In a warren of crumbling buildings and desperate people called the Old City, there stands a hospital with cinderblock walls which echo with the screams of the poor souls inside. In the hospital, there is a woman. Her hair, once blonde, hangs in tangles down her back. She doesn’t remember why she’s in such a terrible place-just a tea party long ago, and long ears, and blood… Then, one night, a fire at the hospital gives the woman a chance to escape, tumbling out of the hole that imprisoned her, leaving her free to uncover the truth about what happened to her all those years ago. Only something else has escaped with her. Something dark. Something powerful. And to find the truth, she will have to track this beast to the very heart of the Old City, where the rabbit waits for his Alice.
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My Thoughts
*Be aware I have nothing good to say about this book*
As a huge fan of Alice in Wonderland any kind of retelling concerning Lewis Carroll’s universe fuels me with excitement, and this one intrigued me particularly with its promise of a dark and gory twist on the tale of Alice and her adventures. Unfortunately, it proved to be the most disappointing read I’ve come across in a while.
The entire book felt like a blunt, impassionate narrating by a person that has told the story a million times before and is now racing to get to the end. It was completely anti-climactic and fell flat in multiple occasions as whatever obstacle or trial the main characters came upon was resolved in the span of a page. Specifically, there were four main villains involved in Alice’s story; the Caterpillar, the Walrus, the Rabbit, and the ultimate evil, the Jabberwocky. Each confrontation with one of them that took place was handled in the worst way possible, following the pattern of the main character having a short chat with the over-confident villain and then proceeding to kill them in a fast and frankly unsatisfying way. There was no real difficulty level in reaching them (they just killed their way towards them, something that after a while became the predictable and easy solution to their problems) or any element during the encounter that created a feeling of anxiousness for their safety or the outcome of the exchange; I just felt bored.
The big reunion with the Rabbit, Alice’s personal nightmare and the reason she was trapped in the hospital for almost a decade, was what I was hoping would salvage this retelling, but it turned out to be the most disappointing scene of all. For all the build-up, there was no meaningful exchange between the villain and the hero, no emotion, no internal struggle from Alice who, after years, is coming face to face with her abuser. That is what I was looking to see, her finally achieving peace of mind and confronting the man who haunted her nightmares and had caused so much misery for her. Yet the scene was a complete let down and actually made no sense to me. The way the author chose to write the encounter made the scene with the Rabbit feel unnecessary as the end result could have happened at any point without Alice’s involvement. *Spoiler* with them meeting a Rabbit who is almost unrecognizable to the mighty villain he used to be, begging Alice to kill him only to have Doris struggle him two paragraphs later. Doris, who had stayed with him for a decade and could have killed him at any point, and who would have died either way so I really don’t get why she hadn’t done it before! *Spoiler*
But, the biggest flaw and most underdeveloped plot line in this book was the Jabberwocky. He was the big villain of the story, the monster threatening the safety of the entire City if he got his full powers back and the entire story begins with the characters escaping because he got free. What is problematic, is that the Jabberwocky appeared only in the beginning and at the end of the book; I felt that there could have been a lot more exploration and depth given to his character besides a short story told about him and one encounter. I actually completely forgot about his existence until he was mentioned again, and, following the pattern of the rest of the book, the big showdown in the end, the one supposedly being build up as a ‘live or die’ battle, happened in the span of a mere two pages and was as uneventful and unmoving as the previous exchanges with villains.
A lot of the problems I had with Alice could be, and probably are, attributed to the bad writing. The characters felt one-dimensional, not because they didn’t have sufficient backstory and motives, but because the writing was very feeble and simplistic. The thoughts emanating from Alice were as complex as those coming from a five-year-old, and the conversations between Alice and Hutcher were never that meaningful as the dialogue was also not the strong suit of the story. The only voice that the author managed to bring to life in my head was the Cheshire’s.
Adding to that was the lack of chemistry between the main couple; the only element that I’m grateful for in this story is how small a role romance played as it was not particularly interesting and felt forced. It seemed as if the ‘romance’ was there because it was a given that there should be, while it felt completely unnecessary in this case. There was also gore for the sake of it; the story promised to be dark and twisted and it tried way too hard to be that at an extend where it forgot to be smart. The choice of violence and decay became repetitive and tedious after a while.
Regarding our main character, Alice is a girl that has been through a lot, from abuse to actual rape. A 26 year-old woman mentally stuck at the age of 16 because of what she’s been through and experienced both with the Rabbit and in the hospital. And in all accounts, I was expecting her to be this complex and layered character with a vicious side and a lot of internal struggles and powers to explore. I was prepared to be blown away and add her to my list of favorite anti-heroes! But instead she came out extremely superficial and, as much as I tried, I could not connect or care for her. Even the concept of her being a Magician, the struggle of accepting her powers and the way she later used them, was handled in such a way that added to her dullness as a character.
Lastly, what should really be highlighted in this book was the lack of trigger warnings. Despite the bad writing that rendered every feature and event unimpressive, Alice’s story included mentions and descriptions of rape in multiple occasions that I was not expecting and felt a bit uncomfortable about. It wasn’t the mentions of rape that elicited that feeling but the lack of a trigger warning for it. I am a firm believer that books should have trigger warnings for strong themes because what’s written could be potentially harmful for some people and I am planning to write an in-depth discussion about it. I believe that this is something that should have been mentioned in the beginning of the book and I felt unsettled that it hadn’t been.
Overall, this might be the most disappointing read of the year for me. I rarely give one-star reviews but this Alice by Christina Henry failed in all the things it promised delivering only a dull and rushed version of the dark and gruesome tale that it was advertised to be.
Marking Da Page 