A book focusing on the people surrounding Alice outside of Wonderland. A very interesting take on the older story. I quite liked it, as I like most of Gregory Maguire's work. Kind of set itself up for a sequel if the author wanted or it could end here. It is unusual that a book could be satisfactory as both a stand alone novel and a sequel set up, but the author made it work.

As a hardcore fan of Alice in Wonderand, I wanted to love this book. I also love reimaginings of older stories and the like, but this book failed to deliver. I don't know if it was because of the historic setting, or if it was because of the already whimsical nature of the Alice stories, but Maguire failed to truly take advantage of the weirdness of the setting and improve on it. I was particularly saddened by the stock character Siam and how his appearance in the novel seemed like a pointless addition when it could have added much more to the novel.

Could not finish. I kept falling asleep. If it had kept with Ada in Wonderland, I might have stuck with it. But Lydia was dull and the writing didn't flow with my brain. Darn. I was looking forward to it.

Couldn’t get into this one.

This was an interesting take on Alice in Wonderland, where Alice's friend, Ada, falls into Wonderland and tries to find a way out.
Unfortunately, the writing just didn't do it for me. Yes, there were some beautiful passages, but most of it was bogged down by pompous writing.
Additionally, it ends rather vaguely, hinting at certain ideas, but not really going anywhere.

Spoiler

It is mentioned that the skeletons of two girls were found in a river at one point, and a boy who ends up in Wonderland, Siam, falls down a chimney shute, so I had come to the conclusion that Wonderland was some sort of purgatory, and it's a shame that it didn't end like that, because it would have been cool as fuck.

My fave quotes from the book:
A story in a book has its own intentions, even if unknowable to the virgin reader, who just lollops along at her own pace regardless of the author's strategies, and gets where she will. After all, a book can be set aside for weeks, or for good. (Burned at the grate.) Alternatively, a story can be adored for centuries. But it cannot be derailed. A plot, whether abandoned by a reader or pursued rapturously, remains itself, and gets where it is headed even if nobody is looking. It is progressive and inevitable as the seasons. Winter still comes after autumn, though you may have died over the summer - pg 70

This book was high-concept (not high in the fun way) with not-so-great execution. I haven't read the original Carroll books since I was a youngun (and it is quite possible that all I ever read was some watered-down version) so I can't remember the themes and/or the lesson. More embarrassing, I think I may have slightly conflated Alice's Adventures with The Wizard of Oz in my mind. So coupling my ignorance about the original with the presence of Charles Darwin, Queen Victoria, an escaped slave from Georgia, the mystique of Oxford, and ponderings on A Midsummer Night's Dream makes the story such a bizarre casserole that my mind was unable to make something cohesive of it. (Ha! I debated using the Oxford comma in that last sentence and realized the mention of Oxford absolutely demanded it.)
Of course, just because I wasn't able to figure out what Maguire was getting at does not mean it isn't possible. One would need to have read the Carroll books (recently) and then it would be useful to go through this text taking notes. It might even be rewarding. Not possible with the audio version I consumed.

I didn't finish the book as my mind kept drifting from the words. Maguire uses a lot of bloated language that, as another reviewer put it, makes it sound like he was in "thesaurusland" not Wonderland. Some of Ada's sections in Wonderland were interesting but Lydia and the governess were a bigger and more boring part of the book, and the prose itself couldn't keep me interested. It's a disappointment because I love Alice in Wonderland and hoped this would be a quality spinoff. Too bad.