The One Who Is Two (Book 1 of White Rabbit)
(Book 1 of White Rabbit)
-
-
4.0 • 1 Rating
-
Publisher Description
With his life in complete meltdown in this world, Simon Cadwallader finds himself unexpectedly transported into an alternative reality. Hallucinogenic dream or a parallel universe? Either way, he arrives completely disorientated and with no memory of his previous life – not even his own name.
As he gradually gets his bearings, it becomes apparent that our amnesiac hero is an unwitting participant in a game about which he knows nothing. Indeed, as the story unfolds, the absolutely pivotal nature of his role in this game becomes disturbingly clear, as does the multitude of attendant dangers.
There are of course other players in the great game, such as Miss Leggett, the Under Manager for the Company, and Norbert Dentressangle, the handsome and charming Frenchman who claims to be his dearest and most faithful friend. And then there is plethora of strange beings – including a clothes peg and a giant flatworm – who seem to be servants of the government and who are distinguished by their incessant exhorting of him to search for an enigmatic female Janus, The Woman Who Looks Both Ways. It is soon clear to him that he is central to all of their schemes, but what are they hoping to gain from him? And above all which of them have his interests at heart and which do not?
But it is the final player in the game that is the most worrying of all. In particular, what is the nature of his own relationship to this baleful creature – 'two sides of the same coin', he is told, 'two halves of the same whole' – and can something so like him really be the monster of evil that it appears to be?
The four books of White Rabbit follow our hero as he pursues his quest to find the way home through this grotesque and contrary world, encountering bizarre people and creatures, both friendly and hostile – and it's usually difficult to tell which is which – who either guide him on his way or try to block his every step... and worse.
The White Rabbit series
Book 1: The One Who Is Two
Book 2: Friends and Enemies
Book 3: Red Tape
Book 4: The Woman Who Looks Both Ways
Customer Reviews
An Adult Alice in Wonderland Satire
Anything with white rabbits invokes a blond little girl in a blue dress, but Stuart Oldfield’s The One Who is Two ventures into an adult satire of Alice in Wonderland without jumping on Lewis Carroll’s toes.
The One Who is Two follows adulterer and failed father Simon Cadwallader on his adventures into a strange dimension where signs move, animals talk, and inanimate objects hold high opinions. After leaving his ex-wife’s home, he finds himself transported to another world. As he tries to find his way back home, he comes across many peculiar characters, some human, some not-so human. His travels reveal that he wasn’t the only person to enter the alternate dimension, and soon, he has to abandon his cowardly ways to save the new world.
The premise of The One Who is Two isn’t original, but the way newcomer Stuart Oldfield tells the story is well-done and easy to read. He paints the alternate reality with fresh and vibrant descriptions while maintaining his comedic voice as Loofah, Simon’s name when he enters the new world. In places where the prose is a little too well-done, readers can read slowly without feeling as if the story will drag into a dimension of boredom.
Throughout the whole book, subtle and obvious points bring the theme home: duality. The One Who is Two is relatable and un-relatable to adults; the sexual innuendos and the dreary office scenes (hovering overseer—I mean, supervisor—included) are understandable to working adults; the talking animals and murderous inanimate objects are completely foreign to sensible adults. Many readers will easily find the alternate reality’s duality as a satire (and unfortunate comparison) to society now. By the end, readers will want to get the next book from Oldfield’s White Rabbit series.
For readers who are looking for another Alice in Wonderland, The One Who is Two isn’t the same book. Still, open-minded readers looking for a quick read made for adults, The One Who is Two is such a book.