Customer Rating: 
Summary: What a ride!
Comment: In a style termed by the author as "dream documentary", Bryan Talbot takes us through the religious, political, cultural, and literary history of his home town of Sunderland (as well as bits and pieces of knowledge from all kinds of other places and fields). Far from a paper-dry chronological listing of names and dates, however, we jump from place to place, subject to subject, and event to event often without preamble or warning, always colorfully illustrated by drawings, photos, collages, or paintings. It truly is like falling down the rabbit-hole.
To Talbot's credit, the conceit works surprisingly well. I was completely unfamiliar with most of the subjects presented in this work, but I never felt lost while reading; and while I occasionally consulted Wikipedia for more information on a subject mentioned, I never felt like doing so was necessary in order to follow the story.
What makes the whole concept work, despite its incredibly ambitious scope, is the theme of connections. Talbot constantly shows us the influences of one event on another: the values of one family being passed to its succeeding generations, the re-invention of folk stories and myths as shows or popular fiction, the art style of an invading culture commingling with that of the previous settlers, the de-evolution of a centuries-old blood feud into an equally vicious (if supposedly more civilized) football rivalry. Nothing "just happens"; everything is preceded by numerous related events, and everything has its own effects on what follows, which are often surprisingly far-reaching.
While his approach may at first seem more scatterbrained than structured, attentive readers will soon notice how meticulously Talbot has composed his story so that everything fits together. Half the joy of reading the later pages comes from discovering the import of clues hidden in the earlier parts; equally surprising is how infectious the author's passion for the subject becomes. In interviews, Talbot claims that the only goal for his four-years-in-the-making masterpiece is to entertain. By that standard, he has succeeded wildly - as well as, perhaps, educating thousands of readers on subjects that they might otherwise never have known existed.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Edutainment in graphic novel form!
Comment: I'm a fan of Lewis Carol and Alice in Wonderland from the original books to take off like The Looking Glass Wars. When I first picked this thick graphic novel up from my local library, I thought it was a another charming retelling of the story I love so.
Okay, so that was my fault for assuming so. Alice in Sunderland is not just about Lewis Carol. Its about the links between the works and life of Lewis Carol and his connection to the Sunderland area in England, connecting to other writers and artists such as George Orwell for example. Alright, so it reads like a very pretty history book sometimes but the story telling is wonderful albeit long and often it moves around freely from Lewis Caroll to the Sunderland theatre to the mythic origin of the Jabberwocky story.
The point here with this book is NOT TO LOSE YOUR FOCUS or you will forget all that you have learned. If anything, the book is wonderful to look at and if you're a Lewis Caroll or fan of Britain or Sunderland or you like history and stunning visuals, well this is the book for you.
Plot: What plot? Seriously though, its a history lesson.
Art: A The art shows the range of the creator.
In general: A- Buy it or get it from the library, but its a good read. And you can pretend its not educational if it bothers you so.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Reality is not enough; we need nonsense, too
Comment: I didn't really know what to expect from _Alice in Sunderland_; the reviews on Amazon piqued my interest, so I dove in. I had assumed it was a re-telling of Carroll's _Alice in Wonderland_, but I was willing to take a chance. I don't regret the gamble, although the book itself is about Carroll's classic only in the story *behind* the story.
The graphic novel is really about Sunderland itself - the history of the city and the relationship between the place and the people who live there with Carroll (nee Charles Dodgson), and quite a bit about Carroll himself - and how all these people and places relate to the writing, characters and events in _Alice in Wonderland_. The connections and interrelationships are fascinating (from the ancestral home of George Washington, to the inventor of the lightbulb and police box of Doctor Who fame, to well-known artists and performers.) Those who are interested a strict retelling of the story, therefore, will be disappointed.
However, the journey, non-sequitors and history of Carroll and the story are fascinating, as Talbot clears the record of many misconceptions about Carroll (that he was shy and withdrawn except when around children, for example), and the writing of the story itself (that it was created while Carroll was an Oxford Don and influenced by his time there.) These examples are just two of many. On this criterion alone I would give the book 5 stars. The artwork is impressive, Talbot clearly enjoying setting the record straight and taking the reader along on a wholly whimsical and visually stunning journey as he weaves the tale. This, too warrants five stars.
I don't read a lot of graphic novels - but I have no remorse about buying this one. It is a fascinating, true-life tale masterfully illustrated. Recommended.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A breathtakingly original work of art
Comment: Bryan Talbot's ALICE IN SUNDERLAND is so unique that it is difficult to find anything to compare it to. It would be inaccurate to call it a graphic novel, because it tells no story. There really is no plot of any kind. What it actually is is a local history. Talbot essentially tells the story of his town of Sunderland while tracing unexpected connections it has with Lewis Carroll and relatives of Alice Liddell.
The story, such as it is, concerns "a guy" (the book begins "Well, there's this guy . . . ") who walks into the Empire Theatre in Sunderland for a performance of ALICE IN SUNDERLAND, only to find himself the only person in the theater. Onstage appears a man in a puffy shirt (think "the pirate shirt" of SEINFELD fame) and the head of a rabbit. The Rabbit Man begins to talk, only to remove his head, revealing a human face (which is, in fact, Bryan Talbot's own). He then proceeds over the next 300 pages to provide an endlessly inventive history of the local area, repeatedly drawing connections to ALICE IN WONDERLAND. The exploration is categoric, embracing prehistoric and ancient history, medieval history, and modern history. He covers local the economy, politics, architecture, and cultural life. By the end of the book you not only feel like you've explored a corner of the world you never even thought about investigating, you feel that you'd love to visit the place. And indeed, you feel like you know it. You also learn a very great deal about Lewis Carroll.
What is astonishing is that Talbot keeps his story fascinating from beginning to end. In actuality this is a one-note symphony, but he so successfully disguises this that you scarcely notice it. Frequently his story approaches the sublime. For instance, at one point he enters the first house in a row of elegant dwellings for Sunderland's economic elite. He searches local records and discovers that it was built by a Quaker merchant named Joshua Wilson. He then spends the next five pages exploring his life and character. He seems to have been a thoroughly likable and admirable individual, a genuinely good, though largely forgotten, man. And then the sublime: " . . . and Joshua, long dead and long forgotten, now lives again in some small way in the mind of you, the reader." The book is filled with magical moments like that.
This is easily one of the most beautiful to look at books that I've ever seen. Talbot is unusual in the world of graphic literature in that he not only writes and pencils his work, but colors it as well. He also employs a hot of graphic techniques in organizing his pages. He uses paintings, drawings, retouched photographs, reproductions, collages, and just about anything else you can think of in creating his pages. I've shown the book to several friends who have been instantly struck by the sheer physical beauty of the pages.
I can't recommend this book strongly enough. It is easily one of the most beautiful books that I own (the only one that might surpass it is the first two volumes in THE ABSOLUTE SANDMAN -- Talbot, by the by, illustrated some of Gaiman's stories). It is also one of the most unique.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Unlike anything you've seen before
Comment: Throw away your notions of what constitutes a graphic novel because Bryan Talbot has rewritten whatever rules there were. This is a book that can't be devoured; it is a history of the Empire theatre in Sunderland but it isn't. What is evident is Talbot's love of Sunderland and its true importance in history. But it isn't a history book. It defies genres and so I will call it what it simply is:- a masterpiece.
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