“Life is not much like the stories...”

(Beware the claws that catch...) Alice - Christina Henry

“She couldn’t stop laughing, the happiness she had never hoped for overflowing in her heart. ‘Following the white rabbit, of course.’...”

Aggressive. Gripping. Haunting. This twisted tale is another adaptation of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, but this story isn’t like the others. This is a dark, disturbing view of a childhood story that will keep you awake for many nights after you have finished reading. Alice is a 26. She’s been in a mental asylum for 10 years spouting stories of a malicious rabbit man who she claims abused her, and her only friend is Hatcher, an axe murderer who resides in the cell next to hers. Creepy, right? Alice and her new friend must do whatever it takes to escape and slay the great Jabberwocky who threatens to destroy the world.

Alice is not the weak, doe-eyed blond who stumbles into Wonderland, she is a headstrong magician willing to do whatever it takes to survive. Her character is in no way relatable to me because I cannot even imagine the things she has experienced, but I think she is what I would hope to be in her situation. Hatcher and Alice work as a team, she is not a damsel - when the time comes, she is able to look after herself and and even save her ‘hero’.

I love adaptations of this story, quite possibly because I didn’t really enjoy the original (after being forced to study it at school in great detail and at great length, I look back on that book with some loathing...). This story is particularly disturbing and it was not what I was expecting at all. The scenes of violence, particularly the treatment towards women, does leave a bad taste in your mouth and make for uncomfortable reading but I think that’s the point. As I write this, I realise that this book reflects some of the horrors that women face around the world face everyday but that the majority of a modern society fails to recognise or turns a blind eye to. It discusses themes that a modern audience doesn’t want to acknowledge because they want to think of it as fantasy.

7/10 for anyone who loves adaptations, but be warned: it’s not for the faint-hearted.

Thanks for reading!
Rochelle 🌺 xxx

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