Lewis Carroll
What strange books are these. I don't think I quite get it. However, I will say that for a quick read, the books were entertaining enough, though they completely lacked a reasonable plot. In fact, now that I really think about it, they were quite difficult to even understand at points. It may be that I glossed over parts that would have made everything made sense, but all told I don't think I missed anything earth-shattering. To top everything off, Carroll excuses everything that happens in Wonderland as just a child's dream, kind of undercutting any point he may have made about an actual parallel universe of silliness, if only we would believe it. That's the message I would have liked to take, but instead he chalks everything up to whimsical fantasy. And this just as I was beginning to sense a coherent thread.
What Carroll does do well is wordplay. The books are full of puns and wonderful twists and turns of the English language that absolutely delighted me at every turn, being fond of such things. However, I don't think that the occasional bursts of clever fun can really justify the absolute absence of any semblance of plot or meaning. Wonderland is more like a ramble that occasionally peaks but usually falls short of a reasonable mark.
Grade: B-
What strange books are these. I don't think I quite get it. However, I will say that for a quick read, the books were entertaining enough, though they completely lacked a reasonable plot. In fact, now that I really think about it, they were quite difficult to even understand at points. It may be that I glossed over parts that would have made everything made sense, but all told I don't think I missed anything earth-shattering. To top everything off, Carroll excuses everything that happens in Wonderland as just a child's dream, kind of undercutting any point he may have made about an actual parallel universe of silliness, if only we would believe it. That's the message I would have liked to take, but instead he chalks everything up to whimsical fantasy. And this just as I was beginning to sense a coherent thread.
What Carroll does do well is wordplay. The books are full of puns and wonderful twists and turns of the English language that absolutely delighted me at every turn, being fond of such things. However, I don't think that the occasional bursts of clever fun can really justify the absolute absence of any semblance of plot or meaning. Wonderland is more like a ramble that occasionally peaks but usually falls short of a reasonable mark.
Grade: B-
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