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Still She Haunts Me
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was a shy Oxford mathematician, reverend, and pioneering photographer. Under the pen name Lewis Carroll he wrote two stunning classics that liberated children's literature from the constraints of Victorian moralism.
But the exact nature of his relationship with Alice Liddell, daughter of the dean of his college, and the young girl who was his muse and subject, remains mysterious. Dodgson met Alice in 1856, when she was almost four years old. Eventually he would capture her in his photographs, and transform the stories he told her into the luminous Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass.
Then, suddenly, when Alice was eleven, the Liddell family shut him out, and his relationship with Alice ended abruptly. The pages from Dodgson's diary that may have explained the rift have disappeared.
In imagining what might have happened, one of America's most provocative young writers, Katie Roiphe, has created a deep, richly textured fictional portrait of Alice and Dodgson: she changing from an unruly child to a bewitching adolescent, and he, a diffident, neurasthenic adult whose increasing obsession with her almost destroys him.
Here, too, is a brilliantly realized cast of characters that surround them: Lorina Liddell, Alice's mother, who loves her daughter even as she envies her youth; Edith Liddell, Alice's resentful little sister; and James Hunt, Dodgson's speech therapist, an island of sanity in Dodgson's increasingly chaotic world.
Beautifully crafted, prodigiously researched, Still She Haunts Me is an announcement of a deft and original novelist, even as it is a singular work of art.
But the exact nature of his relationship with Alice Liddell, daughter of the dean of his college, and the young girl who was his muse and subject, remains mysterious. Dodgson met Alice in 1856, when she was almost four years old. Eventually he would capture her in his photographs, and transform the stories he told her into the luminous Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass.
Then, suddenly, when Alice was eleven, the Liddell family shut him out, and his relationship with Alice ended abruptly. The pages from Dodgson's diary that may have explained the rift have disappeared.
In imagining what might have happened, one of America's most provocative young writers, Katie Roiphe, has created a deep, richly textured fictional portrait of Alice and Dodgson: she changing from an unruly child to a bewitching adolescent, and he, a diffident, neurasthenic adult whose increasing obsession with her almost destroys him.
Here, too, is a brilliantly realized cast of characters that surround them: Lorina Liddell, Alice's mother, who loves her daughter even as she envies her youth; Edith Liddell, Alice's resentful little sister; and James Hunt, Dodgson's speech therapist, an island of sanity in Dodgson's increasingly chaotic world.
Beautifully crafted, prodigiously researched, Still She Haunts Me is an announcement of a deft and original novelist, even as it is a singular work of art.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2001
18 people are currently reading
540 people want to read
About the author
Katie Roiphe
22 books128 followersKatie Roiphe is the author of the non-fiction works The Morning After: Fear, Sex and Feminism (1994) and Last Night in Paradise: Sex and Morals at the Century's End (1997). Her novel Still She Haunts Me is an empathetic imagining of the relationship between Charles Dodgson (known as Lewis Carroll) and Alice Liddell, the real-life model for Dodgson's Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. She holds a Ph.D in English Literature from Princeton University, and is presently teaching at New York University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews
August 16, 2014
The title is a line from one of the 'Alice in Wonderland' poems & the book claims to be "A Novel of Lewis Carroll and Alice Liddell". I have always loved the Alice books - I've read Wonderland countless times & I'd read that this was a good book about Charles Dodgson & the girl many think was his Alice. I knew this was a fictionalized story of their relationship based on Dodgson's letters & diaries but in truth it seems based on rumor & lurid speculation. Yes, there were some who believed Dodgson was a pedophile & apparently he had a very close relationship with Alice, her sisters & countless other children during his life but this book fabricates details to emphasize the worse connotations possible. Personally I think this was a man much more comfortable in the company of children than adults. I did learn that he was an amazing photographer and I strongly recommend you go to any number of great websites that display his work. In fact, the one good thing I got out of the book was an interest in this man, and in Alice Liddell. I am starting to research the facts of his life and his photography. If you read this, please don't accept the story as the truth because it is a complete disservice to him if you do.
December 16, 2010
I know it's a fiction, but so many facts are wrong. Easily established facts like how many children were in Carroll's family and other silly twists of fact that weren't relevant to the story so why even go there? And the ending...oh the ending what do I say...I just don't like the perpetuation of the thought that Carroll is a perv. It can't be proven that he was. And while his behavior may have been odd by our standards (or others), no one really knows what was going on in his head and it's never been shown that he did anything the least bit inappropriate with his child-friends.
Please read The Mystery of Lewis Carroll: Discovering the Whimsical, Thoughtful and, Sometimes, Lonely Man Who Created "Alice in Wonderland"to learn actual truths about a talented and lonely man whose life has turned into fabrications and skewed realities because that is more tantalizing for the readers of today.
Please read The Mystery of Lewis Carroll: Discovering the Whimsical, Thoughtful and, Sometimes, Lonely Man Who Created "Alice in Wonderland"to learn actual truths about a talented and lonely man whose life has turned into fabrications and skewed realities because that is more tantalizing for the readers of today.
March 19, 2015
I've been thinking recently I need to read this book again as I really enjoyed it the first time. It's strange reading about such an iconic writer and knowing the story of Alice in Wonderland so well and then this book changed my view of Lewis Carroll entirely and made me look at the story of Alice from a whole new perspective.
August 13, 2021
Disturbing. Yet at the same time, beautifully-written.
Now, let me first state that Alice in Wonderland (and Through the Looking-glass) is one of my favorite books of all-time. I owe it to the 2010 movie for getting me to read and fall in love with them. I also used to think that Lewis Carroll (real name Charles Dodgson) was a pedophile for a brief period of time, but then that dissolved once I did some further research by people who say otherwise.
So I went into this with an open mind - as a simple work of fiction.
Charles Dodgson manages to be sympathetic, intriguing, and repulsive all at once. He seems to know that this obsession with this little girl is wrong, never brings himself to act upon any temptation, and there's an instance when he's disgusted at a newspaper article about child prostitution.
There were times when I'd stay up at night, unable to sleep, thinking about what I'd just read. It, aptly put, haunted me! I was icked out some times, felt sorry at other times, and then had my heart racing during a scene towards the end of the novel. All while admiring the wonderful narration.
Then again, I did have the knowledge that nude photography involving children during this time was not meant to be sexual, and instead, be a sort of symbolism for childhood innocence. They were also taken with parents' permission.
Katie Roiphe approaches this book's subject similarly to Melanie Benjamin's Alice I Have Been : with the idea that Alice Liddell was a big inspiration for Carroll/Dodgson to the point of dreaming about her, being a muse to his photography, and even imagining what a future together would've been like. As I read the narrative in this, I thought back to Benjamin pointing out how adult-like Liddell looked in the photo of her dressed as a beggar.
Undoubtedly, Roiphe read Nabokov's Lolita prior to writing this. I also appreciate that drugs are not depicted as the source for the story's inspiration in this (since a drug that causes hallucinations is used, but for an entirely different reason, and it seems that Alice in Wonderland had already been written down by then). We do get some backstory of Dodgson's childhood growing up (although I wish we had seen more of his relationship with his siblings), along with some insight on Mrs. Liddell - which I didn't expect.
This story, overall, didn't tarnish my view of the author or his work. It's just made me more curious to eventually read a biography on him - along with learning more about Christina Rossetti and The Light Princess!
Now, let me first state that Alice in Wonderland (and Through the Looking-glass) is one of my favorite books of all-time. I owe it to the 2010 movie for getting me to read and fall in love with them. I also used to think that Lewis Carroll (real name Charles Dodgson) was a pedophile for a brief period of time, but then that dissolved once I did some further research by people who say otherwise.
So I went into this with an open mind - as a simple work of fiction.
Charles Dodgson manages to be sympathetic, intriguing, and repulsive all at once. He seems to know that this obsession with this little girl is wrong, never brings himself to act upon any temptation, and there's an instance when he's disgusted at a newspaper article about child prostitution.
There were times when I'd stay up at night, unable to sleep, thinking about what I'd just read. It, aptly put, haunted me! I was icked out some times, felt sorry at other times, and then had my heart racing during a scene towards the end of the novel. All while admiring the wonderful narration.
Then again, I did have the knowledge that nude photography involving children during this time was not meant to be sexual, and instead, be a sort of symbolism for childhood innocence. They were also taken with parents' permission.
Katie Roiphe approaches this book's subject similarly to Melanie Benjamin's Alice I Have Been : with the idea that Alice Liddell was a big inspiration for Carroll/Dodgson to the point of dreaming about her, being a muse to his photography, and even imagining what a future together would've been like. As I read the narrative in this, I thought back to Benjamin pointing out how adult-like Liddell looked in the photo of her dressed as a beggar.
Undoubtedly, Roiphe read Nabokov's Lolita prior to writing this. I also appreciate that drugs are not depicted as the source for the story's inspiration in this (since a drug that causes hallucinations is used, but for an entirely different reason, and it seems that Alice in Wonderland had already been written down by then). We do get some backstory of Dodgson's childhood growing up (although I wish we had seen more of his relationship with his siblings), along with some insight on Mrs. Liddell - which I didn't expect.
This story, overall, didn't tarnish my view of the author or his work. It's just made me more curious to eventually read a biography on him - along with learning more about Christina Rossetti and The Light Princess!
December 16, 2008
He realized that time moved slower for him than for his seven-year-old sister Elizabeth, because each minute that passed was a greater proportion of his life than hers. This thought nagged at him, made him anxious, since time was supposed to be the same for everyone, the absolute unit of measurement upon which everyone could agree, five minutes, a half hour, but it wasn't. Time bent and swayed depending on who you were.
I honestly think a well-written story is worth more than an interesting plotline (which is probably why me and Dean Koontz don't get along). This story, about Lewis Carroll and his Alice, has both. The plot is a little uncomfortable, but you're already wrapped up in the tale before you can protest.
I honestly think a well-written story is worth more than an interesting plotline (which is probably why me and Dean Koontz don't get along). This story, about Lewis Carroll and his Alice, has both. The plot is a little uncomfortable, but you're already wrapped up in the tale before you can protest.
March 18, 2008
the title describes this book well.....this book haunts me.
this is a telling of Lewis Carroll, née Charles Dogdgson, & his
relationship with the real Alice that we all know & love from her venture through Wonderland. at first innocent by all outward appearances, Carroll's obsession deepens & nearly destroys him.
the characters are so well written in this book, that upon my first reading (i read my favorites many times over) i felt Alice's confusion & her mother's rage & disgust as the whole story twists together.
simply beautifully written & full of recognizable moments from the Alice in Wonderland you know.
this is a telling of Lewis Carroll, née Charles Dogdgson, & his
relationship with the real Alice that we all know & love from her venture through Wonderland. at first innocent by all outward appearances, Carroll's obsession deepens & nearly destroys him.
the characters are so well written in this book, that upon my first reading (i read my favorites many times over) i felt Alice's confusion & her mother's rage & disgust as the whole story twists together.
simply beautifully written & full of recognizable moments from the Alice in Wonderland you know.
March 2, 2013
Nicely written, and I recommend it - if you can understand and accept the fact that this is published fanfiction. There are fragments of known truth, the rest is based upon speculation (it is, after all, a NOVEL and not a biography). That said, it's a very good piece of fanfiction. Most of the characters are well written (considering the book is quite thin), and it's easy to sympathize with the main character, Charles.
Saving the fact that I'm slightly opposed to fanfiction featuring real people (dead or not), this was an enjoyable read, and it made me think and feel, as a good book should.
Saving the fact that I'm slightly opposed to fanfiction featuring real people (dead or not), this was an enjoyable read, and it made me think and feel, as a good book should.
April 9, 2011
Roiphe's writing was alright; otherwise, the novel was pretty terrible and not worth the time it takes to read it. It's basically another version of the Alice Liddell/Lewis Carroll story, but Roiphe sensationalizes it quite a bit, causing Carroll to come across as more of a pedophile than anything else. If you're a reader that has done research and/or any previous reading about Lewis Carroll's relationship with the Liddell family, then you know that Roiphe's portrayal of him is simply not accurate and is, in fact, distasteful.
June 21, 2024
Katie Roiphe's novel (her only one) is lifted out of an incident in the life of Charles Dodgson known by all as Lewis Carroll, his pen name. Dodgson, a young and shy mathematics professor, had become close with the family of Henry Liddell, the dean of Oxford. Dodgson took Liddell's children on outings and used them as subjects for his photography hobby. One of the daughters, Alice Liddell, was the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland, the manuscript of which would be finished in 1864. Something happened in June 1863, causing Dodgson to cut off contact with the family.
The historical records about what caused the rift have been lost or destroyed. The letters that Dodgson wrote to Alice (who, mind you, was 11) were torn up by Alice's mother (motive never explained). Some volumes and entries of Dodgson's diaries are missing from this period. Roiphe steps into this gap to construct an obsessive, leering desire that Dodgson developed for Alice over a few years, speculation that has been raised by others. Roiphe's Dodgson pines for Alice, growing ever closer, while realizing that a gap will forever remain between them. To shed light on his behavior, Roiphe writes of Dodgson's challenging childhood, dominated by his stutter and an overbearing father. Childhood innocence and fantasy are his escape. At one point, Roiphe darkly twists around the line from Wordsworth: "The Child is the father of the Man."
I assumed much of what I was reading was made up, knowing very little about Dodgson. I didn't know any of this history. When Roiphe conceives of the destroyed letters and diary entries, I figured she's simply taking a liberty given what's missing. So, it's Rophie's fictional portrait, not the true Dodgson. It was alarming then, when I came upon a photo in the Met's collection that Roiphe describes in the novel. Small revelations like that continued, as I started to see how much historical material Roiphe drew upon. I had no idea that John Ruskin (who makes a brief appearance given that the novel is set at Oxford) was betrothed to a 12-year-old girl. Since the novel exists at the edge of historicity, these details take on a fully sinister cast. Roiphe's constructions start to control the interpretation.
In an unsettling moment, Roiphe points to an introduction of one of Dodgson's mathematical texts, Curiosa Mathematica, Part II, Pillow-Problems, Thought Out During Sleepless Nights . Sure enough, it's real. In the introduction, Dodgson benignly points out how it is impossible to divert an active mind. Tell someone not to think of a pink elephant, and they will think of a pink elephant. That type of thing. However, after a bit of teasing, he states the following:
The dark inference is propped up only by insinuation, which speaks to the novel's power that I'm finding those lines to be so chilling. Ironic, obviously, because I didn't have the faintest idea about any of this history before starting the novel, and now it's all I see.
As to whether Still She Haunts Me coheres as a novel depends on a plotting that is foretold in the opening chapters, leaving a dread that overhangs the reading experience. And her research of the time period, while interesting, can at times feel tacked onto the story, especially as she shifts perspectives to comment on Oxford's modernization or chooses to invoke the Huxley–Wilberforce debate to make a point about Dodgson's quivering mind. Setting that aside, credit to Roiphe for her courage and inquisitive manner, something that I've long admired in her criticism and is why I picked this novel up in the first place.
The historical records about what caused the rift have been lost or destroyed. The letters that Dodgson wrote to Alice (who, mind you, was 11) were torn up by Alice's mother (motive never explained). Some volumes and entries of Dodgson's diaries are missing from this period. Roiphe steps into this gap to construct an obsessive, leering desire that Dodgson developed for Alice over a few years, speculation that has been raised by others. Roiphe's Dodgson pines for Alice, growing ever closer, while realizing that a gap will forever remain between them. To shed light on his behavior, Roiphe writes of Dodgson's challenging childhood, dominated by his stutter and an overbearing father. Childhood innocence and fantasy are his escape. At one point, Roiphe darkly twists around the line from Wordsworth: "The Child is the father of the Man."
I assumed much of what I was reading was made up, knowing very little about Dodgson. I didn't know any of this history. When Roiphe conceives of the destroyed letters and diary entries, I figured she's simply taking a liberty given what's missing. So, it's Rophie's fictional portrait, not the true Dodgson. It was alarming then, when I came upon a photo in the Met's collection that Roiphe describes in the novel. Small revelations like that continued, as I started to see how much historical material Roiphe drew upon. I had no idea that John Ruskin (who makes a brief appearance given that the novel is set at Oxford) was betrothed to a 12-year-old girl. Since the novel exists at the edge of historicity, these details take on a fully sinister cast. Roiphe's constructions start to control the interpretation.
In an unsettling moment, Roiphe points to an introduction of one of Dodgson's mathematical texts, Curiosa Mathematica, Part II, Pillow-Problems, Thought Out During Sleepless Nights . Sure enough, it's real. In the introduction, Dodgson benignly points out how it is impossible to divert an active mind. Tell someone not to think of a pink elephant, and they will think of a pink elephant. That type of thing. However, after a bit of teasing, he states the following:
Perhaps I may venture, for a moment, to use a more serious tone, and to point out that there are mental troubles, much worse than mere worry, for which an absorbing subject of thought may serve as a remedy. There are skeptical thoughts, which seem for the moment to uproot the firmest faith; there are blasphemous thoughts, which dart unbidden into the most reverent souls; there are unholy thoughts, which torture, with their hateful presence, the fancy that would fain be pure. Against all these some real mental work is a most helpful ally.
The dark inference is propped up only by insinuation, which speaks to the novel's power that I'm finding those lines to be so chilling. Ironic, obviously, because I didn't have the faintest idea about any of this history before starting the novel, and now it's all I see.
As to whether Still She Haunts Me coheres as a novel depends on a plotting that is foretold in the opening chapters, leaving a dread that overhangs the reading experience. And her research of the time period, while interesting, can at times feel tacked onto the story, especially as she shifts perspectives to comment on Oxford's modernization or chooses to invoke the Huxley–Wilberforce debate to make a point about Dodgson's quivering mind. Setting that aside, credit to Roiphe for her courage and inquisitive manner, something that I've long admired in her criticism and is why I picked this novel up in the first place.
August 28, 2016
reread
September 7, 2022
I am always drawn to books about Lewis Carroll and the creation of the Alice character. It is hard to review this one as it is a fictionalised account and so you can really only base your rating on the writing itself, which I think was very good (for the most part). Where Carroll is concerned, you have to put aside your modern-day thinking and mores and try not to see something that may or may not have been happening between him and Alice. I would recommend reading Morton N. Cohen's book "The Selected Letters of Lewis Carroll" which at least gives you some real insight straight from Carroll himself.
"Still She Haunts Me" has a predictable and overwhelming sense of dark foreboding; a pervasive "ickiness". Still worth a read.
"Still She Haunts Me" has a predictable and overwhelming sense of dark foreboding; a pervasive "ickiness". Still worth a read.
November 14, 2025
I've read this before. First time I would have given it five stars. Only reason for the drop to four stars is it is not startingly new material to me. I totally believe child love can be holy and need not be carnal, especially with damaged souls like Dodgson's.
December 7, 2017
The book touched on interesting topics regarding Charles' relationship with Alice. Who knows, many aspects may be true! However, the ending could have been stronger. It ended abruptly.
May 1, 2019
I am fascinated by this side of the Alice In Wonderland story that I didn’t know about before.
September 12, 2019
The writing is fine. The story...I felt gross reading it. While it may have some basis in fact, the story is about a man's obsession with a minor. It did not sit well with me.
January 27, 2021
I'm not sure I feel about this book as a story it's very interesting and a good read but knowing it's about real people and it's a work of fiction doesn't sit completely right
December 4, 2023
I did not enjoy this book. I did find it somewhat disturbing. I did read the entire book though.
March 22, 2024
Beautiful prose
November 7, 2024
It was good but there were parts I felt like were slow and I was trying to rush through them for it to get good again.
January 29, 2025
BBC adaptation material
May 23, 2012
Where shall I begin? I have witnessed Katie Roiphe's talent for weaving magic into her prose. The entire book is filled with lyricism and I loved every minute of it. I can only imagine the beauty she would present us with in a volume of poetry.
Riophe successfully walks the line of raising our curiosity and skirting the implications of such a relationship between Carroll and Alice. Intriguing to say the least.
I have decided to do my due diligence and read more biographical material on Carroll and view the photographs before making my own judgement. As a mother of daughters myself I am horrified to think this could have inspired the Alice in Wonderland we all love and adore.
As a lover of all sorts of twisted information, I also need to read about Victorian mores and acceptable behaviors for relationships between men and children. Perhaps more reading about John Ruskin is in order. The two share quite a few similarities.
My advice is to appreciate Riophe's writing talent and do your own research to determine what their relationship might have been.
Riophe successfully walks the line of raising our curiosity and skirting the implications of such a relationship between Carroll and Alice. Intriguing to say the least.
I have decided to do my due diligence and read more biographical material on Carroll and view the photographs before making my own judgement. As a mother of daughters myself I am horrified to think this could have inspired the Alice in Wonderland we all love and adore.
As a lover of all sorts of twisted information, I also need to read about Victorian mores and acceptable behaviors for relationships between men and children. Perhaps more reading about John Ruskin is in order. The two share quite a few similarities.
My advice is to appreciate Riophe's writing talent and do your own research to determine what their relationship might have been.
October 5, 2011
This book was absorbing from beginning to end. I found it so engrossing that I read it in one sitting. I did wonder a lot about the historical accuracy of what happens in this book since a Children's Lit course I took as an undergrad told a different story about Dodgson and the Lidell's but, as Roiphe pounts out in her afterward, the only people who really know what happened between these people are dead. So we can speculate all we want and we'll still never know.
Roiphe definitely did her research here. Reading this book made me want to re-read the works of Lewis Carroll and also Christina Rosetti's Goblin Market, which I have on my bookshelf and read sometimes when I need a creepy bedtime story to give me inspiring nightmares!
Sometimes the book is worded beautifully, while other times I found it underwhelming. The book shifts points of view a lot and it pulls the reader out of the narrative a few times.
Roiphe definitely did her research here. Reading this book made me want to re-read the works of Lewis Carroll and also Christina Rosetti's Goblin Market, which I have on my bookshelf and read sometimes when I need a creepy bedtime story to give me inspiring nightmares!
Sometimes the book is worded beautifully, while other times I found it underwhelming. The book shifts points of view a lot and it pulls the reader out of the narrative a few times.
June 25, 2008
This book reminded me very much of Christopher Bram's FATHER OF FRANKENSTEIN (which was adapted into the film GODS AND MONSTERS with Ian McKellan and Brendan Fraser). Both books revolve around "real" people and "real" events that cannot be fully known or explained. Why did James Whale, director of Frankenstein, end up dead in his LA pool? Why did Alice Liddell's family end their friendship with Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)? Fiction fills in those historical gaps. Roiphe's meticulous research pays off here; she gracefully and lyrically transports the reader into a real-life Wonderland, an enchanted physical and pschological space inhabited by these characters. I'm impressed by the skillful use of 3rd person point of view, which shifts (often within the same chapter) between five different characters.
July 23, 2009
I thought that this book did all the things that historical fiction is supposed to do: make you curious about the actual story, personalize history, entertain, and bring up questions...
I knew the basics of the Alice in Wonderland story- that it was written for a family friend and yadda yadda.
Had no idea that Lewis Carroll was a creeper.
I loved how this book was written. It flowed well and I couldn't put it down. I liked knowing from the get-go that there was going to be a falling out, because the whole time I was trying to figure out what it was going to be.
A short little book, but it packs quite a punch. There were parts (several actually), that were kind of disturbing to read because they were slightly graphic and it's hard to read about a grown man's fantasies of an 11 year old girl.
Worth a read, for sure.
I knew the basics of the Alice in Wonderland story- that it was written for a family friend and yadda yadda.
Had no idea that Lewis Carroll was a creeper.
I loved how this book was written. It flowed well and I couldn't put it down. I liked knowing from the get-go that there was going to be a falling out, because the whole time I was trying to figure out what it was going to be.
A short little book, but it packs quite a punch. There were parts (several actually), that were kind of disturbing to read because they were slightly graphic and it's hard to read about a grown man's fantasies of an 11 year old girl.
Worth a read, for sure.
October 24, 2011
Disappointing. Not because Ms. Roiphe can't tell a good story, because she can. I just grew tired of the story she told. I'm a fan of history, but I think the made up tale of the uncomfortable situations between Dodgson and Alice...and then the even more uncomfortable climax - along with the addition of many unnecessary characters got to be a bit too much for me. And in the end...I still really don't feel like I knew any more about Charles Dodgson other than the fact that he had a speech impediment and that he used to tell many of his Through the Looking Glass stories to the Liddell children. Not only that, but proof has come out to say that Dodgson's infactuation most likely wasn't with Alice at all - which makes this made up account of the situation even more uninteresting. Maybe my imagination isn't big enough to appreciate this book.
March 19, 2015
Interesting speculative fiction about Lewis Carroll. It goes into his relationship with Alice Liddell, the supposed muse for the Alice in Wonderland.
From the writing style, it's obvious that Katie Roiphe is an English PhD. I'm having some difficulty deciding whether her references to contemporary authors are clever or gratuituous. As an English major myself, a lot of this book felt like intellectual wanking.
I would have given this four stars, but it gets creepy in the last few chapters. Roiphe has Lewis Carroll taking nude photos of Alice. I don't actually know much of his biography; only that the book was pleasant, and then began to sound like Roiphe thought she could write like Nabokov. Ridiculous.
From the writing style, it's obvious that Katie Roiphe is an English PhD. I'm having some difficulty deciding whether her references to contemporary authors are clever or gratuituous. As an English major myself, a lot of this book felt like intellectual wanking.
I would have given this four stars, but it gets creepy in the last few chapters. Roiphe has Lewis Carroll taking nude photos of Alice. I don't actually know much of his biography; only that the book was pleasant, and then began to sound like Roiphe thought she could write like Nabokov. Ridiculous.
August 2, 2021
I'm ashamed to have read and liked this book as a teenager. When I look back through its pages, it is far more sympathetic to and romanticizing of a pedophilic, obsessive relationship between a child and a grown man than I remembered. As I have seen Katie Roiphe's woman-shaming, antifeminist voice develop over the years, the problems with this book stood in starker relief. The prose was fair but the subject matter was as poeticized as any of Humbert Humbert's justifications - and at least Lolita was framed by the knowledge that Humbert was an unreliable narrator. A story of pedophilic obsession from a woman who regularly blames feminism for any harm that comes to women and girls? I'm not even giving this book away, I'm recycling it.
October 20, 2008
The FACTS are this: Lewis Carroll befriended a young girl, Alice Liddell, and she became the inspiration for "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass." And when she turned eleven her family sent him a letter, telling him they didn't want him to see her any more. Any pages from that time that might have explained what happened were ripped out of his diary.
Those are the facts. Katie Roiphe took those facts and other little tidbits from Alice and Lewis' lives, and wrote a story that COULD explain what happened. There's nothing really to back up Roiphe's story. But it's plausible. And it suuuuuure makes you wonder..
Those are the facts. Katie Roiphe took those facts and other little tidbits from Alice and Lewis' lives, and wrote a story that COULD explain what happened. There's nothing really to back up Roiphe's story. But it's plausible. And it suuuuuure makes you wonder..
December 11, 2008
I adored Lewis Caroll's Through the Looking Glass when I was younger, and this fictional story, which tries to draw insight into the nature of his relationship with Alice is extremely interesting. Although I found some passages to be awkwardly written, it's a great theory to mull over. The book basically stipulates an semi-erotic relationship on the part of Caroll towards young Alice. However, I'd be interested to learn more about the man himself, and perhaps see the photographs in question, as described in the book. When presenting a work of fiction based on real people, it can often be hard to pull away from where reality ends and fiction begins. Definitely an interesting piece.
January 5, 2010
This is a fictional story about Lewis Carroll (he wrote Alice in Wonderland) and the young Alice Liddell who is said to be his muse. The book is not so much a plotted story as a chronlogical listing of various thoughts, musings, journal entries, letters, and on occasion, anecdotes about events that happened during the 7 or so years that Dodgson (Carroll) spent with The Liddell girls. I had a hard time staying focused on the story and it was very difficult to believe considering the amount of information available from this time in the subjects life. Overall, not my favorite.
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