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There were a few things Alice would say or do - like trying to scare the rabbit when she was huge in his house - when I was a bit put off her but overall she was so curious and polite to them that she just seemed lovely. This whole thing was just a very magical, whimsical and strange time and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I shall be reading through the looking glass which I have absolutely no idea what happens in.

The cheshire cat was my favourite and the way he just randomly appears is so brilliant. I also found it funny how the king as the judge had absolutely no idea about anything. I felt sorry for Bill the lizard as he seemed to always be picked on. I also thought the white rabbit would actually have a bigger role but just found him adorable for some reason.

All the different creatures are just great, there is absolute madness and some of the phrases that they say are just extraordinary - we called him a tortoise because he taught us etc. I also found it so interesting how Alice believed she knew all these facts and the animals would just shut them down as incorrect. It made me consider how we only believe what we have been told and are used to even if it is wrong.

I also loved some of the formatting where the words would fall into shapes, or there were different poems and songs included. I knew all the main events that would happen although they kind of went in a slightly different order than what I thought. It was such a short and easy read and lovely to be in such a childhood fantastical world.

It's strange to think that I had never properly read this before. Like we had a picture book of it and obviously I have seem so many references etc. but I don't think I have ever actually red the entire text. I wanted to read it and then had to for my course so it didn't feel like a chore as some of the other reading tends to. The edition I have has lovely Arthur Rackham illustrations throughout.

Overall, the setting was quite lovely and I could very clearly imagine the home that he was creating for himself, there was some action which was good and I felt the set up was also interesting. There were definitely some good parts, some boring parts and some not good parts. All in all very mid and not the adventure tale I would have imagined.

I am saying all this like I hated it and I actually really didn't. I found the language and story easy to follow in the most part and although boring it kind of plodded along which was quite reassuring in a strange sort of way. There were just definite racist, white supremacy undertones which I did not enjoy and the main character was just slightly annoying. What a shame the entire book was spent with him.

It was nice that he went back to the island at the end as he kind of found a home there. Oh also I was not keen on him looking for gratification when he saved the captain, while when he was saved himself originally the captain refused any sort of payment - again selfish. Also when he escaped enslavement with Xure and they seemed friends that was nice and then he just sold him off like he owned him.

It all got a bit confusing at the end when there were so many people coming onto the island but that was probably because I wasn't paying as much attention. I don't know how I feel about him leaving the island and then seeming to live happily ever after. Like obviously he was going to escape otherwise it would have been a. pointless and disappointing and b. like 'I who has never known men'

Thinking about it now it is very reminiscent of colonialism and taking something that existed before you and claiming it as your own. He just seemed rather selfish for that. I hated when he would say things like he had this animal and as it had no use he killed it or when the kittens bred and there were too many he killed them - like what would be the harm in letting them live?

The more the book went on the more he claimed himself to be the king and the ruler and the people who came onto the island (to begin with the parrot, then Friday, Friday's dad, the Spanish man etc.) became his 'subjects.' He seemed to feel he had the right to do whatever he wanted with the land and kill whatever he wanted like he wasn't invading.

That is another couple of things I wasn't a huge fan of. 1. Robinson went on and on about not being religious and how could a god have done this to him and then seemed to suddenly decide he was thankful and religious and was praising god constantly for a while (it just seemed like a sudden turnaround). 2. I wasn't a huge fan of how he seemed to claim the island as his own.

It got more interesting when he started suspecting there were savages coming to the island and when eventually Friday was introduced. I really liked Friday for some reason and honestly felt bad for him as he seemed to have been manipulated into thinking Robinson was like literally god.

I also felt like I was flying through it and not forcing myself to read and be bored. That probably made me enjoy the book a lot more than I would have if I had been sat down staring at the pages. I found the middle section rather forgettable as there was simply a lot of talk of Robinson walking around the island, making and killing things.

I decided I might try out the audiobook as I thought that might make the slower parts go quicker. I am not usually one for audiobooks and this is the first book really where I have relied on it more than reading physically. As the language was quite simple and easily understandable (which I was very thankful for) it was really easy to follow which was good.

For example, there was a lengthly description of what happened when he arrived alone and stranded on the island which was followed by extracts from his journal, telling us exactly the same. Separately I did not mind either of these, but when they followed one another it became a bit boring as I already knew everything that I was being told.

I had to read this as part of my uni course and honestly didn't have that high expectations going into it as lots of people had said how boring it was. I read the first 70 pages or so physically in the book and despite finding the first part relatively interesting (Robinson travelling around, being enslaved and eventually shipwrecked) it became more mundane and repetitive from there.