Title: Moon, and Memory, and Muchness
Author: Katherine Vaz
In: Mad Hatters and March Hares (Ellen Datlow)
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Family, Horror
Dates read: 29th March 2019
Pace: Slow, Medium, Fast
Format: Short story
Publisher: Tor
Year: 2017
5th sentence, 74th page: It’s itself, with its own intensifications.

Alicia was lost to her years ago, but in the world she’s created of Wonderland, her mother might be able to find her replacement. But at what cost?

This was both an incredibly sad and an incredibly creepy short story. Which kind of matches with the whole Alice in Wonderland theme. It’s a bit of a creepy story when you really think about some of the things that have happened. It’s definitely nostalgic, and more than a little sad at moments. Especially when Alice is looking for her muchness. A bit like the woman in this story.

I can think of nothing worse than raising and loving a child, only for her to be taken away from you way too early. Especially in a quite horrific and dreadful manner. Which meant that I had so much sympathy for the lead voice throughout this story. The fact that what she eventually decided to do was somewhat horrible and something I could never conceive of, yet, I still felt sympathy for her… well, it made this into one powerful story.

There is a moment from the original that sticks with me in this rendition. One that I want to return to… the treatment of the dormouse by the mad hatter and march hare. I don’t remember it being this horrific, but when compared to the attack on a young girl… it becomes something which certainly inspires a little horror.

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Run, Rabbit, Run Review ->

Image source: Bookdepository