Helpful Score: 10
Like driving past a car wreck, you can't help but slow down and stare. This book is disturbing and often gross and yet, you won't put it down until it's through. And as the years pass, you'll thik of it often and worry about your own sanity for thinking about it.. remembering it.. and wanting to read it again.
I first read this years ago and it has never strayed far from the front of my mind. I recently picked it up again and experienced the same horror, shock and sick fascination with it's contents. I read it straight through in a night.
I'm telling you, it's well worth the read. I don't know if calling this a really good book says something about my personality, but I'm putting it out there anyway.
I first read this years ago and it has never strayed far from the front of my mind. I recently picked it up again and experienced the same horror, shock and sick fascination with it's contents. I read it straight through in a night.
I'm telling you, it's well worth the read. I don't know if calling this a really good book says something about my personality, but I'm putting it out there anyway.
Helpful Score: 5
Horrific, stirring, and I will repeat what another reviewer so aptly said..."Holy sh*t"
Helpful Score: 4
This is truly one of the most graphic and disturbing books I have ever read. It is sexually graphic with the convict and his 'partner' in jail, as well as his sexual longing for both the 19-year-old writing to him and his previous pre-pubescent victims.
The way that this was written, and the reveal late in the book from the 19-year-old correspondent, makes me think that the way events and writings were portrayed in the book were the mad delusions of this incarcerated child molester, and makes me wonder what actually happened within his recollections. I could be reading way more into it than there really was, but I have a feeling his re-counting of events is quite skewed.
Tread lightly when you pick up this book; it not for the faint of heart (or stomach).
The way that this was written, and the reveal late in the book from the 19-year-old correspondent, makes me think that the way events and writings were portrayed in the book were the mad delusions of this incarcerated child molester, and makes me wonder what actually happened within his recollections. I could be reading way more into it than there really was, but I have a feeling his re-counting of events is quite skewed.
Tread lightly when you pick up this book; it not for the faint of heart (or stomach).
Helpful Score: 4
The End Of Alice by A.M. Homes
Pages: 270
ISBN: 978-0-684-82710-0
Back of Book Description:
Only a work of such searing, meticulously controlled brilliance could provoke such a wide range of visceral responses. Here is the incredible story of an imprisoned pedophile who is drawn into an erotically charged correspondence with a nineteen-year-old suburban coed. As the two reveal--and revel in--their obsessive desires, Homes creates in The End of Alice a novel that is part romance, part horror story, at once unnerving and seductive.
My Rating: C
My Review
Let me first say that the back of the cover description was misleading, or at least I felt it to be so. Also, at no point in time did I feel seduced by the novel nor did I feel it was meticulously controlled or brilliant. Well written. That's the only good thing I have to say about the novel. The author knows how to write beautifully and bring a world to life around you.
Beyond the fact that it was grotesque at the best of times and wildly inappropriate at all times, there were many many instances while reading that I felt the change of point of view was done in a way that made it to where you didn't realize what was happening until pages down the road. I felt that when I was through with the book I'd sat through all the nastiness the pure evil and confusion for an unsatisfying end. For me, a lot of questions were left unanswered. I would still be telling you that the book was horrible when it came to the subject matter, but if only the author would have answered some of my questions I would maybe be able to understand why she chose to write about such an awful subject, and from the points of view she did. There's no good guy in this book. Not even the children really because as seen through the predators eyes, they have it coming. They don't of course, but you have to read the book to understand.
I'll never read this book again. It will stick with me forever but I'll never read it again. I'll actually try my best not to think on it again after this point.
Pages: 270
ISBN: 978-0-684-82710-0
Back of Book Description:
Only a work of such searing, meticulously controlled brilliance could provoke such a wide range of visceral responses. Here is the incredible story of an imprisoned pedophile who is drawn into an erotically charged correspondence with a nineteen-year-old suburban coed. As the two reveal--and revel in--their obsessive desires, Homes creates in The End of Alice a novel that is part romance, part horror story, at once unnerving and seductive.
My Rating: C
My Review
Let me first say that the back of the cover description was misleading, or at least I felt it to be so. Also, at no point in time did I feel seduced by the novel nor did I feel it was meticulously controlled or brilliant. Well written. That's the only good thing I have to say about the novel. The author knows how to write beautifully and bring a world to life around you.
Beyond the fact that it was grotesque at the best of times and wildly inappropriate at all times, there were many many instances while reading that I felt the change of point of view was done in a way that made it to where you didn't realize what was happening until pages down the road. I felt that when I was through with the book I'd sat through all the nastiness the pure evil and confusion for an unsatisfying end. For me, a lot of questions were left unanswered. I would still be telling you that the book was horrible when it came to the subject matter, but if only the author would have answered some of my questions I would maybe be able to understand why she chose to write about such an awful subject, and from the points of view she did. There's no good guy in this book. Not even the children really because as seen through the predators eyes, they have it coming. They don't of course, but you have to read the book to understand.
I'll never read this book again. It will stick with me forever but I'll never read it again. I'll actually try my best not to think on it again after this point.
Helpful Score: 3
Holy sh-t.
This book was tagged as one of the "most disturbing books read" in a recent thread here in the Hidden Gems forum.
It was not at all what I expected it to be. The main character, a pedophile-murderer, is developed quite well, and his "voice" is quite believable. But the story quickly deteriorates into not much more than pornographic descriptions of sex (mainly homosexual male sex), rape and pedophilia. I'm not sure what the point of the book was, other than to show that not all monsters are dirty old men lurking in dark corners...? The ending was something out of a "B" gore movie - cheesy and predictable. I was much more interested in the warped psyche of the female character, and feel her story would have made a much better novel.
It was not at all what I expected it to be. The main character, a pedophile-murderer, is developed quite well, and his "voice" is quite believable. But the story quickly deteriorates into not much more than pornographic descriptions of sex (mainly homosexual male sex), rape and pedophilia. I'm not sure what the point of the book was, other than to show that not all monsters are dirty old men lurking in dark corners...? The ending was something out of a "B" gore movie - cheesy and predictable. I was much more interested in the warped psyche of the female character, and feel her story would have made a much better novel.
Helpful Score: 2
From the back cover: "Here is the incredible story of an imprisoned pedophile who is drawn into an erotically charged correspondence with a nineteen-year-old suburban co-ed. As the two reveal-and revel in-their obsessive desires, Homes creates a novel that is part romance, part horror story, at once unnerving, repellent, and seductive."
This is one of the most shocking books I've ever read. It's beautifully written-but please beware-you'll have the wind knocked out of you.
This is one of the most shocking books I've ever read. It's beautifully written-but please beware-you'll have the wind knocked out of you.
Helpful Score: 2
Similar to Lolita, yet more disturbing, this book is beautifully written but not for the faint of heart. "Here is the incredible story of an imprisoned pedophile who is drawn into an erotically charged correspondence with a nineteen-year-old suburban co-ed. As the two reveal in--and revel in--their obsessive desires, Homes creates...a novel that is part romance, part horror story, at once unnerving, repellent, and seductive." (from the back cover)
Helpful Score: 2
A timely novel; shocking and unnerving, yet thoroughly engaging.
Helpful Score: 1
It takes a truly titillating combination of subject matters for me to identify a work as disturbingly sexy, and dark interpersonal drives are what does it for me. The End of Alice was written for people like me, who wish more *good* authors would tackle the intensity of sexual identity and perversion with the literary prowess it deserves. The brilliant dynamic between an incarcerated pedophile murderer and a teenage girl finding her own sexual identity was gripping and impeccably designed.
This book was tagged as one of the "most disturbing books read" in a recent thread here in the Hidden Gems forum.
It was not at all what I expected it to be. The main character, a pedophile-murderer, is developed quite well, and his "voice" is quite believable. But the story quickly deteriorates into not much more than pornographic descriptions of sex (mainly homosexual male sex), rape and pedophilia. I'm not sure what the point of the book was, other than to show that not all monsters are dirty old men lurking in dark corners...? The ending was something out of a "B" gore movie - cheesy and predictable. I was much more interested in the warped psyche of the female character, and feel her story would have made a much better novel.
It was not at all what I expected it to be. The main character, a pedophile-murderer, is developed quite well, and his "voice" is quite believable. But the story quickly deteriorates into not much more than pornographic descriptions of sex (mainly homosexual male sex), rape and pedophilia. I'm not sure what the point of the book was, other than to show that not all monsters are dirty old men lurking in dark corners...? The ending was something out of a "B" gore movie - cheesy and predictable. I was much more interested in the warped psyche of the female character, and feel her story would have made a much better novel.
My 1st book by this author. I really enjoyed the book..:)
Extremely well written, but this may be the most disturbing book I have ever read. I didn't know if I would be able to finish it. The description on the back cover does not even begin to describe what this story is about. The depth of the depravity was unsettling. I have never been so glad to be done with a book.
WOW. This has probably been one of the most disturbing books I've ever read. Wasn't exactly as I thought it would be when I read the description but true to previous reviews. But the plot is like a car crash...you can't not look...it's like every page dares you to keep reading,with the 'what else is going to happen' mentality. I really wonder why the author chose to write this in the first place; there's alot of gross, graphic events. It was well written, disgusting details and all. Glad to have read it, but I think I'm more glad to pass it on...after this book I need a happier book to read!
WOW. This is by far one of the most disturbing books I have ever read. The subject matter is very adult, and by the end of the book you will want to take a very long, very hot shower. The writing style is well done and the pacing flows nicely. Its a fast read but one that you must be in the right mind set to read.
Good God!!! What did I just read????!!!!! This book is disturbuing on so many levels.
Couldn't get into the story. Just too unsettling.
The story of an imprisoned pedophile who is drawn into an erotically charged correspondence with a nineteen-year-old surburban co-ed. As the two reveal-and revel in-their obsessive desires, the author creates a novel that is part romance, part horror story, and at once unnerving, repellent, and seductive.
To be honest, I didn't read this book. I got a lot of books via Freecycle (if you haven't checked it out, do so, it's a wonderful community) and am passing on the ones that I'm not interested in. It's had wonderful reviews, but it's just not my style.
