Home :: Books :: Literature & Fiction  

Arts & Photography
Audio CDs
Audiocassettes
Biographies & Memoirs
Business & Investing
Children's Books
Christianity
Comics & Graphic Novels
Computers & Internet
Cooking, Food & Wine
Entertainment
Gay & Lesbian
Health, Mind & Body
History
Home & Garden
Horror
Literature & Fiction

Mystery & Thrillers
Nonfiction
Outdoors & Nature
Parenting & Families
Professional & Technical
Reference
Religion & Spirituality
Romance
Science
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Sports
Teens
Travel
Women's Fiction
AUTOMATED ALICE

AUTOMATED ALICE

List Price: $13.99
Your Price: $10.49
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 >>

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An interesting spin-off
Review: Alice in Wonderland has "inspired" a number of hacks to produce poor material, from movies to books to video games. Here, Jeff Noon manages to avoid re-treading the surreal cliches in which most "tributes" indulge.

This book is a cross-pollination of Lewis Carroll's universe (from whence Alice originates) with Jeff Noon's universe (the setting of Vurt, Pollen, etc.) Noon (who has a distinctive style of his own) does a fair job of emulating Carroll's writing, but emphasizes the puns and wordplay that make Carroll's books so delightful to adults. Although it's a quick read, you're rewarded if you take the time to enjoy the wit.

Unlike many other Alice-"inspired" work, Noon has well-developed plot and a strong central theme he writes towards, one that is enhanced by the allusions to Lewis Carroll. The "Automated" Alice of the title is a robotic Alice; the differences and interactions between Alice Liddell, Alice "in Wonderland," and "Automated" Alice are used to form an interesting central metaphor.

I recommend this book highly. It's clever, fun, and intriguing.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An interesting spin-off
Review: Alice in Wonderland has "inspired" a number of hacks to produce poor material, from movies to books to video games. Here, Jeff Noon manages to avoid re-treading the surreal cliches in which most "tributes" indulge.

This book is a cross-pollination of Lewis Carroll's universe (from whence Alice originates) with Jeff Noon's universe (the setting of Vurt, Pollen, etc.) Noon (who has a distinctive style of his own) does a fair job of emulating Carroll's writing, but emphasizes the puns and wordplay that make Carroll's books so delightful to adults. Although it's a quick read, you're rewarded if you take the time to enjoy the wit.

Unlike many other Alice-"inspired" work, Noon has well-developed plot and a strong central theme he writes towards, one that is enhanced by the allusions to Lewis Carroll. The "Automated" Alice of the title is a robotic Alice; the differences and interactions between Alice Liddell, Alice "in Wonderland," and "Automated" Alice are used to form an interesting central metaphor.

I recommend this book highly. It's clever, fun, and intriguing.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Enjoyable sequel to Lewis Carroll
Review: Automated Alice is a sequel to Lewis Carrol's two books about Alice. Instead of going down a rabbit hole or through a mirror, in this book Alice travels through a grandfather clock to Manchester England in 1998. However this is not the Manchester of our experience. It is a world populated by half-humans who ride on mechanical horses. Its computers are powered by termites called Computermites. Her adventures in this strange world bear enough resemblances to the original stories to make this an enjoyable sequel. Alice must figure out the puzzle of how to get back to her own time with the help of a parrot that speaks in riddles and an automated Alice with a termite brain. There are some wonderful word plays and mathematical concepts in the story. It is a short enjoyable tale that should please Alice fans of all ages. If you haven't read the original stories, skip this book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent mixture of styles
Review: Automated Alice is a wonderful piece of writing that effortlessly combines the styles of both Jeff Noon and Lewis Carroll. The word play and the language that Noon uses are brilliantly clever and funny. His combing of the two worlds and two writning styles is seamless and anyone who likes Jeff Noon or Lewis Carroll will like this book. I can understanbd why some people might struggle with it, but if you immerse yourself in the book and let the child part of your brain work with the adult part you will find it immensely enjoyable.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great wordplay but not a great plot
Review: i loved this book for one reason..the words. Noon is an expert at wordplay and it is evident in this..he is able to make words more energetic and amusing and smooth as well then any other author i have ever read. The thing this book lacks is the plot i thought it was a little week. It might just be me though i only read this cause i am such a big fan of Noon and although i enjoyed reading it i didnt like the whole Alice in wonderland bit. All in all though i recomend it but read some of his other books if you really want a feel for Noon's writing capabilities

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This Book Is Cool!
Review: I wasn't at all disappointed with this book...it wasn't what I thought it would be...I had been looking for it for about a year and finally got a viable means of monitary transaction on the net...so I bought it.I really enjoyed the wordplay and the illustrations...this book is a children's book...or rather a "inner-children's book"... If you like riddles and the cool writing style of Jeff Noon then you are going to like it... Oh, yeah and if you like to use the ellipsis but don't really know how then you'll like the book too...

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Carroll Rip-Off or Trbute?
Review: If you've read any of Jeff Noon's other novels, you know that he's maniacally brilliant and quite off-the-wall. Automated Alice doesn't do anything to dissuade readers of that notion.

Noon tries, rather successfully in my opinion, to write a third Alice story...one in which she finds herself in present day Manchester, England after climbing through a grandfather clock. Noon uses Carroll's fine use of language and wordplay to create this very entertaining story which does fit into the Manchester he created with Pollen and Vurt.

This is a story written as only Noon could write it. Some will say it's a rip-off and a poor imitation of Carroll but I think it's a great tribute and a fun read.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Sweet Treacle...I Mean...Trequel...erm
Review: If you've read any other Jeff Noon, you'll realise there are a ton of 'Alice' references in his writing. Being a BIG fan of Carroll's stories I enjoy picking up on these, and when I saw Noon had written a follow-up to Carroll's Alice stories, I was admittedly wary, but intrigued.
Clearly the reviewer who wrote a wonderfully detailed review three sentences long has no idea who Lewis Carroll/Charles Dodgson was, or any concept of use of nonsensical verse, and probably not much appreciation for any sort of wordplay. Honey, you're missing out.
'Automated Alice' is a lovely tied-in sidetrack to the worlds of 'Vurt' and Noon's other novels. If you like either Noon or Carroll (or even better and highly probable - BOTH), chances are you'll like this. It's playful, very funny, and means only well. Don't overanalyze it, or take it too seriously - it's a fun read, and particularly good if you want to kill an hour but not with anything heavy-hitting that requires a high degree of cranial chewing. That's not to say there's nothing to analyze, but you don't have to to enjoy it. After all, that's what fiction's for.
I'm sure if Carroll was alive, he'd have a chuckle at this one.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Sweet Treacle...I Mean...Trequel...erm
Review: If you've read any other Jeff Noon, you'll realise there are a ton of 'Alice' references in his writing. Being a BIG fan of Carroll's stories I enjoy picking up on these, and when I saw Noon had written a follow-up to Carroll's Alice stories, I was admittedly wary, but intrigued.
Clearly the reviewer who wrote a wonderfully detailed review three sentences long has no idea who Lewis Carroll/Charles Dodgson was, or any concept of use of nonsensical verse, and probably not much appreciation for any sort of wordplay. Honey, you're missing out.
'Automated Alice' is a lovely tied-in sidetrack to the worlds of 'Vurt' and Noon's other novels. If you like either Noon or Carroll (or even better and highly probable - BOTH), chances are you'll like this. It's playful, very funny, and means only well. Don't overanalyze it, or take it too seriously - it's a fun read, and particularly good if you want to kill an hour but not with anything heavy-hitting that requires a high degree of cranial chewing. That's not to say there's nothing to analyze, but you don't have to to enjoy it. After all, that's what fiction's for.
I'm sure if Carroll was alive, he'd have a chuckle at this one.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: What an amusing book!
Review: Jeff Noon has done a decent job of writing what could easily be consided a third "Alice" book.

Instead of having Alice travel to Wonderland, Noon places her in a very bizarre "modern day" Manchester. Now, having never been to Manchester, I can't say for sure that it is not like what Alice encounters, but let's just say that I'm pretty sure it's not.

Regardless, the whole book was oodles of fun, and I was quite sorry to see it end.


<< 1 2 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates