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Summary: A Wonderful Wonderland
Review: Alice in Wonderland is a classic that all young spirited people should read. It has adventure, love, fantasy, and a lot of fantastic nonsense. Every page is exciting and mysterious with a bewildering twist. Lewis Carrol exceeds on making a childerns story into a fantastic novel for all ages. He has great imagination that he uses in his puns, riddles, and characters to make nonsense into complete thoughts and morals. Alice is a creative little girl who seems to find adventure around every corner. Everybody in Wonderland is just as creative as Alice; they all seem to be intelligent and fully spirited. This novel is something no one wants to pass by. Personally, I suggest this book becomes a classic everyone should have to read. Many things in this book capture a moment, like this qoute,"The Caterpillar and Alice looked at each other for some time in silence: at last the Caterpillar took the Hookah out of its mouth, and addressed her in a languid, sleepy voice. "Who are you?" said the Caterpillar. This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied, rather shyly, "I-I hardly know, sir, just at present - at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times sice then." Another quote that stood out and will help choose this as your next book to read is from the cat. "In that directoin," The Cat said, waving its paw around, "lives a Hatter: and THAT direction," waving the other paw, "lives teh March Hare. Visit either you like: They're both mad." "But I dont want to go amoung mad people," Alice replied. "oh, you can't help that," said the Cat."we're all mad here. I am mad, You are mad."
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Summary: it made me in Wonderland
Review: Alice in Wonderland, is a creative and fun book anyone would enjoy reading. Although that the book was made for a childerns fanasty, it is a wonderful way for elders get in touch with thier young spirit. This book was a gateway to better thinking, and helps you get the hole picture. If one where to think about it, anyone would like to be Alice, eating mushrooms, talking to Quenns, and finding new Adventure around every corner. I now read this book at least every other month.
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Summary: So many different aspects
Review: These books work on so many different levels. My youngest child says she likes them because they are the only books that really give a feeling of how life is to children. Even though they are 150 years old they still seem relevant. (I think maybe that means that Lewis Carroll did not fancy little girls, instead he IDENTIFIED with them). I could keep reading these books through my childhood and teenage and adult years and always find something new. I learned the poetry off by heart and so did my partner (before we met each other) (Lewis Carroll also wrote many more poems and the funny ones are just as good as the ones in these books) The puzzles and contradictions in Alice are fun. And there is a magical feeling of "anything could happen". To me that never got scary because Alice always coped fine. I too prefer Through the Looking Glss(like another reviewer did) not just for the poems but the whole idea of everything being back to front. These are tremendous books! If you like formal logic then L. Carroll's "Symbolic Logic" is crazy and amusing but also interesting and so are his Tangled Tales about maths. These are not so well known.
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Summary: Not as interesting as I hoped it would be...
Review: After Lisbeth Zwerger's work on "The Wizard of Oz", I had pretty high hopes for her artistic interpretation of "Alice in Wonderland." Her "Wizard" was a bold, refreshing take on some very familiar characters, and stands in particular contrast to the MGM movie. But, sadly, the illustrations for "Alice in Wonderland" don't offer the same interesting take on classic characters. Her version of "Alice" gives us the most depressed looking Alice I've ever seen. She appears to be almost drugged, and not at all the curious and engaging little girl we know. While Lisbeth Zwerger is known for sparse illustrations, here they seem almost barren at times. Her version of the Caterpillar for instance takes an almost sacrilegious liberty of giving us a modern seeming caterpillar smoking a cigarette instead of the traditional, more exotic hookah. Her artistic vision here offers us a scene more mudane than surreal. Perhaps, the artist is illustrating too many books, since this effort doesn't seem to me to be a fully realised one. I recently purchased "Aice in Wonderland" illustrated by Angel Dominguez (Artisan, 1996) and that's far and away a much better version. I would say buy this book only if you're looking for another "Alice" book for your collection. I just don't feel it's a standout addition.
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Summary: Beautiful and amazing illustrations!
Review: 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.
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Summary: #1 Alice in Wonderland
Review: I, like so many others, video recorded this movie from t.v. When I discovered that a family member taped over it, I was devistated and began an all out search for the video. This version of Alice in Wonderland is the best I have ever seen. I can still quote some of my favorite parts. When I would tell people what I was searching for, no one believed that Sammy Davis Jr and Scott Bao and so many others would be in such an underrated flick. I especially love the music! It is definitally better than the current t.v. version.
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Summary: Crisp; perfect reproduction
Review: I'm referring specifically to the Books of Wonder editions for this review (Alice: ISBN 0-688-11087-8, Looking-Glass: 0-688-12049-0, or together in a box: 0-688-12050-4). The books are elegantly presented: Alice with a gold color cover and gold gilt edges on all three sides, Looking-Glass with a silver cover and silver gilt edges on all three sides, and the box being in gold color and looking almost identical to the Alice volume. The books are printed on fairly thin, very smooth, and somewhat off-white paper -- the color of which I personally find detracts a little from the books. The books are identical in layout, typeface and illustrations to the original 1865 & 1872 Macmillan editions: the type has been reset and is thus perfectly crisp, the typeface (De Vinne) is a perfect match to the original typeface except the quote marks are a bit more spaced out than is usual. The text is otherwise a perfect match, with line breaks in identical places, etc. The speciality of these Books of Wonder editions is that the illustrations have been printed from the original woodblocks which had been sitting forgotten in a bank vault for many years. The books claim that "details never seen before are now visible", but I haven't been able to see evidence of this myself: the illustrations _are_ considerably cleaner and crisper, but I've not seen any extra details. On the down side, a number of the woodblocks had editing done on them when they were made, and over time these edited portions have clearly shrunk or no longer fit perfectly into the surrounding wood, so that the editing is much more clearly visible than on facsimiles of editions from 100 years ago. A nice pair of books, but I personally find the Macmillan facsimile editions to be much nicer to handle.
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Summary: Classic For All Ages
Review: My daughter saw the video as a child, and wore out the tape we'd made from television. Finding a quality copy without commercials is a dream come true. Ringo Starr is perfect as the Mock Turtle, and seeing Lloyd Bridges as the White Knight is priceless. Ann Jillian is perfectly cast as the red queen, while Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme as Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle Dum could never be topped. Sammy Davis Jr., Anthony Newley, Telly Savalis, Steve Allen and Jayne Meadows - all legendary stars from the entertainment industry reaching new generations with their remarkable talents - This movie surpasses the Disney cartoon, and is easily the top choice when compared with the other live-action versions. A must for all!
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Summary: A Look Into Carroll's Life: Not For The Faint of Heart!
Review: This book is a classic that every person should read. What's interesting about this book is that there are several smaller stories strewn throughout. The Mock Turle's Story and The Walrus and The Carpenter are two examples. But, behind this book, there are also elements from Carroll's personal life. It has recently become known about this man that he did indeed dabble with opium from time to time, and that he did fancy the company of young girls, which all conveniently fit into this masterpiece of his. I'm not attacking Lewis Carroll's credibility as an author, I'm merely pointing out how an author's personal life can have a strong influence on his/her work. These factors have not hindered Carroll's work, but in a striking way have perhaps helped to make his work that much more realistic. He incorporated elements of which he was very familiar, and it made this book all the better. On a different subject, the illustrations by Tenniel are simply astounding! His use of light and shadow seem to make these characters come to life! I strongly recommend getting this version of Carroll's classic story.
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Summary: Brilliant fun, a little something for everyone.
Review: Its hard to imagine anyone not enjoying this brilliant book. Whether you're a young child or an experienced reader, you can't help but marvel at the charm that Lewis Carrol creates. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass (The Alice books as they are often collectively referred to as) are two of the most enduring children's stories of all time. However, at the same time, they both are considered to be literary achievements in the adult crowd, due to the many societal critiques hidden withing the text.Alice's Adventures in Wonderland begins with the classic scene of young Alice falling down the rabbit hole. Soon she finds herself lost in an insane world. Drinking things make her grow into a giant or shrink to the size of a mouse. Best of all, are Alice's conversations with the many eclectic characters that inhabit Wonderland. Unfortunately, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland comes to an end within the one hundred page mark (it is a children's story, after all). Fortunately, this collection holds the book's sequel Alice Through the Looking Glass. In this Alice stumbles through a looking glass and finds herself in Wonderland again. This time around she becomes a pawn in a giant game of chess. The reader follows her adventures as he tries to become a queen by making it to the eighth square. This chessboard element proves a very intersting way of advancing the storyline. What truly gives this book its lasting charm is its characters. Whether its the Mad Hatter telling Alice about his friend Time, or the disappearing Cheshire Cat, every character is impossible to forget. Many such as the White Rabbit, remain popular icons today, well over a century later. Conversations held with these characters often prove laugh out loud funny, as Alice tries to make sense of and explain herself to these characters. From beginning to end, the reader will have a goofy grin plastered across his or her face. Behind all these fun adventures, Carroll manages to slip in a large amount of social commentary. Some characters represent types of people, such as the overzealous monarch, to display in an exaggerated sense the foolishness of such extremes. His many poems throughout the book often have larger meanings as well: The Walrus and the Carpenter are clearly a condemnation of modern religion. Even the wild effects of drinking and eating can be interpreted as a moral on temperence. As the Duchess in the Wonderland said "Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it." Likewise, Alice is rife with various morals. So what makes this book a classic? Reading through other people's comments, its hard to find a single person that didn't give it five stars, much less didn't like it. However, it was hard to find a definite consensus on what made it so good. Some stated its entertainment value, other enjoyed the commentary. Perhaps what makes this book so brilliant is that it has whatever you're looking for. If you want escape and adventure, it has it. If you want to laugh, there's humor. If you want intellectual thought and prose thats there too. What will the reader take away from reading is whatever they are looking for. Definitely a book that deserves its recognition as a classic of English literature.
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