Member Reviews

If you want to read about a certain author and his life you have to go to the biographies, which are not always a fun read. Another option, not always available, is to read a fiction that touches a part of his life. This is the case, a readable one.

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I quite enjoyed this story, it seems a plausible explanation for the rift between Charles Dodgson and the Liddell family. It's beautifully written, and brings to life the people involved in the story. I could feel Alice's joy and heartbreak throughout the book. The author's afterward gives an overview of what was historically accurate in the narrative, and what she imagined and filled in herself. The only thing not mentioned were the other children- there were ten children in the Liddell family, but only four are in the book. I understand cutting characters not important to the story, but it seemed odd that it wasn't mentioned in the afterword. Oh well. A lovely book for any Alice fan.

#TheDodoKnight #NetGalley

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I'm a huge Alice fan (the book/ephemera collection is taking over my house...) so was interested to read this. An interesting look at the relationship between Alice and Dodgson from her point of view but nothing really new for me here.

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Once upon a time there lived a mild mannered math teacher who loved nothing more than to spend time with and photograph (occasionally naked) children. How creepy does that sound? According to Michelle Rene not at all. And so in this tale of a relationship that inspired one of the most famous and most beloved children stories of all time she solves the Liddell Riddle to prove that Alice and Mr. Do Do Dodgson were the best of friends for a time and nothing more, a friendship that ended sadly and abruptly over some pesky unwarranted rumors and some social awkwardness. The thing with Liddell Riddle is that it’s pretty much unsolvable, since everyone involved is now dead and they weren’t discussing it when they were alive either. Alice Liddell grew up and went on to have a relatively normal and happy life. Mr. Dodgson found literary success if not companionship. He also destroyed pertinent pages of his diary to ensure his secrets stayed secrets. And thus as all unsolvable riddles go, this one has prompted much speculation over the years. Rene’s version is told by Alice herself (this seems to be the author’s favorite trick, telling stories of famous people through children…gimmicky, isn’t it) and presents a lovely and innocent friendship between a precocious girl and a lovely man who was happiest around young girls. Through Alice, Rene dismisses all salacious speculations as products of salacious minds and normalizes Dodgson’s behavior through Victorian social norms. Dodgson was the eldest of 11, he grew up entertaining kids, back in the day it was perfectly normal for families to have a sort of adapted uncles, bachelorhood was much more present and naked photos of children were en vogue and so on…and yes, of course, one must always strive to consider a person from another time through the framework of his era and all that, but a. that’s difficult because we think of world as we are, not as it is and b. even for all that Dodgson seems…well, odd. And really all too fond of young children. Was he the Michael Jackson of his time? Was Michael Jackson even the Michael Jackson of his time? I’m yet to watch Leaving Neverland. But essentially you will believe what you will believe based on your personal knowledge and opinions and prejudices, empirical evidence aside. This is probably the most deliberately adorable charming innocent version of events for the sunniest of readers to put a rainbow at the end of the cloud that has always hung around this specific origin story. It’s especially cutesy being told by a child and then a proper old lady. Rene gets her historical facts right mostly, except that she has (presumably for streamlining the narration) reduced Liddell’s family from ten kids to a much more manageable four, only three of whom are really present, because Dodgson (very, very innocently, of course) preferred girls. So yeah, that’s the story. It’s a novella and thus reads very quickly and if you’re a fan of stories behind stories, you might enjoy this one. It’s a decent read, but much too cute and sunny for serious consideration. Thanks Netgalley.

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