Outside Wonderland

I found this book to be an unexpected delight! Definitely high concept, I was a bit put off at first, to have the point of view shift from the prologue to the first chapter, but as the book unfolded I discovered why. That it was not just a trick, that this varying point of view (which I actually do enjoy) was purposeful and continuing. The author did a nice job of showing these characters to be the flawed human beings that we all are. There was nothing about them that I didn't believe. Especially their doubt and their pain and difficulty with relationships. One doesn't have to be an orphan to understand those emotions. I thought the stories about the parents, and how they ended up where they did, was also believable - not too overly show more dramatic, just real, absurd life. I'm not sure how I feel about what the afterlife will be like, but I enjoyed the author's version. It was whimsical and delightful. Made me want to visit, in a strange way. And I especially loved the descriptions of the new arrivals. Overall this book was a big win. I wanted to know these people. I wanted to keep reading to see what would happen next. And the big twist at the end? Ideal... show less

I adored this book. It was a wonderful story of three siblings, Alice, Griffin and Dinah, figuring out their place in life without the guidance of their parents. Their mother died in a freak accident when they were young children. Years later, tragedy strikes again and their dad dies of a heartache. Lovingly raised by grandma, the we meet these characters again as adults. Unbeknownst to the three siblings, they are tenderly watched by their parents from Heaven or Here as it is referred to.

Each of the siblings has a situation or story that we are introduced to. The passages and chapters flip from one sibling to another. They were all likable and yet at the same time, flawed. It made the story seem so real. I loved it.

I never expected to show more pick up this book and feel like I could not put it down, but that is what happened to me. I devoured it in just days, and am off now to see what else this amazing author has written. I highly recommend this book! I looked at other reviews and don't understand why there were so many low ratings. show less

This is a wonderfully gentle story of one family's tragic life. We get to see how the death of both parents affect Alice, Griffin and Dinah (all named for characters from Alice in Wonderland by their mother). The bonus here is that we also get to see their parents in the afterlife, watching their children grow and build lives for themselves through random glimpses into "There". I loved that these three siblings were flawed, often making the wrong decisions in life like we all so often do but ultimately finding their way back on the right path. There is no real excitement to the story...but that's one of the best things about it. I highly recommend this read!

I think reading the back blurb on a book can tell you a lot. I also did not want this book to end, I was also captivated in just the very first pages, and this was a poetic, original story.

No matter what you believe about heaven or afterlife, this was a touching, sad story about three siblings that lost both parents when they were young; their mother from a fall off a kitchen chair, their father years later on a sabbatical in Greece. Neither was expected, both were heartbreaking and both left indelible marks on their children. Alice, grows up to be an actress after years of acting, it just seemed natural. Griffin, a chef and Dinah, an altruistic do-gooder. Their parents look down on them from “Here”. The reader, in my opinion can show more create what they think “Here” might be: maybe heaven, maybe where we go in afterlife. Regardless, it is a place where happiness (and sadness, at times) abounds and where we can look down on our loved ones after we have left earth.

In this book, we hear about the lives of the three siblings and then hear narration from their mother, who lives “Here”. We hear her hopes, wishes and dreams for their future. We learn about her heartbreak when her children are hurt and we learn about a place where time is relative – where 20 years is really yesterday, but also 20 years ago.

This was beautifully written, sad, but inspiring. I’d put it up in my top three books this year – next to The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake and The Elegance of the Hedgehog. show less

I thought this book was a fast, enjoyable read. I found all the characters likable, though I'm not in agreement with the majority of reviewers who felt closest to Dinah. I didn't dislike her, but I liked her least of the three siblings.

The book takes place about twenty years after Alice, Griffin and Dinah lose their parents. The parents look down on their children from heaven and watch as they all try to overcome their fears and struggles in their daily lives. Alice, the oldest, works as a Broadway actress in New York City. She grapples with her fear of commitment when she begins to date a single father who recently moved into her building. Griffin works as a chef in Chicago, where he lives with his long-time partner, Theo. Theo show more desperately wants to adopt, but Griffin has doubts about becoming a father. Dinah, the youngest of the three, finds herself pregnant from a short affair she had with a man she'd met on an Alaskan cruise and she needs her family's support to get her through it.

All and all, I really enjoyed this story. The only characters I didn't like were the parents, who came across as rather two-dimensional. I couldn't bring myself to feel much of anything about their story. Their moments in the book consisted of just a couple pages tacked onto the end of each chapter, where they reflected on what was happening with their children at that particular moment. I felt like they were too outside of the story for me to really care about them. I guess this was effective to show how disconnected Here (Heaven) and There (Earth) were from one another, but it just felt like a constant, unwelcome interruption that broke the flow of the story.

Side note: My reading was of a review copy so it was probably uncorrected, but the last 100 pages or so had many typos in it, almost as if the editor read through the first two-thirds of the book and then stopped. show less

I really enjoyed "Outside Wonderland", which is a series of peeks into the lives of three children whose parents died prematurely, leaving them to be raised by their grandmother, Joan. The book is set in the first person perspective by the mother in heaven, as she catches glimpses of her children working through relationship conflicts in their adulthood. This point of view is similar to "The Lovely Bones", with it's shifting imagery of heaven, which alternates with the emerging storylines on earth. Each of the children struggles with their need for permenency and family, and the fear of losing their loved ones (or their own lives) prematurely. This book was heartwarming and charming. It dealt with the concept of death in a myriad of show more ways, as the now grown children tried to make sense of life, death and love for others. show less

This book was extremely interesting to me. I loved it! I loved looking at these children through their parents eyes, and seeing what they still continued to wish for for their children. The story follows 3 siblings who lose both their parents in a short amount of time. The loss of their parents seems to prevent each child from being able to deal or move on in some aspect of their lives, and yet their lives all work out and they are all drawn together in unexpected ways. Wonderfully written!