Alison Wonderland

It took me a page or two to adjust to British colloquialisms, but after that, it became much easier to read. Smith's style is straightforward and honest, with a tone that is almost offhanded even as she describes abandoned babies. The characters were well-developed, and I loved the oddity of Jeff and Alison's nonexistent relationship and how the unevenness of it was dealt with in a matter-of-fact tone, rather than the usual fluff and angst. The development of Taron's personality was enjoyable, as we come to see her as being more than just off-kilter and eccentric.

Smith seemed to be comfortable in her own skin as she writes. Her phrasing and the occasional use of slang made it conversational, which was a relief to read at the end of a show more long day. The dialogue flowed easily, adding depth to the characters and substance to the story.

Unfortunately, I felt as if too many characters were being explored at once. While it's wonderful for each of them to have their own unique background, a longer piece would make it easier to explore them all. The point of view frequently shifted between characters and an omniscient third party, and I was confused - or at the very least, unsettled - whenever this occurred. The changes are abrupt, making it difficult to follow along and to invest emotionally in the protagonists. Oftentimes, it took a minute or two to realize that Alison was no longer the one speaking. The spirit realm came to act like a deus ex machina, and I still can't quite determine whether or not it's supposed to be real or simply a string of coincidences within the context of the story. All of these things interrupted the process by which I build faith in characters and the world in which they live

Additionally, the sequence of events was a bit hard to understand. It reminded me of Waiting For Godot, where all these things happened, but it was as if nothing had happened at all. With the initial set-up, I was expecting more intricate intrigue than what was presented. The story never actually reached a climax as the lives of the various characters continued onward at the same steady pace in which they had moved throughout the novel. I kept waiting for the turning point that never came.

Overall, this was a fun read. Comedy was mixed in with the randomness, and the combination was sprinkled with comments and the occasional sentence that are both refreshingly truthful and deep. With that being said, a less confusing method of shifting points of view, as well as more varied pacing, would have been appreciated. show less

Alison is a recently divorced woman who reinvents herself as an investigator at an all women's private-eye agency. The story is really a bunch of antidotes and life thoughts through a series of loosely tied adventures with a set of friends that are a little left of whacky. An enjoyable easy read that only lost a star because of a few too many loose ends at the end, but maybe that was the intention as the characters are a bunch of loose ends themselves.

Alison Wonderland reminds you that you don’t have to fall down a rabbit hole to encounter the strange and fantastical. It leaps off the page at you. Be warned, however, you can’t sit back and lazily read it. You’d get lost for sure, because it does jump around. The reader leaps from the head of one character to the next with little warning of the impending change, but once you’ve learned that this could happen at any moment it becomes one more quirk of the book. Just as you can never guess what the characters might say next, you can’t get too comfortable that you even know who might be saying it. It keeps you on your toes.

It may not be to everyone’s taste. Alison and her cohort tend to treat everything from love poems, to show more mysterious Buddhist drummers, to blow-jobs with the same nonplus equanimity. Personally I thought this enhanced the novel in the same way that seeing someone tell a bad joke with a stoic, straight face is somehow funnier than when they’re grinning. Others, however, may think it falls flat. This I’m afraid is probably just a matter of preference. You like it or you don’t. I do.

Reading Alison Wonderland, I’m perhaps in a relatively unique position. I’m an American living in England. This is of note because there are some definite cultural references in the book that those outside of the UK would not get. Helen waxes lyrical about Lichorice Allsorts, Jammy Dodgers, and Wagon Wheels, for example. While not wholly unheard of in the States (I can’t speak to the rest of the world) they aren’t common enough to evoke familiarity as intended in the novel and I can see that this might leave people scratching their heads and wondering ‘what was all that about?’

Overall, I enjoyed Alison Wonderland. I liked the quirky characters’ ability to accept their comrades’ foibles unquestioningly. I liked the seemingly random nature of the events and the obscured ending. I never could decide if it was happy or not. I did feel a little bit like I knew every detail of a week (or so) of Alison’s life and very little about Alison, but knowing too much just might have ruined the magic. show less

One of the first things that came into my head after reading this book is "What a brilliant opening!" Seriously, you have to love a heroine saying this:
"I'm waiting for Mr. Wonderland and when I find him I'll get married. Until, then I'm staying single."


It's such a smart answer to anyone bothering you about your personal life, right?

Then there's the cover. I love the red, black and white and how they look together. It's like a mystery, making me wonder how colorful London - and the world in general - would look like if I looked at it from Alison's POV. And I can honestly say Alison's view of the world is quite unique. Afraid of letting her guard down with another man, due to her cheating ex husband, she'd rather live in a show more pseudo-relationship than trying to see if a real relationship would actually work. She's afraid of rejection, though I can hardly blame her. Her job isn't helping either. As a female P.I, she's mostly hired to prove an estranged husband or boyfriend is a cheater. At some point she gets a "secret mission" to check out some company dealing with genetically altered vegetables.

Besides Alison, we get to meet some interesting characters. We have Taron, Alison's friend, who is one of those unique friends. Taron is the kind of person who will either drive you mad or make you a happier person. She thinks her mother is a witch and she believes in horoscopes, witchcraft and things like that. I do believe she's the type who can make a really sad person to smile. Then there's Mrs. Fitzgerald, Alison's boss. She seemed like the motherly type. For some reason, she left me thinking that she cared for each and every woman she met through her agency, be they employees or women hiring her for different reasons. And many other characters that I won't talk about, because then I'll probably give some unwanted spoilers :P

There are some funny moments in this book too. I actually laughed out loud a few times.

I felt as though the ending wasn't exactly the way I had hoped it would be. There was some suspense regarding Alison's job and one of her marks and I was waiting for something more spectacular to happen. Then again, maybe it was the right ending for Alison, proving that not always you need a big "boom" at the end of a frightening experience. Though I did see Alison grow up as the story progressed.

Anyway, if you love chick lit, you might want to check this out. I know I really enjoyed reading this book! show less

There weren't as many animals in this book as I'd thought there'd be. There's were more shigs, pows and digs than you're likely to find in other books, but not much concentration on them. In fact the book is not so much about concentration as it is about dreaming and drifting. Alison wants to have a marriage without a real other person, she wants to have a baby without being pregnant, she wants to have a job without toil and maybe a spiritual orientation without spirituality. The only thing she seems willing to invest herself in wholly is friendship and working against the "bad guys" (who have distinctly unbad names like Flower and Bird). While this might sound like a wishy-washy book, it isn't. It just isn't ready to state ideas in show more 100% terms.

Here's a passage about work: "the world of commerce is a place in which people subsume their personalities to an organization in return for money, an organization that makes them work too many hours a day and sends them on 'personal development' courses to re-engineer their personalities. Dick doesn't know that people quite enjoy living like this, having their goals written and evaluated for them by someone else...would like to free them from the comfort of their daily routine...throw open all the windows of the offices in London so their inhabitants can fly away and be free. He'd push them from the crowded windowsills. 'Be free,' (splat) 'Be free' (thud, splat). He doesn't see they don't have wings."

Alison and her friend Taron, and even her boss (honestly named Ella Fitzgerald) want to fly. They don't have wings, but they have yearning and imagination. Their lives aren't subsumed to a faceless authority, but it's hard to know what to do when you have to define life on your own, reinvent the wheel of reality daily. They do their best. Life is hard, they keep trying to figure out how to fly. show less

Alison Temple is in a bit of a funk. She’s newly divorced and what should a woman do in that situation? Join the private investigation firm that found her husband out of course. Once there, she meets a range of quirky and odd characters doing a range of things that sometimes can give you a bit of an odd mental picture (my tip: if you don’t want to go there, keep reading and don’t pause).

I tried to read this initially after a long stretch of work where I was pretty sleep deprived and I just couldn’t get into it. Recently, I set a weekend aside to read this book and I think that was the best way – read it in chunks, suspend any thoughts of convention and enjoy the ride. It’s a fast paced book and should be read this way. show more It’s not as successful if you keep picking it up and putting it down. There are lots of great references to London which made this Anglophile happy. The characters are unique and both Taron and Alison remained with me long after I closed this book. I also want a psychic postman to call my own! Some of the lines will have you nodding at their wisdom, others will have you laughing out loud.

I think this is a book that could polarise people – you’ll either love it or hate it. But I’d recommend that you try it because it’s definitely original. show less

Overall, I liked the book, but IMO it had some serious flaws that detracted from what it could have been.

Loved the author's light tone and humorous voice. There were many places where it was laugh out loud funny. The style was kind of French farce/Monty Python sketch-y, which makes sense with the author being a playwright. Some don't like that style - I do. Even if it's not your usual "thing," if you also write, it is worth a read simply for that reason, to better understand said structure. It was also a quick, one-sitting read.

What I didn't like - jumping around POV's, from first person to third, jumping around from past to present tense, and my biggest problem was, when it comes to the main character, she was not really there. We get show more that she's witty, young, and likes to party, but nothing that sets her apart as a person, makes her likeable or even particularly interesting. She has no family, no pets, no permanent friends or lovers, no specific dreams or hopes. Some funny things happen to her during the book, but most of them only peripherally involve her. She rarely takes any direct action, and we don't feel she has anything at stake in solving the main problem/objective (and in fact, *she* doesn't resolve it.)

It was entertaining, a decent beach read, but if you are looking for something with deeper messages about human nature (like Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland) you won't find it here. show less