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One Pill Makes You Smaller: A Novel
Eleven-year-old Alice Duncan has a her body is, literally, growing up too fast. Gawky, innocent, and tongue-tied, Alice is taller than her teachers, with long, long legs and a voluptuous chest she refers to it as "The Breasts."
One Pill Makes You Smaller brings to life the surreal experience of being a girl--stuck in a woman's body. Dierbeck shoots down the rabbit hole of 1970s misbehavior, combining her modern tale with the fantastic universe of Alice in Wonderland, set in the black-lit, drug-infested art world of Andy Warhol's Manhattan. When Alice is shipped off to a freethinking art camp in North Carolina, she encounters J.D., a sweet-talking adult man who engages her in a dangerous flirtation. This deliciously pop, self-assured debut is an inspired paean to lost innocence.
One Pill Makes You Smaller brings to life the surreal experience of being a girl--stuck in a woman's body. Dierbeck shoots down the rabbit hole of 1970s misbehavior, combining her modern tale with the fantastic universe of Alice in Wonderland, set in the black-lit, drug-infested art world of Andy Warhol's Manhattan. When Alice is shipped off to a freethinking art camp in North Carolina, she encounters J.D., a sweet-talking adult man who engages her in a dangerous flirtation. This deliciously pop, self-assured debut is an inspired paean to lost innocence.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
4 people are currently reading
236 people want to read
About the author
Lisa Dierbeck
6 books11 followersLisa Dierbeck lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband. She is the author of two novels, The Autobiography of Jenny X (Mischief + Mayhem/OR Books) and One Pill Makes You Smaller (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), a New York Times Notable Book. Her fiction and nonfiction have been published in numerous literary journals and anthologies. A two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, Dierbeck has contributed to such publications as The Boston Globe, Glamour, The New York Observer, The New York Times Book Review, People and O, The Oprah Magazine.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
October 17, 2008
The best book about child-rape you'll read this year! No, really.
January 22, 2015
It seems that most of the books that fall into my hands at the moment are a little bit strange. Not in the way they're written necessarily, but in terms of the subject matter. With a title like "One Pill Makes You Smaller", I should have guessed the same should be true of Lisa Dierbeck's debut novel. However, given that the title and the blurb compare the book to "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", I expected it to be a bit left of centre, but essentially harmless.
Alice isn't really having a terribly good time of things. Her father has gone mad and her mother has just gone. She's been left in the care of her half-sister who she called Aunt Esme, who is only sixteen and doesn't really know how to take care of Alice. Esme would much rather take drugs with her friends and travel half way across the continent to see a rock star.
So Alice, who would prefer to be recognised for her art skills rather than for being the attractive woman she is becoming, is shipped off to the Balthus Institute for a while. The Institute is a place she can work on her art, rather than getting the wrong kind of attention. However, the Institute is to be Alice's introduction into the worlds of sex and drug taking. Normally there might not necessarily be anything wrong with that. The problem here is that Alice is only eleven years old.
Even knowing this, it's a wonderful book to read. Set in the 1970s, it's very much a modern tale and written in the language of a relatively recent popular culture. Although written in the third person, this is the tale of an eleven year old girl and so is written in her language. Many words others use are new to her and she has the standard eleven year old's view on the world, finding much that isn't fair and pretending to be someone she isn't.
It's also very snappily written. Many of the sentences are only fragments, so they run into each other and it speeds things up, particularly in dialogue. It makes it more difficult to tear the eye away from the page even if you wanted to. And you'll be torn as to whether or not you want to.
For this is a book that plays with the emotions. Like the drugs the characters take, it's somehow addictive, something you want more of, even though you are always uncomfortably aware that you shouldn't. Alice's tale is one of sex and seduction and is so well written as to be mildly erotic in parts, before you are reminded of Alice's age and that the situation being described just isn't right or natural. It can't be easy writing something that can attract yet disgust at the same time, but Dierbeck has done precisely that.
What helps is that the characters are so well drawn. There is a distinct difference, both in attitude and language, between the naïve young Alice and her worldlier wise half-sister and her friends. The adults are clearly adult and Alice is clearly out of her depth much of the time. The characters are ones you may not identify with, but I found that I could almost picture many of them as I was reading. Indeed, some of the characters were that well formed I began to worry on the author's behalf that some of the events described were autobiographical; although there is no suggestion this is the case.
"One Pill Makes You Smaller" is certainly not a book for the faint of heart, covering the topics it does. It's not for the prudish, either, with some erotic descriptions of Alice's experiences and occasional bad language. This would, however, be ideal for someone who is looking for a read to make them think, to play with their emotions and get them involved. It's the antithesis to the no-brainer approach to writing employed in much of modern literature.
Much like the drugs the characters take, a mind-bending experience in literary form comes at a price. But if you want your emotions to be challenged, I can only advise not waiting. It's a book to be consumed, not merely read. Even if you don't take drugs, take one pill.
This review may also appear under my name at any or all of www.ciao.co.uk, www.thebookbag.co.uk, www.goodreads.com, www.amazon.co.uk and www.dooyoo.co.uk
Alice isn't really having a terribly good time of things. Her father has gone mad and her mother has just gone. She's been left in the care of her half-sister who she called Aunt Esme, who is only sixteen and doesn't really know how to take care of Alice. Esme would much rather take drugs with her friends and travel half way across the continent to see a rock star.
So Alice, who would prefer to be recognised for her art skills rather than for being the attractive woman she is becoming, is shipped off to the Balthus Institute for a while. The Institute is a place she can work on her art, rather than getting the wrong kind of attention. However, the Institute is to be Alice's introduction into the worlds of sex and drug taking. Normally there might not necessarily be anything wrong with that. The problem here is that Alice is only eleven years old.
Even knowing this, it's a wonderful book to read. Set in the 1970s, it's very much a modern tale and written in the language of a relatively recent popular culture. Although written in the third person, this is the tale of an eleven year old girl and so is written in her language. Many words others use are new to her and she has the standard eleven year old's view on the world, finding much that isn't fair and pretending to be someone she isn't.
It's also very snappily written. Many of the sentences are only fragments, so they run into each other and it speeds things up, particularly in dialogue. It makes it more difficult to tear the eye away from the page even if you wanted to. And you'll be torn as to whether or not you want to.
For this is a book that plays with the emotions. Like the drugs the characters take, it's somehow addictive, something you want more of, even though you are always uncomfortably aware that you shouldn't. Alice's tale is one of sex and seduction and is so well written as to be mildly erotic in parts, before you are reminded of Alice's age and that the situation being described just isn't right or natural. It can't be easy writing something that can attract yet disgust at the same time, but Dierbeck has done precisely that.
What helps is that the characters are so well drawn. There is a distinct difference, both in attitude and language, between the naïve young Alice and her worldlier wise half-sister and her friends. The adults are clearly adult and Alice is clearly out of her depth much of the time. The characters are ones you may not identify with, but I found that I could almost picture many of them as I was reading. Indeed, some of the characters were that well formed I began to worry on the author's behalf that some of the events described were autobiographical; although there is no suggestion this is the case.
"One Pill Makes You Smaller" is certainly not a book for the faint of heart, covering the topics it does. It's not for the prudish, either, with some erotic descriptions of Alice's experiences and occasional bad language. This would, however, be ideal for someone who is looking for a read to make them think, to play with their emotions and get them involved. It's the antithesis to the no-brainer approach to writing employed in much of modern literature.
Much like the drugs the characters take, a mind-bending experience in literary form comes at a price. But if you want your emotions to be challenged, I can only advise not waiting. It's a book to be consumed, not merely read. Even if you don't take drugs, take one pill.
This review may also appear under my name at any or all of www.ciao.co.uk, www.thebookbag.co.uk, www.goodreads.com, www.amazon.co.uk and www.dooyoo.co.uk
February 5, 2022
Eleven-year-old Alice drops acid, and then, has sex with a grown man while zonked out of her mind.
This book is both disgusting and sickening from beginning to end, and nobody is punished for their wrongdoings.
Do yourself a favor and skip this one.
This book is both disgusting and sickening from beginning to end, and nobody is punished for their wrongdoings.
Do yourself a favor and skip this one.
February 8, 2024
A story with potential, but little to say. Trapped by being a premature object of desire, Alice’s story never really seems to develop. Events happen to her but they are not dealt with past their occurrence. Some episodes, while well-written, have no purpose beyond shock value, and Alice’s character finishes the book undeveloped, despite carrying promise. I was disappointed. Dierbeck creates places, stories and interactions, which feel (original) and captivating, but seems to be unable to make the leap, from originality to being meaningful. Especially the ending, the submission to the Great Man’s competition, is a cheap nod to the audience, creating a feeling of closure through repetition. None of the events in the summer are dealt with, Alice exists in a vacuum where her actions become unexplainable despite the crux of the story relying on us observing her internal world. An uncomfortable split, which wastes the story.
January 10, 2015
I first read this book in college and chose it as my first work of fiction for 2015 in an effort to clear up my bookshelves and really free up space for books I love.
I loved the way this story follows the story of Alice in Wonderland. The parallels to Lewis Carroll's original story are there, (I liked the nod to the town of Dodgeson) but I felt like so many of the chapters presented one non-sequitur after another. Halfway through the book, I felt like I was reading another parallel to Alice in Wonderland for the sake of a parallel.
Over 80 pages of the book are dedicated to the attempted seduction and eventual rape of the eleven-year old Alice. Fair warning.
Alice herself is a sympathetic character, a child so blatantly neglected and left to her own devices that she will say and do anything, even against her better judgement, for acceptance. Much of my experience with the book left me screaming and fuming at the blatant sexual abuse of this child at the hands of those who are supposed to protect her, but because of her advanced physical maturity, she resembles a girl much older than her actual age. Alice is a pawn used by everyone around her, but because she is so desperate for acceptance and attention, she isn't even aware that she is being used.
My frustrations came to a head at the end. I'm not sure if this was an attempt to show Alice as "older and wiser," or after returning from the Balthus Institute ("Wonderland") Alice finds comfort in her art, or probably a mixture of both, but it left me unsettled. Not unsettled in that, "this has challenged my views of the world," sort of way, but in a "this has ended so abruptly and I don't know what to think" kind of way.
I loved the way this story follows the story of Alice in Wonderland. The parallels to Lewis Carroll's original story are there, (I liked the nod to the town of Dodgeson) but I felt like so many of the chapters presented one non-sequitur after another. Halfway through the book, I felt like I was reading another parallel to Alice in Wonderland for the sake of a parallel.
Over 80 pages of the book are dedicated to the attempted seduction and eventual rape of the eleven-year old Alice. Fair warning.
Alice herself is a sympathetic character, a child so blatantly neglected and left to her own devices that she will say and do anything, even against her better judgement, for acceptance. Much of my experience with the book left me screaming and fuming at the blatant sexual abuse of this child at the hands of those who are supposed to protect her, but because of her advanced physical maturity, she resembles a girl much older than her actual age. Alice is a pawn used by everyone around her, but because she is so desperate for acceptance and attention, she isn't even aware that she is being used.
My frustrations came to a head at the end. I'm not sure if this was an attempt to show Alice as "older and wiser," or after returning from the Balthus Institute ("Wonderland") Alice finds comfort in her art, or probably a mixture of both, but it left me unsettled. Not unsettled in that, "this has challenged my views of the world," sort of way, but in a "this has ended so abruptly and I don't know what to think" kind of way.
November 19, 2012
BMMTG
Perda da inocência.
Gostei do livro, da ambiência meio maluca em que a personagem tem que viver, nas suas diferentes fases, e no modo como, estranhamente, se consegue abstrair dela, até passar para o outro lado.
A perda da inocência é colocada de um modo muito cru, delicado e irreal...como afinal o é qualquer transição deste cariz.
A personagem é estupenda, muito bem conseguida, eterna (de tal modo que tem alturas em que esquecemos a data da acção, com os todos os inconformismos e repugnâncias de um corpo em mudança e de uma mente que se conseguia, apesar de tudo, manter centrada.
A destruição de um mundo, de um precário equilíbrio, que mantinha a possibilidade de felicidade próxima, pode dar-se a qualquer momento, por uma coisa simples, banal, até desejada pelo mistério da inocência.
Não estava à espera deste livro e não foi a melhor altura, mas gostava muito de o ler no inglês original numa altura em que estivesse on another frame of mind.
Perda da inocência.
Gostei do livro, da ambiência meio maluca em que a personagem tem que viver, nas suas diferentes fases, e no modo como, estranhamente, se consegue abstrair dela, até passar para o outro lado.
A perda da inocência é colocada de um modo muito cru, delicado e irreal...como afinal o é qualquer transição deste cariz.
A personagem é estupenda, muito bem conseguida, eterna (de tal modo que tem alturas em que esquecemos a data da acção, com os todos os inconformismos e repugnâncias de um corpo em mudança e de uma mente que se conseguia, apesar de tudo, manter centrada.
A destruição de um mundo, de um precário equilíbrio, que mantinha a possibilidade de felicidade próxima, pode dar-se a qualquer momento, por uma coisa simples, banal, até desejada pelo mistério da inocência.
Não estava à espera deste livro e não foi a melhor altura, mas gostava muito de o ler no inglês original numa altura em que estivesse on another frame of mind.
August 29, 2007
Hmm, I wanted to like this, but it didn't quite live up to the promise of its premise. It felt spotty and episodic, with a lack of continuity; some important scenes were just skimmed over while others, like the dicey rape or 'seduction' of the 11 (!)-year-old narrator by a smooth-talking and rather nauseating drug dealer named J.D. went on and on, in excruciating detail. As for the end of the book, when narrator Alice suddenly reinvents herself as a strong, confident young woman with a true artistic drive, I completely lost any suspension of disbelief. In what world do children who are sexually traumatized suddenly emerge as better, happier and cooler people? Not in the one I live in. And I'm not even addressing the animal welfare issues in this book. Ick. Some good writing, but overall, not recommended.
April 23, 2011
An original story using the basic outline of Alice in Wonderland as a drawing point, however still very unique.
Following the story of a very thoughtful and artistic girl who, although is still a child, looks much older then her age and draws certain attentions because of it. Set in the 70s, it's ultimately a coming of age story, ending with the initially innocent Alice becoming much more wise to the world.
Although I found this an intriguing and well written book, certain themes around what would basically be known as pedophilia did make me a tad uncomfortable.
Following the story of a very thoughtful and artistic girl who, although is still a child, looks much older then her age and draws certain attentions because of it. Set in the 70s, it's ultimately a coming of age story, ending with the initially innocent Alice becoming much more wise to the world.
Although I found this an intriguing and well written book, certain themes around what would basically be known as pedophilia did make me a tad uncomfortable.
March 19, 2011
A novel about an early developing teen girl/woman in the 1970's who's making her way in the world. Has references to Alice in Wonderland. The book definitely takes a twist in the latter half of the book dealing with her appearance as an adult yet her limited experience as a girl. She tries to negotiate through the obstacle course that is the response (especially male) to her physical appearance. She struggles with a sexual conquest as she guesses at what the rules are and what it's all about.
September 12, 2008
I always feel like I'm cheating when I write a review for a book I didn't finish, but then I also feel like an explanation is needed. I tried to read this book, but there was just nothing engaging in the first chapter. I just couldn't seem to find the energy to care about anyone or anything that was being written about. Maybe it got better after I stopped reading it, but it started out so....badly that I just didn't want to waste any more time with it.
June 2, 2016
Content warning: child neglect, child molestation, rape, extreme underage drug use.
The content of this book made me feel ill. I have read books dealing with these topics before, but I felt that they were handled very weakly here. The writing was subpar and treated these topics far too lightly. Spoiler: it's all tied up with a bow when the main character channels these experiences into art in the last five pages.
The content of this book made me feel ill. I have read books dealing with these topics before, but I felt that they were handled very weakly here. The writing was subpar and treated these topics far too lightly. Spoiler: it's all tied up with a bow when the main character channels these experiences into art in the last five pages.
September 12, 2012
I really wanted to like this book but it pretty much just grossed me out. The protagonist is 11 years old!!! I really don't care how big her boobs are, she should be playing with dolls, not dropping acid and giving out "drubs". Another reviewer stated that this is one of the best written novels about child rape, and I really can't argue with that.
June 17, 2008
Trippy and unusual. Not for the squeemish. I liked it and was grossed out at the same time. This is an example of cool cover art not working out for me. I didn't dislike it, I was just kind of waiting for it to be over.
April 10, 2010
Very distressing novel of Alice, an 11-year old neglected girl who is so eager for acceptance she does whatever people tell her to do. Brings home the point that gifted children are STILL children, not yet adults, who need wisdom and loving guidance.
September 8, 2013
Definitely a peculiar book, quite possibly the future script for an indie film. While overall somewhat disturbing (think, 11-year-olds tripping on acid/engaging in sexual activity) there were occasional genius plot points scattered here and there. Not for everyone though.
December 24, 2010
Just another perverse book about molestation and drugs. I do not pretend that these things do not happen, but I cannot stomach the idea that any author is able to go into such detail involving a rape. Also, hated the ending, because there WAS NO ENDING.
February 20, 2015
An interesting, disturbing but good read. The book deals with the perversions of J.D. in such a way that you can empathise with Alice and understand why a child would be drawn in by his character, going against her gut feelings just to find love and acceptance. An interesting read.
August 10, 2016
This book was like a train wreck, horrifying and intense, but I just couldn't put it down. The ugly feelings Alice felt seemed to transfer into my own self. Absolutely haunting and awful and yea... What the hell did I just read?
September 21, 2007
good, but i had really high expectations (for some reason) and they were not met. the girl didn't seem entirely believable, for one thing...
September 28, 2007
Very interesting read...creepy yet intriguing characters. A story of victims and victors...
August 22, 2008
Not my favorite book, but I think this would make a great indie movie. I just picked it up in the New Books section of the library one summer.
May 3, 2009
This book took something from me. I am not the same after reading it. While it starts out slow, it becomes impossible to put down at times. Provocative, truthful, leaves an imprint.
August 20, 2010
Captivating. However, kind of disturbing at times.
July 14, 2011
Everything is left entirely unexplained. That's really all of the critique I have to offer. Nothing is concluded.
August 13, 2016
Readable, but scattered and trying too hard.
April 23, 2016
I remember really enjoying this book but I also remember wanting to drop acid and/or vomit during long parts of it. So grain of salt?
June 5, 2010
One of the creepiest books I've ever read---with elements of genius.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews