Lewis Carroll

Through the Looking Glass (Alice in Wonderland)

Through the looking-glass, and what Alice found there

Trinity F.P.

In this sequel to "Alice in Wonderland," Alice goes through the mirror to find a strange world where curious adventures await her.

Through the looking glass and what Alice found there

I find it more interesting than the first book. Alice is a funny character—she’s just like me.

jinny

Sarah Sammis

Growing up my best friend was Alice. Not the Alice created by Lewis Carroll or Alice Liddell, his inspiration, of course. But my friend Alice was a dead-ringer for Carroll's Alice and often dressed as her for Halloween. Her older sister took it as her business to make sure she and I knew who the fictional Alice was, as character beyond the Disney film version. I honestly can't remember when I first read both Alice novels: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking Glass And What Alice Saw There (1871). What I do remember is that I read the books back to back in the course of an almost all-nighter.

In college Lewis Carroll's Alice took on new importance for me. My boyfriend (now husband) adored the books and the poems from them. Our first year of exchanging gifts we gave each other books. Ian gave me a leather bound omnibus of Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series and I tracked down two beautiful used copies of the Alice books with the John Tenniel illustrations. This was before the ease of searching online for books; it meant a day long trip to Hillcrest (the place to buy used books in San Diego). It is his copies that we kept when we married and that I'm now reviewing.

Since my husband's passion for Alice is the poetry, I tend to think now of the books in terms of their poems. The introduction to the edition we have says that everyone remembers "Jabberwocky", "Tweedledum and Tweedledee" and "The Walrus and Carpenter" is part of the "Alice book" not which one. They are all in Through the Looking Glass (and mashed into most of the film adaptations of Alice in Wonderland).

Through the Looking Glass takes the apparent chaos of Wonderland and maps it logically (more or less) against the grid of a chessboard. The moves of the game are outlined at the start of the book, right after the table of contents.

Like many a modern fantasy novel, humble Alice finds herself crowned. Now her coronation is part of chess game. I can't call Alice the first fantasy protagonist to go from nobody to nobility; let's not forget Sancho Panza who in the second book of Don Quixote ends up the lord of an island.

If you plan on reading Lewis Carroll's Alice, please get both books. Get them with the John Tenniel illustrations. Read them together. Read the poems out loud. Memorize them! They are quoted and paraphrased almost as often as much as Shakespeare's sonnets and plays are.

Raven K

Yesss. This one wasn’t better or worse than Alice in Wonderland, it just was. I don’t know which set of characters I liked better, as they were both entertaining. The red queen was definitely an interesting character, I really liked her. There were a few dim parts of the book, but nothing too slow. This was really enjoyable. Idk what I expected, but this was actually fun.

Briar's Reviews

I received both the first novel in this series and the second one together, so I had to read the sequel to Alice in Wonderland! I found the second story of Alice to be less interesting than the first story, but it was still a nice, quick read. I enjoyed reading it because of all of the adaptions I have seen on television and on movie screens.

For children, this would be a good at night read book to get them into reading, but it is not something I would pick up frequently for myself.

Overall, I liked the writing style by Lewis Carroll, but not my favorite children's book.

Two out of five stars.

matthew chao

carla watson 

It was good classic Alice in wonderland a little lost because I was listening and no directly reading but other then that it was pretty good

Through The Looking Glass, Read by Headmaster Sandy Shaller

Helen Borham

This was such a non-sensical and peculiar little book. I can’t say I completely enjoyed it as I was distracted by the strangeness throughout but I am happy to knock another classic off my TBR. 

I do need to callout the narrator Harlan Ellison who did a great job of brining all of the whimsical characters to life

Sarah Escorsa

Actual rating: 50.1253689 million stars. And a half.

This book. It makes me feel a teensy-tiny little bit like this: 



And also a teensy-tiny little bit like this: 



Because Pure Undiluted Cleverness and Absolute Sheer Brilliance (PUCaASB™) it is. 

The end and stuff.

· Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ★★★★★

As Alice steps through the looking glass she enters a world of magical creatures and impossible logic where nursery rhymes and chess pieces come alive, meeting Humpty Dumpty, Tweedledum and Tweedledee and the White Knight, among others. She learns about running fast enough to stay in the same place, why there is never jam today and about the importance of believing six impossible after breakfast. In fact, as she sets out on her quest to become a Queen of the Chess Board, it is not surprising that Alice becomes confused as to who is dreaming at all.

Through the Looking Glass

Flavia Louise

I love Alice.
And this book did not disappoint since it included all the character I was already expecting in book 1.

Yet again another Lewis Carroll humorous tale that kept me drawn into the Wonderland world he has created. 

Kendra Jones

Through the Looking Glass was filled with the whimsy and humour that the first Alice story contained. The main difference was that there was a plot, albeit a very small one. Basically, Alice goes through the Looking Glass and becomes involved in a game of chess where she is a pawn. Alice must go through the world to get to the other end of the chessboard and become a queen.
I loved Alice and all of the characters that Lewis brought to life. The poems, songs and stories told within this story were as whimsical and far-fetched as the rest of the book.
I absolutely love this fantastical world that Lewis has created.

Alice's second adventure takes her through the looking-glass to a place even curiouser than Wonderland. She finds herself caught up in a chess game and sets off to become a queen. On the way Alice meets a host of nonsense characters, including Tweedledum and Tweedledee, and Humpty Dumpty.

Ilse

Unfortunately, I liked this book as little as the first one. It’s just so random, there no sense in the overarching story. Although I understand that it’s a mysterious, weird and magical wonderland, I just couldn’t get into it and couldn’t get myself to care about anything that happened in this book. Maybe I should’ve read this when I was little and cared less about semi-understandable plotlines

This book was just so much weirder than I expected. I mean really. I couldn't tell what was happening half the time with the instantaneous scene changes. But, I guess that is the point with Carroll.

There is nothing like a weird-ass classic. I admire this book for everything that it is. The book that upstaged all the strangeness in Alice Down the Rabbit Hole. The book that weirded me out so much that I had to keep reading to the end. The book that birthed a caterpillar which was Alan Rickman and a hatter which was Johnny Depp.



Don't expect an easy read, I will give that one caution. I'll be honest that I skipped through all the songs and poetry which I know from the movies (both classic and Disney). And it is great to finally know the original of what is now a story chopped and changed with its prequel so it makes some ounce of sense.

Debbie

Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There

Shannon Leigh Williams

Wow, this took me quite a while because I am a slow reader of poetry, but it was quite enjoyable! I always love to be whisked away into Alice's dreams, escaping the real world without the fear that accompanies my own dreams.

Alice in Spiegelland

Naomi Meeuwenoord 

This 1872 sequel to Lewis Carroll's beloved Alice's Adventures in Wonderland finds the inquisitive heroine in a fantastic land where everything is reversed. Looking-glass land, a topsy-turvy world lurking just behind the mirror over Alice's mantel, is a fantastic realm of live chessmen, madcap kings and queens, strange mythological creatures, a garden of talking flowers, and rude insects. Brooks and hedges divide the lush greenery of looking-glass land into a chessboard, where Alice becomes a pawn in a bizarre game of chess involving Humpty Dumpty, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the Lion and the Unicorn, the White Knight, and other nursery-rhyme figures. Promised a crown when she reaches the eighth square, Alice perseveres through a surreal landscape of characters who pelt her with riddles as well as humorous semantic quibbles, and regale her with memorable poetry, including the oft-quoted "Jabberwocky." This handsome and inexpensive edition of the childhood classic features the original illustrations by Sir John Tenniel.

Through the Looking Glass (Alice in Wonderland)

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