Automated Alice (Paperback)

Falling Out of Cars by Jeff Noon 3.2 out of 5 stars (8)

Needle in the Groove by Jeff Noon 4.3 out of 5 stars (26)

Coraline by Neil Gaiman 4.5 out of 5 stars (55)  £4.49

Neuromancer by William Gibson 4.1 out of 5 stars (62)  £4.99

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson 4.2 out of 5 stars (50)  £4.99

› Explore similar items

Amazon.co.uk Review
Jeff Noon's previous novels, Vurt and Pollen, have attracted a cult following with their psychedelic science fiction creation of the realm of "Vurt"--a region defined by illusion, dream and drug-induced fantasy. Noon has now decided to link up with an imaginative precursor by introducing Lewis Carroll's Alice as the protagonist in a new adventure that draws on Carroll's through-the-looking-glass inversions of reality, and adds a Jeff Noon menace and edginess absent from Carroll's Wonderland. Alice finds herself in 1998 Manchester when she enters an old grandfather clock, and soon becomes the prime suspect in the puzzling "Jigsaw Murders." Noon emulates Carroll's crazy wordplay throughout, and even adds his own illustrations inspired by those of John Tenniel, the famous interpreter of Alice.

Review
The author of the Arthur C. Clarke Award winner for 1994, Vurt, and its sequel, Pollen (published earlier this year), transports Lewis Carroll's Alice into 1998 and an altogether postmodern, alternative Manchester. Just minutes before her daily writing lesson with her stern Aunt Ermintrude, Alice chases her parrot, Whippoorwill, into a grandfather clock and falls down into a colony of talking termites. The termites scurry about doing computations for a Mad Hatter - like character, Captain Ramshackle. Ramshackle treats Alice to a discourse on the completely random nature of the universe and, eventually, suggests how she might make her way home: Find 12 missing puzzle pieces and solve the "Jigsaw Murders" that are terrorizing Manchester. Turns out there's a nefarious plot being perpetrated by the Civil Serpents (Noon is full of puns and ridiculous poetry), who keep trying to lay down order; in fact, the Supreme Snake (a.k.a. Satan) has meddled with the DNA of the populace in an effort to banish randomness forever. As a result, everyone except Alice is afflicted with Newmonia: that is, they are part animal. All of this is explained by the amusing crow-woman, Professor Chrowdingler, at the Uniworseity of Manchester, who points Alice toward the last puzzle piece, guarded by the Supreme Snake. After a mock-epic battle, Alice dives into her jigsaw holding the last piece, and hears her aunt calling: She's been gone about two minutes. Noon never does much with mathematics, as his opening scenes suggest he will, and the Automated Alice character, an alter ego of Alice that develops from her doll, is disappointing. Still, Noon's authorial intrusions are fun: A broad swipe at the vulgar "Chimera" sensation, Quentin Tarantula; a discussion with the author about his previous two books, which have been treated unkindly by the "crickets"; and an appearance from Lewis Carroll himself. Charming. (Kirkus Reviews)

See all Product Description

13 Reviews 5 star:  (5) 4 star:  (5) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:  (1) 1 star:  (2)           Average Customer Review 3.8 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   4 of 4 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic `trequel', 2 Jul 2006 By  dogbarkssome (England) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)       This review is from: Automated Alice (Paperback) `Automated Alice' is simultaneously a `trequel' [sic] to Lewis Carroll's two `Alice' books and Jeff Noons earlier `Vurt' novels, following the adventures of Alice as she climbs through a clock's workings and gets transported into fantastic adventures in modern day Manchester. Taken purely as an adult sequel to `Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' and `Through The Looking-Glass' this is a fantastic achievement, with Noon brilliantly aping Lewis Carroll's style and sharing a love of puns, wordplay and nonsense with Harry Trumbore's internal illustrations matching the style of Tenniel's original pictures. Noon has great fun introducing Alice to such modern day concepts as computers and quantum mechanics while skewing things in typically nonsensical fashion (so civil servants become Civil Serpents while the Cheshire Cat is transformed into a chameleonic Quark) while the device of Alice hunting down missing pieces of a jigsaw puzzle drives the story in much the same way as the chess game drives `Through the Looking-Glass'. When read as a sequel to Noon's earlier shared-world novels `Vurt' and `Pollen' however the book takes on an additional resonance, with Alice's earlier appearance in `Pollen' given additional background while the plotline takes in the `disease' responsible for the merging of humans and animals in the Noon's future world, with plenty of sly winks towards the feather-accessed Vurt. Read either way this is a fantastic novel, filled with bizarre imagery, wordplay and metafiction, but to really get the most from it you should read both Noon and Carroll's earlier works first. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   4 of 5 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars Noon for the masses..., 9 Jan 2001 By  ladyditax@yahoo.com (Dreamland) - See all my reviews I love Noon's stuff, it's as simple as that, but then his novels work in a similar way to my brain. As a great fan of his work, I've tried to pass on his books to many of my friends, only to have the books returned to me with accompanying quizical looks. Automated Alice on the other hand is a book that I have passed around and had returned by smiley faced friends. For those that want the full experience, I'd suggest starting with Vurt and work your way up to Alice..., for those of you seeking instant gratification, go for it, you won't regret it! Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   2 of 2 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars Superb!, 2 Oct 2000 By  B. C. Elsley "babyfather" (UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    (to properly describe this novel I will have to use 'surreal' twice in the first sentence) it for This surreal, oh so very surreal novel from that crazy nutter that brought us the book 'Vurt', comes an effective, interesting novel. Noon captures Carrol's opiate vision and expands upon it for the LSD generation. Less dark and sinister than I expected, and don't let the blurbs description of 1998 Manchester make you think this is a modern version of Alice in Wonderland, as its talking zebra's and saxaphone playing slugs all round. Sometimes Noon looses it slightly and turns to inane, Beetle video imagery to convey feelings of a trip, but hey, they were all completely stoned weren't they? Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this) Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review › See all 13 customer reviews...		Ad feedback   Most Recent Customer Reviews 2.0 out of 5 stars Does Not Quite Work I haven't read any of this author's other works, and only read this because of my passion for anything Carrollian. Read more Published 4 months ago by Red King Dreaming 4.0 out of 5 stars Alice Again It's sounds bizarre... and it is. Alice Liddle of Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass is back. Read more Published 12 months ago by E. R. Dewsnap 5.0 out of 5 stars If you don't expect it, it becomes an unepxected plesure This is a great book, I think it fairer to say the use of language is in the style of "alice" books rather than the plot, characters etc. Read more Published on 6 Jun 2004 by A. Edmunds 1.0 out of 5 stars Seriously bland, no story, literary boredom... This book is about 200 pages, with black and white illustrations. The story is very boring, Alice in a future where most animals are humanoids. Read more Published on 5 Jun 2002 by male_sparrow_hawk@yahoo.co.uk 1.0 out of 5 stars "Alice" fans - don't bother. I feel enormously cheated by this book. It promises an adventure in the style of Lewis Carroll's "Alice" books, but Noon's Alice is superficial and unsympathetic; her... Read more Published on 6 Nov 2001 4.0 out of 5 stars really twisted imagine a book where the lead charister is none other than alice fom alice in wonderland, then imagine that alice has a TWIN SISTER WITH TERMITS FOR BRAINS. Read more Published on 26 May 2001 by redfernvampyre@btinterbet.com 5.0 out of 5 stars An exposition of the hyperreal Automated Alice is a fantastical journey into the issues theatening contemporary society; genetic modification, virtual reality, artifitial inteligence and the abuse of power to... Read more Published on 22 Jun 2000 5.0 out of 5 stars A wierd and wonderful masterpiece... Jeff Noon is a powerful and original writer. 'Automated Alice' is a brilliant novel, perfectly capturing Carroll's style. The is a great novel. A classic, simple as that. Published on 25 May 2000 by P. Jordan 4.0 out of 5 stars The missing sequal to Alice through the looking glass? Jeff Noon is a very diverse writer and this book is very different to his others. His use of language takes you back to another era while the individual words make you pause and... Read more Published on 7 April 1999 5.0 out of 5 stars Science fiction of the highest order J. Noon has once again managed to produce one of the most imaginative ( and bizarre!) sf novels of the year. Read more Published on 23 Dec 1998 Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews › See all 13 customer reviews...

Books for Disaffected Youths: A list by Medea "...."   Steampunk: list 3: A list by H. Lo "Huttson!!!"   The Umpteen Wonders Of The World: A list by Nicholas Ellis "pickledlemons" Create a Listmania! list

Search Listmania!

• Books > Fiction > By Period
• Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > N > Noon, Jeff
• Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction

• Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
• I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
• I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.