Alice, I Think

I was disappointed with this book, as Susin Nielsen (Word Nerd ans Dear George Clooney, Please Marry my Mom) stated that this was her favourite book, and I thought that her two books were wonderful. A coming of age book for a home-schooled misfit in small town BC.

Ugh. Unlikeable book. Unlikeable characters. Unrealistic. I can't think of one good thing to say about this novel. I wasn't able to finish it, but kept going longer than I should have because I was hoping something horrible would befall the main character. Are there people who actually like this

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book?

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This is quite possibly the funniest book I have ever read. It is definitely the funniest teen novel I've read. Alice Macleod, a homeschooled teen living in Smithers, British Columbia, entertains from the first two sentences: "I blame it all on 'The Hobbit.' That, and my supportive homelife."

Seriously, one of the funniest books I've ever read. I was doubled over in my eye doctor's waiting room cackling. Alice is a socially retarded homeschooled small town girl with big dreams of popularity. But her clueless hippie parents don't help her out much. A riot from beginning to end!

When Alice was four, she was a Hobbit. Okay, I can identify -- I think at that age I was convinced I could BE a pony if I wanted to enough.

The first 3/4 of the book I was laughing so hard in places I almost fell off the couch. (And my husband was really not thrilled to have sections of it read

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aloud to him -- guess it lost something, what with the laughing and snorting garbling the words....)

Alice's unique perspective on being an outcast is refreshing, entertaining, and grounded in her own type of reality. But in the last few entries -- say from Frank's reappearance and the tail end of the trail ride on, the book disappointed me.

I guess I was expecting some sort of resolution for Alice at school or regarding psychotic Linda, perhaps a realization that Frank was not actually someone to be idolized, or maybe something would have come of the Jack's whispered confession. Instead, the book closes with Alice's decision (and the fallout) to enter the "women's tent" with a complete stranger at a combined fish fair and drumming convention. Alice never connects with her parents, and the stabilizing presence of her brother seems farther away than ever.

Alice is a likable charming character, and I really enjoyed her. I'm not sure I'd want my daughter making the same decisions Alice ends up making -- but maybe that's the point.

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I enjoyed the Canadian setting, and some of the situations were very funny. There were some moments where my empathy for the main character was quite painful. But for the most part, I didn't identify with Alice at all, I found her a little annoying. The supporting characters, including her parents,

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were harshly drawn.

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“This book is hilarious. You don't have to care about teen age girls with post hippie dysfunctional parents in rural BC. Alice's take on her life is just laugh out loud funny. She calls her social worker Death Lord Bob. Trust me, have a good laugh, read Alice, I Think. If the humor works for you

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(not every reviewer has liked it) you may irritate those around you with your laughter.

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A hysterical, clever book about a girl's trails growing up in British Columbia.

This is a Young Adult novel about a 15-year-old who has been home schooled ever since an incident in first grade (going to school on the first day dressed as a hobbit and being bullied) causes her parents to decide school is not the place for their free-thinking child. At 15 she is now in her

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fourth year of counseling in the local teen center and, eager to please a new counselor (Death Lord Bob), she makes a list of life goals, one of which is go back to normal school.

There are some seriously sad characters in this book (Linda the bully in first grade who returns to beat Alice up when she does head back to school); inept counselor Bob, Alice's parents who, granted, we see through Alice's eyes; cousin Frank who pops in and out of the book; and the various adults who really do nothing about the situations that present themselves as cries for help in the ongoing story

At the same time, there are several laugh out loud moments sprinkled throughout the story.

But unfortunately, there are too many unresolved frayed ends left in this little tale that left me feeling more sad than anything for Alice and her family. And judging from the descriptions of the book from various book sites, that was not supposed to be the point.

3/5 stars on LibraryThing

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A Confederacy of Dunces for the YA set. A homeschooled teenager writes about trying to integrate into society. Fortunately for the reader, she is as self-absorbed, selfish and out-of-touch with reality as could be hoped. Very amusing.

Bad cover. My library has it shelved as juvenile - which, come on, that's what it looks like. But the frequent references to alcohol and drug use, the dysfunction masquerading as humor, the brawling in the streets (or, in one case, by the mom in a parking lot) that the cops can't stop being treated

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as if almost normal, just drove me nuts.

I'd have stopped at the first YA content, a reference to night shift workers smoking hash on their break, but I'm reading it for the Children's Books Group (yes, that's right, for Children's Books) and so I finished. I must say though, that it got really hard when the family got a computer and Alice discovered porn. She says I'm only 15; I shouldn't have to see this stuff [on The Butt Page] and then she proceeds to describe what she's seeing. Am I the only one who doesn't want my 13 yo reading that chapter?

I tried to read it as if I knew all along it was YA, not Juv, but that didn't help. If you like Jerry Springer and/or David Sedaris you might like this. I found no character sympathetic, no crises funny, nothing illuminating or provocative... nothing to make me feel like my time and energy was well-spent."

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Enjoyable glimpse of life in Smithers, BC, through the eyes of dysfunctional teenager Alice MacLeod and her family.