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kajoreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
- The premise and the setting were interesting.
- I enjoyed a lot of the commentary around transness.
- The Alice in Wonderland retelling aspect was kinda fun.
- There were some weird jokes and descriptions that came across like microaggressions.
- The mental illness rep was questionable at best.
- I wish the MC’s internalized misogyny was addressed better.
- Overall, the book simply didn’t live up to my expectations. The synopsis had me hoping for an investigative mystery. This wasn’t that.
- The resolution was underwhelming.
Graphic: Drug abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual content, Transphobia, Vomit, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Biphobia, Deadnaming, Incest, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, and Blood
thebookishnerd_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Deadnaming, Suicide, Alcohol, and Classism
Minor: Incest, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment
literarylily's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Bullying, Deadnaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, and Classism
Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Incest, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, and Murder
Minor: Cultural appropriation
lucystolethesky's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Addiction, Deadnaming, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Classism
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Transphobia, Violence, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
alexa_bmn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Transphobia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Deadnaming and Incest
morebedsidebooks's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Drug use
Moderate: Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Deadnaming, Incest, and Death of parent
Also drugging and mentions of an overdose death occur in the book.anettainkeri's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Death, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Death of parent
Minor: Gun violence, Incest, and Vomit
fiekesfiction's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
It is very hard for me to describe “wonderland” by Juno Dawson because it was not what I expected it to be.
“If my hair isn’t blue, how will anyone know I’m transgender?”
“Natural colours only,” she says for the millionth time.
I smile slightly “Ms Grafton, I think I left natural behind years ago, don’t you?”
The story follows Alice. After she had a one night stand with Bunny, the girl has disappeared and no one seems to care. When she tries to find out what happened to her, Alice ends up in a strange party for the elite.
Even though this is written in a funny way, the story has a lot of darker things going on. Especially in the beginning with Alice making sarcastic comments, the story felt a bit light and I thought it would just be a quick fun read. But soon I realised that was absolutely not the case.
She winks again and walks off with my phone. It feels a lot like she’s removed a vital organ. I’d rather she’d taken a kidney to be franks, I have two of those and can’t watch memes on either.
Juno Dawson is very good at adding topical themes to her story in a clever way.
The Alice in wonderland retelling is very well done. This story has the same surreal feeling of things not being quite right, as the original story does. The wonderland in this case is obviously the different lives extremely rich and privileged people live. The world is a bit different for them.
It’s really obvious which characters are based on the original Alice in wonderland characters, but it was actually fun to compare them. I did think this story doesn’t really have a ‘plot’, mainly Alice is just stumbling around not really knowing what she’s doing, but it makes sense with the way this story ends and I think it also adds to the feeling of “wonderland” since the original tale is also really not a lot more than Alice trying to understand a strange world. The themes were great, the writing was funny and the main character was flawed but well developed.
“Is our collective self-esteem so waferthin that we rely on compliments from strangers for sustenance?”
I would recommend this to anyone who wants a very different and diverse story with themes of feminism and class.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent
that_bookworm_guy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Throughout the book, there are quotes from Alice in Wonderland woven throughout and characters that share similarities to the original characters.
The story is interesting and strange, and honestly wild. But very enjoyable.
It's dark, and it's messy and focuses a lot on mental health. But as a trans person, I could see a lot of similarities in mine and Alice's experiences. I love being able to see parts of myself in fictional characters.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent
Minor: Incest