Title: Alex in Wonderland
Author: Simon James Green
Genre: Contemporary, young adult
Summary:
In the town of Newsands, painfully shy Alex is abandoned by his two best friends for the summer. But he unexpectedly lands a part-time job at Wonderland, a run-down amusement arcade on the seafront, where he gets to know the other teen misfits who work there. Alex starts to come out of his shell, and even starts to develop feelings for co-worker Ben... who, as Alex's bad luck would have it, has a girlfriend.
Then as debtors close in on Wonderland and mysterious, threatening notes start to appear, Alex and his new friends take it on themselves to save their declining employer. But, like everything in Wonderland, nothing is quite what it seems...
Plot:
The story of Alex in Wonderland is quite a simple one, which works for a book that's mostly meant as a quick and sweet summer read. Alex is a shy kid who lives with his father and his father's not-so-nice girlfriend, Kendra. During the summer, after a small altercation in the amusement arcade Wonderland, Alex scores a job there.
As he navigates his feelings towards Ben and gains friends in Efia and Maggie, someone starts to threaten the Wonderland and the new home that Alex has found.
Despite the simplicity of the plot, I hadn't guessed the culprit until the very end of the book when it's finally semi-revealed and it makes a lot of sense and it was definitely a moment where I ended up smiling at the revelation of it.
Other than that, there isn't much to say about the plot of this book.
Characters:
Alex, as our main character, works very well. He's an awkward and shy boy who will tug on readers' heartstrings. However, I couldn't help but feel that at points he was just like Simon Spier or other "awkward, shy gay narrators" that we see in LGBT books. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, it's relatable for many readers, but it also doesn't bring much new to the table. He was a sweet person, you laughed with him and felt for him as you read along. And for a cute summer read, that's fine. It also shows that boys are allowed to be awkward, are allowed to be shy. I just wish he felt a little more like his own character.
Now, there was one character-point that I had a frustration with. I won't go into major details as it's a "spoiler" for the story, but it's an issue I had with Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda as well.
I dislike the miscommunication or misunderstanding leads to a falling out with friends plot-thread. I understand that this can be realistic, but in Alex in Wonderland it was resolved so quickly it felt more like it was a plot-line that needed to be checked off on the To-Do list rather than it serving the story.
The same, partially, went for Kendra's character. There's nothing wrong with using tropes or clichés and I love myself an evil stepmother/girlfriend, but I never felt like there was a warranted or explained reason for Kendra to be the way she is. In the end, I was somewhat pleasantly surprised by the turn she took. And sometimes we don't get an answer to why people are the way they are. However, it felt like it was serving that idea of evil girlfriend too much at times.
Things I like:
- The ending aka the twist of who-done-it
- The characters, despite my issues, were funny and relatable and well written
- The romance was well done and wasn't always the center of the story
- The falling out moment between friends
- Kendra's character
- I wish the ending had more of a resolution
If you like Becky Albertalli's books, you will like Alex in Wonderland. If you're looking for a cute, LGBT summer read, you'll like this book as well.
Rating:
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