, 1996) is perhaps the best that I have encountered so far. There are many full page illustrations that are simply amazing to look at. With a detailed style that occasionally reminds me of Graeme Base, he populates "Wonderland" with all sorts of exotic birds and animals, some of which aren't usually included in illustrated versions of Alice, such as anteaters, platypuses, hippos, etc. But they lend an air of strangeness to this imaginary world that nonetheless seems to be appropriate. The artist has included a number of unique touches to the world of Alice, and they all fit in wonderfully with the spirit of the book. I would definitely say this book is worth buying for your "Alice" collection.