Automated Alice - Hardcover

Noon, Jeff

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0517704900 ISBN 13: 9780517704905

Publisher: Crown, 1996

Synopsis

On a dull and rainy afternoon, in 19th-century Manchester, desperate to avoid the question of ellipses (on which her strict great-aunt Ermintrude is sure to test her this afternoon), Alice works on a jigsaw puzzle, only to find (frustratingly)  that  12 pieces are missing from the picture of the London Zoo. Lamenting aloud, Alice is answered by her great-aunt's very talkative parrot, Whippoorwill.  Prompted by Whippoorwill's increasingly intriguing riddles, Alice frees the him from his cage. Suddenly, in pursuit of the elusive bird, Alice falls into the workings of a grandfather clock and emerges in the Manchester of 1998-a world of automated wonders and inspired nonsense with a distinctly 19th-century flavor.

Whippoorwill leads Alice along with a series of enigmatic riddles, and Alice soon encounters a part-man, part-badger named Captain Ramshackle, Professor of Randomology, and the logical side of her own self in the person of an automated garden statue name Celia.  While  word of Alice's arrival spreads and she becomes the prime suspect in a series of Jigsaw murders, Alice discovers, in the unlikeliest of places, in the curiousest of future worlds, one after another of her missing Jigsaw pieces.  Not until she finds all 12 will she get to the radishes of time that will allow her to elude the Civil Serpents and return to her own time.

About this title

About the Author

Jeff Noon is a musician, a painter, and a playwright.  He was born on the outskirts of Manchester, England, where he still lives today.  He is the author of  Vurt , which won the 1994 Arthur C. Clarke Award, and  Pollen.  He is the recipient of the 1995 John W,. Cambell Award for best new writer.

Reviews

If Lewis Carroll had sent Alice off on an adventure into the future, what might it have been like? Noon (Pollen, 1995) answers this question in his wild and farcical third novel. Puns, riddles, numerical puzzles and cockeyed literary references abound in this tale of Alice's trip through her Great Aunt Ermintrude's clock into an unlikely alternate-universe version of Manchester, England, circa 1998. Among the many strange characters Alice meets are her termite-driven, robot "twin twister," the Automated Alice of the title; Captain Ramshackle, a Badgerman and Randomologist; and a Crow-woman/scientist named Professor Gladys Chrowdingler who puts cats in boxes that may or may not render them invisible. Alice soon finds herself involved in the investigation of a series of murders. The victims are discovered with their body parts carefully rearranged and pieces from a jigsaw puzzle on their persons. Because the pieces come from her own jigsaw of the London Zoo, Alice soon finds herself under suspicion and on the run from the Civil Serpents, who themselves may be trying to cover up an even darker crime. Lewis Carroll's odd sense of humor doesn't appeal to all readers and neither will Noon's, but Noon does a fine job of imitating Carroll while adding more than a dash of his own postmodernist sensibility. Will Alice find all of her missing jigsaw pieces and return to the 19th century? Only the Radishes of Time will tell. Line drawings by Harry Trumbore.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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 Hatterlike 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. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Noon's third novel (e.g., Vurt, LJ 10/1/94) will disappoint his fans and not win him any new readers. Alice, Lewis Carroll's heroine, goes on a third fantastic journey as she travels from her life in 19th-century Manchester, England, to 1998. While dreading an upcoming grammar lesson with her dreadful great-aunt, Alice is more concerned with the whereabouts of 12 missing pieces from her jigsaw puzzle and the stubbornness of her great-aunt's parrot Whippoorwill, who will not return to his cage. Alice enters the innards of a grandfather clock in order to recapture the parrot and emerges in a confusing world where she is the prime suspect in a series of murders. In contrast to the whimsical and inspired wordplay found in Norman Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth and Carroll's two Alice novels, this novel beats us over the head with heavy-handed puns and anagrams. Never funny, never philosophical, the book just meanders on. Not recommended.?Nancy Linn Pearl, Washington Ctr. for the Book, Seattle Perez-Reverte, Arturo.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland always seemed a bit peculiar as a children's tale. Its references to pill popping and hallucinations have made it fertile ground for pop culture parody, such as Jefferson Airplane's counterculture classic song "Go Ask Alice." British author Noon has reworked the tale for the 1990s. Set in Manchester, England, in 1998, Alice has traveled to the future through her great-aunt's grandfather clock while chasing a pet parrot. Noon adds a suite of puns to bring the story up to date, including numerous "Computermites" and "Civil Serpents." Inspector Jack Russell and "policedogmen" replace the Queen of Hearts and her henchmen. Automated Alice, an animated porcelain doll, guides Alice through her mystery world. Noon's wit even includes a Quentin Tarantula, a filmmaker famous for his violent, celebratory portrayals of criminal life. Who says the classics are no longer relevant? Ted Leventhal

Edition details

• Publisher: Crown
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0517704900
• ISBN 13: 9780517704905
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 223