aftanith's review against another edition
1.0
tl;dr version: Down the Rabbit Hole was an immense disappointment; by the end of the book, it had become clear that Pringle's story wasn't so much a story as it was a collection of extremely depressing, often contrived misfortunes that ultimately added up to an emotionally shallow book and a dissatisfying reading experience.
My full review of Down the Rabbit Hole can be found at Amara's Eden.
My full review of Down the Rabbit Hole can be found at Amara's Eden.
emilyctrigg's review against another edition
2.0
This book isn't about the Chicago fire at all. It's only in the last 12 pages of Pringle's diary.
yapha's review against another edition
4.0
Pringle Rose is 14 years old and at boarding school when her parents die suddenly in an accident. She returns home to Scranton, Pennsylvania to take care of her younger brother, Gideon, who has Down syndrome. When life with her aunt and uncle becomes unbearable, Pringle and Gideon runaway to Chicago to find a good friend of her mother. There are a few unexpected twists and turns along the way, as well as many references to Alice in Wonderland. (Hence the title.)The story builds until the Great Fire of Chicago near the end. I love the Dear America series and was excited to read a new one! Recommended for grades 4 & up.
tjlcody's review against another edition
2.0
(Aaand I accidentally refreshed the page, erasing my entire review. Let's try again.)
So, overall, I liked the plot.
Unfortunately, it tended to jump back and forth a bit. And I don't just mean at the beginning, when Pringle is recounting why she and Gideon left home. The plot just felt a bit crowded, detail-wise; we have the circumstances surrounding the parents' deaths, the train, Miss Ringwald, The Pritchetts, Rabbit, Pringle's employment, Merricat, Gideon's issues, and then the fire- it was all just a bit much. I feel like the author tried a bit too hard to cram in a lot of things, and the book suffered for it.
Then we have the writing-style. All right, I get that the epilogue says that Pringle's diary was eventually published for public consumption, but there's no mention that she edited it- only that it was published. And it was mentioned at the very, very end of the book.
So by that point, we've been reading a book that reads less like a diary and more like a novel. There's too much detail, too much description- too much to convince me that this is the diary of a teenage girl, however educated. Like, the incident with Peter and the anti-union people? The fight is described with a sort of detail that seems entirely unrealistic from the perspective of a frightened fourteen year-old. It felt like an adult trying to write a young teenager's perspective and not doing very well- and again, we're not given much indication that Pringle supposedly edited the diary as an adult. Assuming she did? It's still jarring while you're reading, because you don't realize it until the very ending.
And then there's the ironic foreshadowing. When they're on their way to Ringwald's when they first get to Chicago, Pringle and Gideon meet a cabbie, who actually lampshades the fact that Chicago is made of wood and could very easily go up in smoke. Except... We don't need the foreshadowing. We don't. We all went into this book knowing that the historical topic was "The Great Chicago Fire". It's right on the front of the book. We don't need the wink-wink nudge-nudge. Not only is it unnecessary, but it actually takes you out of the book a bit because, yeah, we know what's coming, that's why we're reading it.
Not to mention, even if you read the book knowing that Pringle may have (and probably did) edited it later on, it still comes off as a bit melodramatic and contrived.
Her parents die,
The Chicago Fire itself ends up getting shoved to the very end of the book. Not even kidding- it's relegated to the last twelve pages. I get that setting the scene is important, but this major disaster that is meant to be the underlying subject of the book is just shoved to the last pages. We don't see Pringle and Gideon recovering from it, we don't see the effect that it had on Chicago- nothing. It's a blip on the radar at most.
Look- if you're touting the book as being about the Great Chicago Fire, then you should probably make that, at the very least, a semi-major part of the book. The historical aspects of these books are why people read them. They are supposed to be the focus of the book, with the main character's life and development as an equal part. The characters are important, of course, but the audience looks at the historical event and says, "Hmm, I don't know about that, let's have a look."
When you open the book expecting to hear about the Great Chicago Fire and said book barely even touches upon it, it's a bit of a let-down; not just for the story, but for what you were hoping to learn from it.
So, overall, I liked the plot.
Unfortunately, it tended to jump back and forth a bit. And I don't just mean at the beginning, when Pringle is recounting why she and Gideon left home. The plot just felt a bit crowded, detail-wise; we have the circumstances surrounding the parents' deaths, the train, Miss Ringwald, The Pritchetts, Rabbit, Pringle's employment, Merricat, Gideon's issues, and then the fire- it was all just a bit much. I feel like the author tried a bit too hard to cram in a lot of things, and the book suffered for it.
Then we have the writing-style. All right, I get that the epilogue says that Pringle's diary was eventually published for public consumption, but there's no mention that she edited it- only that it was published. And it was mentioned at the very, very end of the book.
So by that point, we've been reading a book that reads less like a diary and more like a novel. There's too much detail, too much description- too much to convince me that this is the diary of a teenage girl, however educated. Like, the incident with Peter and the anti-union people? The fight is described with a sort of detail that seems entirely unrealistic from the perspective of a frightened fourteen year-old. It felt like an adult trying to write a young teenager's perspective and not doing very well- and again, we're not given much indication that Pringle supposedly edited the diary as an adult. Assuming she did? It's still jarring while you're reading, because you don't realize it until the very ending.
And then there's the ironic foreshadowing. When they're on their way to Ringwald's when they first get to Chicago, Pringle and Gideon meet a cabbie, who actually lampshades the fact that Chicago is made of wood and could very easily go up in smoke. Except... We don't need the foreshadowing. We don't. We all went into this book knowing that the historical topic was "The Great Chicago Fire". It's right on the front of the book. We don't need the wink-wink nudge-nudge. Not only is it unnecessary, but it actually takes you out of the book a bit because, yeah, we know what's coming, that's why we're reading it.
Not to mention, even if you read the book knowing that Pringle may have (and probably did) edited it later on, it still comes off as a bit melodramatic and contrived.
Her parents die,
Spoiler
because the mysterious boy she meets in the cemetery was hired to lean on her father on behalf of the unions- OH, and by the way, mysterious boy happens to be the younger brother of the kind woman who takes Pringle and Gideon in, whose other brother was killed in a mining accident that Pringle's father is responsible for. And then, when Kind Woman realizes this, she lets Pringle and Gideon (who are fourteen and ten respectively, who have lived with her for weeks, who have taken care of and been friendly with her and her children) run off because she never wants to see them again, being the Horrible Children of that Evil Man Who Let My Brother Die). Oh, and they're running off whilst a major fire is breaking out. Yeah, could have toned the drama down a bit.The Chicago Fire itself ends up getting shoved to the very end of the book. Not even kidding- it's relegated to the last twelve pages. I get that setting the scene is important, but this major disaster that is meant to be the underlying subject of the book is just shoved to the last pages. We don't see Pringle and Gideon recovering from it, we don't see the effect that it had on Chicago- nothing. It's a blip on the radar at most.
Look- if you're touting the book as being about the Great Chicago Fire, then you should probably make that, at the very least, a semi-major part of the book. The historical aspects of these books are why people read them. They are supposed to be the focus of the book, with the main character's life and development as an equal part. The characters are important, of course, but the audience looks at the historical event and says, "Hmm, I don't know about that, let's have a look."
When you open the book expecting to hear about the Great Chicago Fire and said book barely even touches upon it, it's a bit of a let-down; not just for the story, but for what you were hoping to learn from it.
brookamimi's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 rounding down. I was surprised that this came from the same author as some of my favorite Dear America installments. There are pacing choices that make it seem more like a regular novel shoehorned into a journal format and the actual historical moment to be discussed tossed in in place of an actual resolution. That said, I could barely put it down bc after 20 years, I may never find a Dear America book I don't mostly like.
emmagorgon's review against another edition
3.0
This book had many flaws but overall the plot was pretty interesting.
mkmusicmaniac's review against another edition
4.0
It's nice to read a Dear America book that doesn't end in pregnancy or marriage (although I realize that was all there was to look forward to at the time). This was a good D.A book, but slightly confusing at the shift in time and place from one paragraph to the next with no title or marker to indicate that had happened.
Sidenote- how is Pringle a nickname for Priscilla?
Sidenote- how is Pringle a nickname for Priscilla?
peytonktracy's review against another edition
2.0
This Dear America felt like it had a pretty cool concept and target and then just fell short. It had a different structure to it that I couldn’t get used to, of huge retrospective chapters telling us why she chose to run away from home rather than showing us and giving us reason to support her choice from the start. It worked in the end sort of, but it’s just not what I have grown to expect from the series. Also, this one more than the average Dear America, felt like a sampler of subjects the author wanted to touch on that got shoved together and ended up feeling like a lot without giving enough time to each one. We covered cruelty to animals and children, the violence of striking, the ethics of labor unrest, the Great Chicago Fire and how fires were fought... And for a diary about the Great Chicago Fire, according to the title, it only got the last ten pages or so and then the narrator was already on another train out of the city. I liked the characters for the most part, especially Gideon, but it just felt like it could have been longer and better. If this was supposed to be about Pringle getting everything she wanted in a way she didn’t expect, why did she only get those things in the Epilogue and the last entry was “we survived the fire but lost an adoptive family I loved but anyway on to San Francisco for no reason I guess”? Just feeling let down.
matamgirl's review against another edition
3.0
There was a lot going on in this book. Pringle has just lost her parents in a terrible accident and she and her brother Gideon flee their cruel aunt and ineffective uncle. They go to Chicago to stay with a friend of their mother's but that doesn't work out so Pringle ends up being a nursemaid to the young mother she met on the train. Secrets are revealed and things are not what they seem. This is all I can say without giving anything away.
This was a fun, quick read and I think that it is a good addition to the Dear America books. You feel for Pringle and Gideon and their change in circumstance.
This was a fun, quick read and I think that it is a good addition to the Dear America books. You feel for Pringle and Gideon and their change in circumstance.