MinaLima Edition: Alice in Wonderland | Review
I'm currently on my 6th book of the MinaLima HarperCollins Classic Collection, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass — there are 8 books altogether, and I've read them based mostly on which one was stacked on top of my desk first, and no other reason than that.
Some of the books are great stories, but the illustrations were mediocre, and some of the books were awful (not even considering the illustrations or anything) — like The Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid and Other Fairy Tales were crappy stories; and nowadays would have probably had to be self-published instead.
A lot of the movie adaptations were not as detailed as the books, except for the two books I've mentioned above — in which cases, the movies expanded on the short stories of Andersen and the Disney version was the best plot for Beauty and the Beast. However, some of the books were far superior to the movies, like Peter Pan — which is a very witty book.
In Alice, I thought the Disney version was very confusing because it didn't seem to have any plot or make any sense. I figured the book would give me more depth and background — it doesn't. The book is very... quirky and odd, kind of nonsensical. I have to say, Disney actually made a very faithful adaptation of the book in their animated movie of Alice.
Of course, I've also heard all the urban legends of Lewis Carroll being high on coke while writing this book (or sometimes he was high on opium or mushrooms). That would make sense, because this book seems like something a mushroom-induced hippie would write. Also, the poems in the book are also nonsensical, some are funny though... but the first poem that starts off the book is weird and confusing. Who knows, maybe the guy was bipolar or schizophrenic... I mean, this book was written during the reign of Queen Victoria, there wasn't the same understanding of mental health awareness like there is now.
Anyway, if you want to skip the book, like I said the Disney animated version of Alice in Wonderland is a faithful adaptation of this book. As to the illustrations — it wasn't as good as the Wizard of Oz or Pinocchio... and I felt they did not put much effort into this book. For example, for some odd reason, they illustrated the white rabbit as if it was female, despite the book clearly making it a male because it used gender pronouns such as "he, his, him" — yet they illustrated him with a bright red sleeveless jacket, that looks kind of like a Chinese changshan, with a flowing pink cloak that looks like a long skirt!
This is two stories in one book; the original where Alice is in Wonderland, and the sequel where Alice goes through the Looking Glass (basically she ends up on a chessboard, and she wants to be crowned queen). The book is very confusing and hard to follow; I can totally see how that urban legend of the author being high when he wrote Alice's adventures came to be. Although, you do learn in the sequel that Alice is only 7 years old, and she's telling the story to her older sister, and her cats are basically the stand-in for other characters — so you're left to assume that she is a child with an imagination.
You know, like any regular 7-year old little girl who pretends she's a princess (or queen), and plays it out with her pets (or dolls, or stuffed animals) — think of Andy and Woody from Toy Story, same concept.
Again, as a classic book — there are actually other collector's editions available from other illustrators and publishers that are beautiful with vibrant illustrations throughout the book. These MinaLima books are pricey too, so it's not like a big difference in pricing for other editions.
