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Alison Wonderland
Alison Wonderland
Alison Wonderland
Audiobook5 hours

Alison Wonderland

Written by Helen Smith

Narrated by Alison Larkin

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

3/5

()

About this audiobook

After Alison Temple discovers that her husband is cheating on her, she does what any jilted woman would do: She spray-paints a nasty message for him on her wedding dress and takes a job with the detective firm that found him out. Being a researcher at the all-female Fitzgerald’s Bureau of Investigation in London is certainly a change of pace from her previous life, especially considering the characters Alison meets in the line of duty. There’s her boss, the estimable Mrs. Fitzgerald; Taron, Alison’s eccentric best friend, who claims her mother is a witch; Jeff, her love-struck, poetry-writing neighbor; and—last but not least!—her psychic postman. Together, their idiosyncrasies and their demands on Alison threaten to drive her mad…if she didn’t need and love them all so much. Clever, quirky, and infused with just a hint of magic, Alison Wonderland is a literary novel about a memorable heroine coping with the everyday complexities of modern life.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateNov 6, 2012
ISBN9781469242958
Alison Wonderland
Author

Helen Smith

Helen Smith is a novelist and play-wright and the recipient of an Arts Council of England Award. In addition to Alison Wonderland, she is the author of Being Light, The Miracle Inspector, and two children’s books. Her plays have been produced to critical acclaim in the United Kingdom. She has traveled all over the world, and currently lives in London.

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Reviews for Alison Wonderland

Rating: 3.2302630934210526 out of 5 stars
3/5

76 ratings19 reviews

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Helen Smith has a delightfully quirky sense of humor that borders on the hyper-real. Here characters have names reflective of their personalities and an undertow of the mystical that drags the reader into her sea without your quite realizing what is going on. For a large portion of the novel, I was willing to bet the magic wasn't real, and then the postman actually delivers the psychic postcards and I was sold. I loved the secondary plot line of rescuing a foundling and naming it Phoebe after the secondary female's delusions. I also enjoyed the device of alternating first person narrative with a close third person perspective of the delightful cast of characters. There were simply a few scenes that I felt could be tightened up just a bit, but overall, I sincerely enjoyed this book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book is different from many other books. It is honestly unlike any other book I have ever read. I love this book though. Helen Smith shows observations of people's actions and thoughts throughout the book in a way that many of us are not used to. They sometimes catch you off guard in the best kind of way while reading.
    Overall I'm extremely happy I picked the book up for my kindle it was worth more than the 2.99 I paid for it.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Yuck. Boring, inane, so glad I read htis on the kindle so no trees were chopped down for this crap.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    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 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.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Ambivalent about this book. I’m reading it, enjoying it, but can’t say that my imagination is captured by it.Alison Temple is divorced, at loose ends, and newly hired in the musically mute Mrs. Ella Fitzgerald’s detective agency in London where her duties seem mainly to follow cheating spouses until one day Mrs. Fitzgerald – who is trying to keep a grip on her own sanity in the face of the evidence that her brother Clive is certifiable nuts and maybe something else, too – puts Alison on the case of the Brown Dog. Alison is to gather information on the activities of a genetics engineering firm.With the help of two sidekicks: Her batty friend Tyron who wants Alison to find her a baby somewhere, and the worshipful support of Jeff, the orally inarticulate but poet neighbor, Alison battles the bad guys and tries to repair her personal life.The funniest bits are the details about the "shig" – a huge cross-species creature that is tended by an obsessed handler. In spots the book is riotously funny; however, it is too long in spite of its overly short chapters and not really reminiscent of Lewis Carroll's novel at all. Will finish, but I’m not entranced.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    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 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.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    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. 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.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a whimsical story about friendship, magic, cheating husbands, bad guys.... With a large cast of characters and lots going on, Ms. Smith has packed a lot into this short novel.Alison Temple (a.k.a. Alison Wonderland) has just left her cheating husband -- who gave her no reason to stop loving him, just a lot of reasons to hate him. She has a job at a detective agency, mostly spying on unfaithful spouses; a neighbour who is in love with her and a best friend who wants to find an abandoned baby because these babies are powerful in the spiritual world. I liked it a lot. The characters had only flahses of realism, the plot was only somewhat believable, but Ms. Smith has a way of drawing the reader in with humour and moments of incredible insight into the human mind. This is a great story -- light but extremely satisfying.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    As I read primarily young adult books, I don't usually accept adult novels for review. At first I thought Alison Wonderland might have some YA cross over appeal so I decided to give it a try. After reading a few chapters, it was obvious, to me, that this was going to be more of an 'adult' book and in my opinion, not suitable for the under 18ish crowd. It was an enjoyable read though. Nothing really stands out about Alison Wonderland but overall, the story kind of resonates with a type of implausibility and bizarre sense of reality that was entertaining. The synopsis of the book doesn't do a very good job describing what actually happens however. I thought I was going to read a modern sleuth mystery with perhaps some feminist overtones. What I got was a strange drug and sex filled story about a woman who perhaps solved a mystery no one really knew or cared about. A little weird but like I said, pretty enjoyable.I don't usually give warnings about the content of books as I prefer readers to make up their own minds but I do feel the need to point out a particular part in Alison Wonderland that might not be for every reader. It involved a genetically engineered animal and a man having sex. It kind of fit with the storyline but still it seemed unnecessary and gross to me. Unfortunately, it also brought my rating down a bit. Alison Wonderland was originally published in the UK in 1999 and the book is very much a British novel. The setting and the slang was all British. I had a few problems following along because I couldn’t quite figure out what a character was saying or thinking but it wasn't a huge problem. It would probably be very enjoyable to a reader from the UK or a reader to enjoys British colloquialisms and customs.A middle of the road type of book for me that I wished was a bit more pulled together. I liked the randomness of the characters and what happens to them but I would have enjoyed this story more if the characters felt more connected to each other.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Received via Member Review- I went into this book thinking it would be incredibly clever, based on the title. While a decent read, it's not a book that I find myself coming back to. I did enjoy the British spellings and colloquialisms, however, felt that the book was trying too hard to be clever. It would make a good beach read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A quirky and entertaining novel with an unexpected ending that felt true to character.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I recently finished reading Alison Wonderland by Helen Smith and found it to be quite refreshing. Written with UK grammar and spelling, this book does take a few chapters to get comfortable with the writing style. As well as the difference in grammar, Alison Wonderland jumps from character to character, letting us experience their separate thoughts and feelings as their share a combined journey in the book. After you get used to the writing style, you can comfortably follow Alison on her ups and downs as she acquires a job at a private investigators office. She handles mostly cheating husband cases but soon finds herself investing a different case. At times I felt as though there was an abundance of details as Alison often gets sidetracked with various thoughts to herself that can sometimes confuse the reader. Sometimes you are left thinking what the point is of some of the characters’ thoughts. However, it all came together nicely and was a pleasant and quirky read. There is some mild adult language throughout and adult themes that may make some readers a bit nervous so I would definitely suggest that it be read by strictly mature audiences.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    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 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 liveAdditionally, 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.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Alison Temple is a detective who works under the name Alison Wonderland - giving this quirky novel its charming name. Far from a traditional mystery, the story is almost more a comedy of errors and coincidences, with a splash of magical realism mixed it. A wonderful cast of fresh, unique and wonderfully drawn characters drive the slightly disjointed plot and Helen Smith's humorous descriptions - painting the most ordinary of situations in a creative light - provide a great flair of color to the text.I probably would have enjoyed this book more if Alison's character had been a little less rough around the edges. With careless drug use and somewhat ambivalent feelings for Jeff, the neighbor who is in love with her; I had a hard time relating to her as the protagonist. However, I was really drawn into her story and found myself caring a lot about the secondary characters in the book. Needless to say, even though I wasn't blown away by this novel, I was really impressed with Helen Smith's writing. She captures simplicity in complex words and has a remarkable talent for humorous observation. Although Alison Wonderland was not my favorite, I will likely read more of Smith's work.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A slow beginning and somewhat hard to follow throughout the rest of the book, I found this book hard to get into. The storyline was jagged and could not gain my interest at any point. Not my cup of tea.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I'm glad others like this book. I really wanted to , but the writing style just wasn't something I could get into.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    (Received from Member Giveaways) An enjoyable read, but the quirky humour didn't quite hit the right note for me, so not the magical experience I was hoping for after the reviews. Reminded me a little of The End of Mr Y, except looser and more open. There's a fabulous cast of characters, and the plot tumbles along, never quite taking a shape, but staying together all the same.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Reading this book reminds me of when I watched Momento for the first time. It took me a few chapters to settle in to the writing style. Not to say it was bad in any way, just not what I expected and definitely funny. The characters are wonderful. I wish I had a few like them in my life. The plot is interesting and unpredictable with an odd assortment of wildlife making appearances throughout the book. I’m not quite sure why I find it so appealing, but the fact that it’s written by an English author as opposed to an American also added an interesting twist to the novel. It’s not often I get to read about fags and torches instead of cigarettes and flashlights. :) I look forward to reading additional works by Ms. Smith. Thank you for the entertainment and keep writing!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    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 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.