Outside Wonderland (Cook) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
It probably has been written into the Constitution that after The Lovely Bones no book shall be narrated by a character in heaven. There must have been an amendment, though, because the lovely Outside Wonderland by Lorna Jane Cook has two long-dead parents observing their three grown children from the afterlife. The oldest, Alice, is an Off-Broadway actress in her 30s, skittish about finally settling down with a man who has a small child. Griffin bolts a deeply loving, longtime relationship for another man when his partner gets serious about adopting a child. Dinah, who has never left the family home where she lives with her grandmother, becomes pregnant after a very untypical fling. Their lives spill over, their dramas mesh, their mother and father deliver bemused, though affectionate commentary from the other side. One of those nice books.
New York Daily News


When the three very young Stenen children lose their mother in a freak household accident and then, eight years later, their father, the tragedy of their being orphaned has far-reaching consequences, leaving them unmoored and coping with adulthood in wildly different ways. The trick is that the parents are watching over them from the great beyond and telling the story. Alice, the eldest, is an actress, detached from feelings until she meets Ian, a single father who seduces her into a world of family and stability. Griffin has a long-term relationship with partner Theo, but Theo's near obsessive desire to have children drives Griffin into the arms of another man. The youngest, perennial optimist Dinah, unexpectedly pregnant and adrift, returns to the bosom of family to sort through her faith and uncertainty. Overly sentimental, Cook's (Departures) latest suffers from a number of flaws. It is easy to feel instantly sorry for the three orphans, but harder to appreciate their loss when their dead parents are so present. That choice makes for a warm and fuzzy aura that telegraphs the message that everything will turn out fine and eliminates any possibility of drama or meaningful grief. The result is tedious and annoying.
Publishers Weekly


In the manner of Alice Sebold's immensely popular The Lovely Bones (2002), this gentle novel follows what happens to those left behind after a tragic death and what happens to those who have died.... Although following three siblings with multiple relationships can get a little confusing, the characters are never less than engaging and appealing. —Marta Segal Block
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