What I Learned - Alice by Christina Henry
Not you're average re-telling....an incredibly dark and shocking tale based on Lewis Carroll's beloved Alice in Wonderland.
What I Learned:
This made me think about the world we live in where mood altering medication amongst other things can be handed out really easily rather than giving people the tools they need to cope with life unmedicated. Probably if you look around the place that you are sitting right now more than two-thirds of the people there are on medication of some description...so many people with their moods altered by chemicals...I wonder how different the world would be if we were all in our "natural" states?
Sometimes the only choice and control we have in life is to choose how we react to everything going on around us.
A beautiful observation about loss and remembering.
The discussions about fate versus choice and nature versus nurture are probably as old as time. I know when I start thinking about these things I can go around and around in circles for hours. It's interesting though. Do we end up in the same place regardless of the path we take to get there? Will the outcomes be the same regardless of the choices we make along the way?
Sometimes no matter how strong we are the past can still sneak up on us unawares when we least expect it.
A great thing to remember...you are so much more amazing than you give yourself credit for!
In the story this was a physical wall...but in real life how difficult can it be to let your fortified walls down and truly let people in? And on the flip-side how frustrating can it be when all you want to do is love and care for someone but they won't let their guard down. What are we missing out on?
Forward is the best way to go. Yes, it can be scary, but who knows where we will end up!
It's easy to miss these impossible things at the time...sometimes it's not until much later that we realise that something truly incredible and impossible happened in that one moment in time. If we started looking for the impossible things would we notice more?
It's really hard being rescued...or for me at least. I am incredibly stubborn and independent (to a fault) and find it so difficult to accept help and, frankly. can be quite put out when it happens, not because I am ungrateful, but more because I feel like I have failed by needing the help in the first place. Glad to know it's not just me!
How often are we truly present in the moment, right here, right now? It can be harder than it sounds, especially with life being so fast paced and there always being something else to do or somewhere else to be. I know I need to make a big effort to be more in the moment.
If we knew that our wishes had that much power what would we ask for? Where would we let our daydreams take us. There's a school of thought that says we attract what we think about. We can visualise how we want our life to be and if we see it in enough detail it will help us get there. Would we censor our thoughts more if we truly knew this was possible?
Consumerism in a nutshell. Try hard and be satisfied with everything you have right now. I guarantee there is someone looking at you and everything you have and thinking how lucky you are.
Hands up...I admit this passage just makes me think of the plight of American's living with Trump, and the uncertainty we are living with here with Brexit and Indyref2. All we can really do is be hopeful...and look after our tiny little patch of the world to the best of our ability.
...and this is why I read...because sometimes real life is just a little bit rubbish!
Beautiful.
My Goodreads Review:
Alice by Christina HenryMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I was really excited to read this book as I adore all things Alice. I will be honest by a chapter in I was questioning whether I would finish it - extremely dark and graphic, more so than I was expecting. I stuck with it though and made an effort to throw my pre-conceived ideas out of the window. I made it to the end and really enjoyed it. It was incredibly clever and I definitely want to read more. It is one of the darkest things I have read though so be warned!
Find Christina Henry online at:
My copy of Alice was published by Titan Books. Find them online at:
Thank you so much for checking out this review - if you enjoyed it please have a look at my complete list of What I Learned reviews.
Happy Reading!
Happy Reading!
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