Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Everyone has heard of this story in some way shape or form. It could have been the TV movie, the animated movie that Disney did, or the new adaptation that is soon to come from Tim Burton. So with all this new attention to an old story I decided to pick it up and read it for the first time.

I was first surprised to see that there were two stories. Not having been a huge fan of Alice, I did not know that Adventures and Through the looking glass were two separate stories. I have not finished looking glass, but have finished Adventures.

I was pulled in from the first. Carrol knows how to grab the reader from the beginning. I was not only fascinated in how Alice ended up in Wonderland, but also in the style of the story. It seems that this story is one continuous thought. Adventures seems to flow one stream of thought to another, like a child with ADD talking to his friends. The reader jumps from one adventure to another as Alice makes her way through Wonderland. It is interesting to see her interact with the inhabitants of Wonderland and see Alice start to see how adults may see her in her world.

I believe that it is the Child like innocence of Wonderland that brings people back to this story year after year. There is also a layer of danger to Wonderland. They are dangers that look innocent and harmless. Which is another way to look at childhood. The simplicity and complex nature of the story is what makes this story a must read for me.