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Reader discussion: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Public reader discussion about Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in the WeRead Catalog by Lewis Carroll.

I read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and I didn't find a deeper meaning in the story. Am I dumb?

By HiddenSwan6

I finished Alice's Adventures in Wonderland not long ago and honestly it's turned into one of my favorite books. I had a blast with the weird, nonsense-y style of it, and Lewis Carroll was really clever with the writing too. I don't think I can do a proper full review right now, but I just really loved it. While I was reading Alice's adventures, I didn't really try to dig for some deeper meaning for some reason. Yeah, I got that it touched on stuff like growing up, but beyond that I wasn't stressing over hidden symbols or anything. Does that make me stupid? I liked it just the way it was: strange, interesting, and kind of plotless. I'm sure a lot of people read it in different ways, but I didn't sit there analyzing every scene or character, I just enjoyed the absurdity of it. I'd be curious what others think about this, and if you read it differently, feel free to share your thoughts.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: Is it really about math?

By ivy_paperback6645

This is probably more of a ramble than a proper comment, so fair warning. I keep seeing people say Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is basically a secret math book, and that if you don’t see that then you’re missing the whole point. Sure, Carroll was a mathematician, so I get why people go there, but I really think this gets blown way out of proportion. There definitely is math in Alice. I’m not saying there isn’t. But a lot of the “hidden math” talk feels like people reading way too much into stuff that’s mostly just a joke. The book is full of absurd lines, so it’s easy to start attaching all kinds of meanings to it. But if you actually read the page, a lot of the math bits are just little wordplay jokes, not some deep secret code. The tea scene is a good example: “Take some more tea,” said the March Hare. “I haven’t had any yet,” said Alice, a bit annoyed. “So I can’t take more.” “You mean you can’t take less,” said the Hatter. “It’s easy to take more than nothing.” I’ve seen people act like that’s some clever attack on Victorian math and negative numbers and all this other stuff. Maybe I’m missing something, but it really reads to me like a simple joke. It almost feels rude to say that about Alice, but honestly I think people are just forcing extra meaning into it. I also think a lot of this comes from Martin Gardner’s Annotated Alice. And to be clear, that book is great in a lot of ways. He’s really good at spotting satire and Victorian weirdness. But he also seems to find hidden math everywhere, even when the connection feels really thin. A lot of the time his reasoning basically boils down to “Carroll was a mathematician, so this must be math,” which doesn’t convince me much. The “grin without a cat” bit is one example that always feels like a stretch to me. Gardner turns it into this whole thing about pure mathematics and abstraction, but I just don’t know if the text is actually doing that much. That kind of overreading seems to happen a lot, and I think it’s a shame because his book is such a common source people lean on. And then there’s that Melanie Bayley article people keep passing around. I honestly don’t get it. A lot of her argument seems to come down to Carroll being a mathematician, and then the math gets read back into the story whether it’s really there or not. The baby turning into a pig being turned into projective geometry or whatever just feels completely ungrounded to me. So yeah, there is math in Alice, and Carroll being a mathematician obviously matters some. But I really think people push the “secret math” angle way past what’s actually on the page. It’s mostly a weird, funny children’s book with logic jokes and nonsense, not some giant hidden math puzzle. I’m not saying don’t look for interesting stuff in it, just maybe don’t force every scene into a formula. And please, for the love of god, stop bringing up that Bayley article.

[Discussion] Alice in Wonderland movie/adaptations discussion!

By laurelNeedle5

Hey, welcome back for the last Alice discussion! Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass have been turned into so many different movies/retellings over the years. What adaptation(s) have you checked out? How did they stack up against the book, in your opinion? And which ones would you actually recommend?

Alice’s adventures in Wonderland

By island_electric

I’m looking for some feedback on this book. The cover is kind of banged up—so I’m wondering if it has any real value, like money-wise, or if it’s mostly worth using as a vintage decoration on my bookshelf and letting my kids flip through it and read it.

150th Anniversary Edition of “Alice in Wonderland” Features Rare 1969 Salvador Dali Illustrations

By marginspark

Where I work at the library we’ve got an original copy of one of these, and we can only handle it with special gloves. Random fact too: I read that Dali would make the checks he wrote kind of hard to cash by drawing on them.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

By Electric-Clock1998

Directions on how to add Project Gutenberg ebooks to your Kindle library: you can use the “send to Kindle” email to download them wirelessly, and anything you add that way should sync across your devices. Also, it says Project Gutenberg is a nonprofit focused on preserving texts and making them available for future generations, and there’s an option to donate if you want. This is all coming from an automated message, so I’m not sure how accurate it is beyond the links they provided.

Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass

By SilverFocus1993

I just wrapped up these books and honestly didn’t expect to like them this much. I keep seeing people dissect them and argue about what Lewis Carroll “really meant,” but I just treat them like fun, weird kids’ stories with lots of clever wordplay. Curious what you think though—do you see them as deep and loaded, or more like delightful nonsense with the academic world going a bit overboard?

Reading Alice In Wonderland (Lewis Carroll 1865) - Horror Audiobook Ch.4

By SkyWater2002

Wait, how is “Alice” a horror audiobook? I’m not really getting the vibe.

Read Alice in Wonderland for the first time

By poemRough

I didn’t really want to read it at first just because it’s always getting referenced in other stuff and there are movies from it. Then I read *The Information* by James Gleick and he had this quote from Lewis Carroll: “Babies are illogical… Nobody is despised who can manage a crocodile… Illogical persons are despised.” And I was like, okay, this guy actually seems pretty logical. So I ended up grabbing the book and the sequel. I’m also surprised by how different it is from what I expected. I’d heard that Carroll basically came up with the whole story in one night after some kids asked him for a story, like “sure, okay.” What I really liked is that the characters don’t all act like Alice is some weird outsider, and nobody feels the need to over-explain themselves every time she talks to them. Like she meets the smoking caterpillar and asks who he is, and all he can think to say is “Why?” Or when she runs into the door mouse while she’s still tiny and starts talking about her cat without even knowing if it can talk back, and the mouse just answers her like it’s totally normal—“Why would you assume that I like cats?” Carroll really made it feel unique, not just the world and characters, but the way it’s written too. It’s honestly nothing else like it.

[Marginalia] Evergreen - Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

By rainy-falcon2004

This is the spot for Marginalia for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. Feel free to drop any random notes or comments while you’re reading. Since everyone goes at their own pace, use spoiler tags when needed and note what chapter the spoiler comes from.

Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (published by Macrae Smith Company)

By IanInDublin5723

I inherited this book from my grandmother, and I can’t really find any info about the version I have. I’m hoping someone can tell me what edition it is, or point me in the right direction.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.

By HorseStone20

When I was a kid, we had a VHS of Disney’s Alice in Wonderland and I’d watch it over and over. At the time I had no clue about the book it came from, or Lewis Carroll/Charles Dodgson. The first book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, is really different from the movie. Alice, the Mad Hatter, March Hare, Queen and King of Hearts, White Rabbit, Caterpillar, and Cheshire Cat are all in it, but there are parts the film leaves out, like the Duchess, the Gryphon, and the Mock Turtle. Also, no Tweedledee or Tweedledum, which I guess show up later in the sequel. It’s every bit as weird as the movie, just in a better way, even with the changes. Through the Looking Glass is great too, though it seems like it took Carroll longer to finish. That one has Tweedledee and Tweedledum, plus the Carpenter and the Walrus, and the movie uses them too. The whole thing is basically set on this huge chessboard, which is pretty wild. Besides those two, there are a bunch of other odd characters, including Humpty Dumpty. Both books came out in a time when most children’s stories were trying to teach lessons, but these don’t really do that, which is kind of refreshing. And the John Tenniel illustrations are great. Since the 1860s they’ve become classics and kind of part of culture in general. Also, I think the first book was originally called Alice’s Adventures Underground, and even that version was apparently pretty different. And yeah, there was a live action version too, which I own on DVD, and then a sequel I still haven’t watched.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

By looksbridge

If you want an easy way to get Project Gutenberg books onto your Kindle, just use your Send to Kindle email address. The books you send that way seem to show up synced across your devices.

Why is pop culture so obsessed with "Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carrol?

By little_wonder2

Sorry if I’m posting this in the wrong spot, but I’ve been really wondering why *Alice in Wonderland* shows up everywhere in pop culture. It feels like movies, games, and even other books always toss in little references, and I can’t figure out why everyone’s so obsessed with it. I’m actually reading it right now because I’m too curious to just leave it alone, but I still have no real answer yet. Does anyone here have any idea what makes it stick that hard? Thanks!

What's best Alice in Wonderland audiobook available? I prefer voiced characters and dramatization, but only narrator is OK too

By juniper

I’m not sure what to make of your post—I don’t really get the point, but I’m trying.

Alice's Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (2018)

By lucky-scarf

Hey, thanks for sending this in. Just a heads up though: they’re saying it has to be a full book only—no chapters, samples, summaries, or teasers. Also the title needs to be in that specific format with the author and year. If it’s a split/sectioned book, I guess you have to link the next parts in separate comments. Not sure what “More information here” is referring to, but that’s what popped up.

The Dark Side of Lewis Carroll and the hidden message he left in his book about the girl who inspired Alice in Wonderland.

By GentleReed9

So there’s this sub that’s basically for all the world’s mysteries that still haven’t been solved. They’ve got the usual links and stuff—Discord (Unresolved Mysteries Server), Twitter @r_Unresolved, and a Facebook page. Also rules, how to get verified if you’re personally involved, and a bunch of search/index/wikis for write-ups and recommended subs. I even saw their “Best Posts” section and one from November: “Missing teens remains found in freezer” (u/Visible-Function-958) from Oct 12, 2024. Not sure how I feel about it yet, but it seems like they cover a lot of different categories.

Alice in Wonderland edition

By Parcel_Watches

Hi everyone, I’m thinking about giving Alice in Wonderland to a friend for Christmas, but I’m totally stuck on which edition to get. Does anyone have recommendations for a nice one—something pretty and actually good as a gift? Edit: Thanks so much! I think I’ve got a good option now. I can’t wait to see if she’ll like it!

An adaptation inspired by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll ✨

By sunQuill

“Do you love me?” Alice asked, and the White Rabbit pretty much just went, “No, I don’t.” Alice looked all upset and grabbed her hands together like she always did when she got hurt. Then the White Rabbit was like, “See? This is what happens. You start spiraling about how you’re not good enough and what you did wrong, because then it feels like you should stop expecting anyone to love you, even a little.” And honestly, I’m not sure if he’s being cruel or just saying the truth, but it sounded like he meant it. Like people aren’t going to love you forever. There are going to be days when other people get worn out, lose their heads in the clouds, and end up hurting you. He basically said people always hurt each other somehow—either they mean well and mess up, misunderstand things, or have their own stuff going on. And if you can’t even manage to love yourself a little, then the small annoyances from other people are going to feel way worse, like they could actually hurt you for real. He even said the first time he saw her he made some kind of deal with himself: he won’t let himself love her until she learns how to love herself.

What is the original "dark" tale of Alice in Wonderland?

By ivoryHoney

I came across a claim that the original Alice in Wonderland story was way darker and more gruesome, but I can’t find anything online that backs it up. Sorry if this comes off like a dumb shitpost or whatever—I just didn’t know where else to ask. Thanks for any replies, though!