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Travels in West Africa: the Classic Account of One Woman's Epic and Eccentric Journey in the 1890s

Mary H. Kingsley and Lynnette Turner

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

A remarkable account by a pioneering woman explorer who was described by Rudyard Kipling as 'the...

Charley (64 KP) rated Alice (The Chronicles of Alice, #1) in Books

Jan 27, 2019

Chilling twist on what is a classic tale

This story is set just after the classic Alice in Wonderland book that most will know and love.
It starts of in a mental institution where Alice is resident. Her parents putting her in there after her "adventures" in Wonderland. She has a relationship with the man in the next cell called Hatcher, three guesses who he is supposed to represent.
This whirlwind adventure takes you through a Victorian esq London with all the characters of the classic story.
It is a very dark adaptation of Alice in Wonderland and I have to say kept me guessing throughout.
The characters seem familiar but in a dark and twisted way and ultimately it's about Alice's journey after escaping the mental home with her companion Hatcher.
I will not say anymore as it will spoil the storyline but it is definitely worth a look.
Christina Henry has definitely made an amazing book and since I read this I went out and bought all her books.

Kudos

Allison Knapp (118 KP) Jan 31, 2019

Sounds amazing! I must read this

Kudos

Awix (3310 KP) rated The Elephant Man (1980) in Movies

Apr 27, 2020

The Elephant Man (1980)

1980 | Drama, History

8.3

(18 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Rather fictionalised bio-pic from David Lynch and Mel Brooks. A surgeon in late-Victorian London discovers a man with extreme deformities being shown as a sideshow freak. The surgeon realises this man's case could make his name, but is he really any less of an exploiter than the owner of the side-show?

Very good-looking and well-acted by a fine cast. However, the film seems a little ambivalent about what kind of effect it's going for - the build-up to the big reveal of Merrick's deformities is almost done like a horror movie, only for an abrupt change of tone to take place once it is revealed that he is a gentle, almost saintly individual (the film simplifies the facts of Merrick's life: in reality, it was his idea to join the sideshow). There's also the fact that the story is short on incident once Merrick moves into the hospital and a kidnap-and-escape subplot has to be contrived. A well-made film and very watchable, but it is in the end just a bit simplistic and sentimental.