Title: The Dark Side of Alice in Wonderland
Series:
Author’s Name: Angela Youngman
Publisher: Pen and Sword History
Genre: Non-Fiction
Page Count: 192 Pages
ISBN: 978-1526785817
Author or Book Website: N/A
Link to Amazon purchase page: Amazon.com: The Dark Side of Alice in Wonderland: Youngman, Angela: Books
Link to Goodreads: The Dark Side of Alice in Wonderland by Angela Youngman | Goodreads
Release Date: N/A
How I Got the Book: Review Copy
Summary of the Book:
Although the children’s story Alice in Wonderland has been in print for over 150 years, the mysteries and rumors surrounding the story and its creator Lewis Carroll have continued to grow.
The Dark Side of Alice in Wonderland is the first time anyone has investigated the vast range of darker, more threatening aspects of this famous story and the way Alice has been transformed over the years.
This is the Alice of horror films, Halloween, murder and mystery, spectral ghosts, political satire, mental illnesses, weird feasts, Lolita, Tarot, pornography and steampunk. The Beatles based famous songs such as Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and I am the Walrus on Alice in Wonderland, while she has even attracted the attention of world-famous artists including Salvador Dali. Take a look at why the Japanese version of Lolita is so different to that of novelist Vladimir Nabokov – yet both are based on Alice. This is Alice in Wonderland as you have never seen her before: a dark, sometimes menacing, and threatening character.
Was Carroll all that he seemed? The stories of his child friends, nude photographs and sketches affect the way modern audiences look at the writer. Was he just a lonely academic, closet pedophile, brilliant puzzle maker or even Jack the Ripper?
For a book that began life as a simple children’s story, it has resulted in a vast array of dark concepts, ideas and mysteries. So step inside the world of Alice in Wonderland and discover a dark side you never knew existed!
My Personal Review: I received a copy of this book for a fair and honest review. I have read Alice in Wonderland as a child. I have even read a few of the retellings of it over the years and seen the movies. There was a lot about the man who wrote it and the world he came from while creating this story. I know it is a children’s story, but this shows so much I had not thought of or considered in all my years of loving this story. The Cheshire Cat was always my favorite character. This does makes me look at the book and/or books very differently.
My Rating of the Book: 4 Stars
From the Book Reviewer's Desk 