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Alice MacLeod #3
Alice MacLeod, Realist at Last
deAR gooSE, Thank you for your letter. Too bad you won't be able to write. I guess you'll be too busy moving on. Me too. First of all, I'm quite busy socially. Very busy socially. Plus, my screenwriting is really taking off. I'm basically in discussions with some people. Producer-types. You know. They say moviemaking is the new novel writing. I'm pretty much on the vanguard of that whole thing.Thanks for the memories. Alice I'm not sure that quite captures my emotional state. A more accurate reflection of how I feel would have Dear Goose, AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! Alice Heart-Torn-into-Small-Pieces-and-Then-Thrown-Away MacLeod Oh Goose, Goose! Why hast thou forsaken me?
320 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2005
2 people are currently reading
206 people want to read
About the author
Susan Juby
20 books313 followers(from her website)
I was raised in Smithers, BC, Canada and lived there until I moved to Toronto at age 20. I had a brief and unsuccessful career as a fashion design student and, after I worked at a series of low paying jobs, such as server, record store employee, etc., I began a degree in English Literature at University of Toronto, which I finished at the University of British Columbia. After graduating I became an editor at a self-help/how-to book publishing company based in Vancouver. Later, I did a master’s degree in publishing.
When I was a kid I wrote fiction but gave it up for a life of crime. Okay, that’s not true, but I did get seriously sidetracked. That time in my life is the subject of my memoir, "Nice Recovery". When I was twenty, until I got myself together and when I was about 26 I started writing, in the morning before work, first on the bus, then in a coffee shop. This writing became my first novel, "Alice, I Think", which was published by Thistledown Press in 2000.
When I first started writing my intention was to write a book about a teenager who doesn't fit in, but doesn't allow that fact to crush her. The Alice MacLeod series is my homage to oddballs. I wanted to create a character who has the courage and integrity to find her own way and define herself independently of other people. I've always admired people who can do that.
After finishing three books about Alice and her family, I decided that my goal is to write every kind of book I love to read. I’ve always loved horse books. I was a lunatic for horses when I was younger. I owned several horses over the years (for a time when I was quite young I was convinced I was a horse, but let's keep that between us) and I became obsessed with an equestrian sport called dressage. I quit riding when I left home to go to college, but part of me always thought I could have been a "contender". (In retrospect, I'm not sure why I would have thought that.) Anyway, I got a nice pay day when Alice, I Think was made into a TV series, and the first thing I did was rush out a buy a horse and start working on a book about two young dressage riders. The story was initially about two girls, but soon I fell in love with a secondary character, a boy named Alex, and the book became mainly about him. That one is called "Another Kind of Cowboy".
I’m also a maniac for detective novels, which led to "Getting the Girl", a comedy about an inept detective and a high school conspiracy he is determined to stop. Book number six is my memoir. I developed a bit of a substance abuse problem when I was thirteen and I ended up getting clean and sober when I was twenty. Nice Recovery is about that time. The book includes information for people with addiction problems and interviews with amazing young people in recovery. My love for satire and the End Is Nigh novels led me to write "Bright’s Light", which is that rarest of things: a funny dystopian novel about young dunderheads in the last fun place on earth and the alien who wants to save them.
"Home to Woefield", as it’s known in the U.S. and "The Woefield Poultry Collective" as it’s known in Canada, is a comedy about a young woman from Brooklyn who inherits a derelict farm on Vancouver Island. It’s the first of my novels published specifically for adults, though I’d say at least half the readers of my other books have been adults. I hope all my readers will like it. (It does contain quite a bit of swearing. Just be forewarned!) I’ve always wanted to be self-sustaining and able to grow my own food. All I lack is land and skill. The sequel, "Republic of Dirt", is scheduled to be published January 2015 by HarperCollins.
My next teen novel is called "The Truth Commission". It will be published March 2015 by Penguin Canada and Viking U.S. The story is about a group of teens who attend an art high school who start a truth-telling club with consequences both dire and funny.
In addition to my writing, I teach creative writ
I was raised in Smithers, BC, Canada and lived there until I moved to Toronto at age 20. I had a brief and unsuccessful career as a fashion design student and, after I worked at a series of low paying jobs, such as server, record store employee, etc., I began a degree in English Literature at University of Toronto, which I finished at the University of British Columbia. After graduating I became an editor at a self-help/how-to book publishing company based in Vancouver. Later, I did a master’s degree in publishing.
When I was a kid I wrote fiction but gave it up for a life of crime. Okay, that’s not true, but I did get seriously sidetracked. That time in my life is the subject of my memoir, "Nice Recovery". When I was twenty, until I got myself together and when I was about 26 I started writing, in the morning before work, first on the bus, then in a coffee shop. This writing became my first novel, "Alice, I Think", which was published by Thistledown Press in 2000.
When I first started writing my intention was to write a book about a teenager who doesn't fit in, but doesn't allow that fact to crush her. The Alice MacLeod series is my homage to oddballs. I wanted to create a character who has the courage and integrity to find her own way and define herself independently of other people. I've always admired people who can do that.
After finishing three books about Alice and her family, I decided that my goal is to write every kind of book I love to read. I’ve always loved horse books. I was a lunatic for horses when I was younger. I owned several horses over the years (for a time when I was quite young I was convinced I was a horse, but let's keep that between us) and I became obsessed with an equestrian sport called dressage. I quit riding when I left home to go to college, but part of me always thought I could have been a "contender". (In retrospect, I'm not sure why I would have thought that.) Anyway, I got a nice pay day when Alice, I Think was made into a TV series, and the first thing I did was rush out a buy a horse and start working on a book about two young dressage riders. The story was initially about two girls, but soon I fell in love with a secondary character, a boy named Alex, and the book became mainly about him. That one is called "Another Kind of Cowboy".
I’m also a maniac for detective novels, which led to "Getting the Girl", a comedy about an inept detective and a high school conspiracy he is determined to stop. Book number six is my memoir. I developed a bit of a substance abuse problem when I was thirteen and I ended up getting clean and sober when I was twenty. Nice Recovery is about that time. The book includes information for people with addiction problems and interviews with amazing young people in recovery. My love for satire and the End Is Nigh novels led me to write "Bright’s Light", which is that rarest of things: a funny dystopian novel about young dunderheads in the last fun place on earth and the alien who wants to save them.
"Home to Woefield", as it’s known in the U.S. and "The Woefield Poultry Collective" as it’s known in Canada, is a comedy about a young woman from Brooklyn who inherits a derelict farm on Vancouver Island. It’s the first of my novels published specifically for adults, though I’d say at least half the readers of my other books have been adults. I hope all my readers will like it. (It does contain quite a bit of swearing. Just be forewarned!) I’ve always wanted to be self-sustaining and able to grow my own food. All I lack is land and skill. The sequel, "Republic of Dirt", is scheduled to be published January 2015 by HarperCollins.
My next teen novel is called "The Truth Commission". It will be published March 2015 by Penguin Canada and Viking U.S. The story is about a group of teens who attend an art high school who start a truth-telling club with consequences both dire and funny.
In addition to my writing, I teach creative writ
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
September 8, 2020
I'm sad that my re-read of these YA books, a teenage favourite of mine, is over! They are so funny and so real. Juby does a great job writing lovable oddballs. In this book Alice says goodbye to her first boyfriend Daniel aka Goose, deals with her mom being in jail after charges related to an environmental protest, tries out multiple summer jobs (none of which she is qualified for), and fends off a 14-year-old goth crushing on her (nicely) and a creepy older guy (not nicely, as he deserves).
July 5, 2017
Alice Macleod, 16, spends her summer after grade 11 looking for work while her mother is in jail after breaking some laws during a protest. Her love life is up in the air, her clothing is still unique, her job search is interesting and there is still humour in this book. This is definitely y/a, and I was losing interest at times during the book. Book 2 is the best of this trilogy, but if you enjoy Alice and are a teen, I think you'll like this one, too.
August 19, 2008
Somehow, the awesomeness of the first book (and to a lesser extent the second book) of this YA trilogy just made the blah-ness of the third book kinda sad. It was basically just about boys and clothes. Could have been any other YA book about a slight misfit confronting normal social concerns. I guess she was trying to show that the main character did some growing up and learning and made progress in fitting in with society, but still, blah.
December 30, 2010
Alice thought life was good until she learned her boyfriend was moving to Scotland for a year, her activist mother was going to jail, and she had to get a job to support her family. How will Alice cope with the presure of job interviewing, fending off older guys, and still have time to write the screenplay of the next blockbuster movie?
December 27, 2013
The weakest of the three.It rather trickles off at the end and I suspect that is because there was a contract for a tv series. It says it's on CTV but I haven't seen it. There are a few edgy episodes in this, the pit party and the party at Evan's. It's an okay read, definitely rural B.C. but there's just too much hinting at the upcoming series.
March 9, 2022
overall 3 star series. Didn't blow me away and the ending of the series was not quite what I wanted. *SPOILER*................. WHAT ABOUT GOOSE! regardless I enjoyed reading it. the screen play thing was my least favourite of the series, I liked the second books idea of the critical excerpts in a magazine better. the series is worth a read though. :)
July 13, 2025
I understand that part of her character development was seeing how she could be ignorant and self-centred at times and I love how her counsellor helped her see that, but I just found her voice in the book really annoying, especially when she was talking about how she basically "holds the family together". It was a fun read. I liked the character at the end.
September 22, 2024
No, I didn't like it. I finished it, but I could have easily not. It's one of those books that I forgot what it was about right after I read it.
January 25, 2015
There are many reasons this review was posted late and backdated which I won't get into here. Suffice to say I have been meaning to write this review for months but have been putting it off because I knew that once I wrote the review I would have to admit that Alice's adventures were done--no small task let me assure you.
Onward . . .
Alice MacLeod, Realist at Last (2006) is the stunning conclusion to Susan Juby's debut trilogy (preceeded by Alice, I Think and its sequel Miss Smithers). You might recognize Juby's name from the 2009 Edgar Awards where Getting the Girl was a nominee.
This installment opens with the first scene from Alice's screenplay "Of Moose and Men"--a creative work loosely based on her own life. Excerpts of the screenplay are sprinkled throughout the novel. The writing is overwrought, exaggerated, and provides hysterical insight into Alice's psyche throughout the story. In addition to being Alice's latest career of choice, writing her screenplay also helps this sixteen-year-old heroine make sense of the chaos that has become her life.
At the beginning of the story, Alice's boyfriend Goose is moving with his family to Glasgow for an entire year only to go away to university on the other end of Canada when he finally returns. Dealing with this heartbreak is bad enough on its own. Then Alice's mother, a somewhat aggressive environmentalist, is thrown in jail as a result of her activist activities. That leaves Alice, her younger brother, and her father on their own. To say that this development leaves the family less than functional would be a vast understatement.
The one constant in Alice's life seems, ironically, to be Death Lord Bob--her ineffectual therapist from the Teens in Transition (Not Trouble) Center in town. At least until he too is called away leaving Alice with the surly Ms. Deitrich who doesn't seem to understand anything about Alice's life let alone her highly evolved sense of style.
With their matriarch breadwinner in jail Alice and her father find themselves, for the first time, looking for gainful employment. Alice's job search, and eventual employment, throw her into the paths of two brilliant characters: Wallace and Vince. Negotiating these new romantic waters, Alice finds herself caught between two equally charming suitors--one five years her senior, the other considerably her junior. The dilemma is equally difficult for readers who will likely be as attracted to these guys as Alice herself.
Throughout the series, readers are able to trace Alice's evolution as a character. The girl we meet in this novel is very different from the Alice entering a traditional school (or a beauty pageant) for the first time. She is more mature, and in some ways more responsible and engaged with the world at large. More than that, though, Alice's true depth as a heroine is really apparent in this story as she not only works through but even rises above all of the (screw)balls life throws at her.
Alice MacLeod, Realist at Last doesn't qualify as truly "realistic" fiction because of the humor and general madness that surrounds Alice. But Alice is still an utterly real and engaging character with a quirky sense of humor (and style) that will leave readers smiling.
(I'd recommend reading the entire trilogy in sequence to fully appreciate how awesome it is, but the stories do stand alone fairly well if you happen upon them out of order.)
Onward . . .
Alice MacLeod, Realist at Last (2006) is the stunning conclusion to Susan Juby's debut trilogy (preceeded by Alice, I Think and its sequel Miss Smithers). You might recognize Juby's name from the 2009 Edgar Awards where Getting the Girl was a nominee.
This installment opens with the first scene from Alice's screenplay "Of Moose and Men"--a creative work loosely based on her own life. Excerpts of the screenplay are sprinkled throughout the novel. The writing is overwrought, exaggerated, and provides hysterical insight into Alice's psyche throughout the story. In addition to being Alice's latest career of choice, writing her screenplay also helps this sixteen-year-old heroine make sense of the chaos that has become her life.
At the beginning of the story, Alice's boyfriend Goose is moving with his family to Glasgow for an entire year only to go away to university on the other end of Canada when he finally returns. Dealing with this heartbreak is bad enough on its own. Then Alice's mother, a somewhat aggressive environmentalist, is thrown in jail as a result of her activist activities. That leaves Alice, her younger brother, and her father on their own. To say that this development leaves the family less than functional would be a vast understatement.
The one constant in Alice's life seems, ironically, to be Death Lord Bob--her ineffectual therapist from the Teens in Transition (Not Trouble) Center in town. At least until he too is called away leaving Alice with the surly Ms. Deitrich who doesn't seem to understand anything about Alice's life let alone her highly evolved sense of style.
With their matriarch breadwinner in jail Alice and her father find themselves, for the first time, looking for gainful employment. Alice's job search, and eventual employment, throw her into the paths of two brilliant characters: Wallace and Vince. Negotiating these new romantic waters, Alice finds herself caught between two equally charming suitors--one five years her senior, the other considerably her junior. The dilemma is equally difficult for readers who will likely be as attracted to these guys as Alice herself.
Throughout the series, readers are able to trace Alice's evolution as a character. The girl we meet in this novel is very different from the Alice entering a traditional school (or a beauty pageant) for the first time. She is more mature, and in some ways more responsible and engaged with the world at large. More than that, though, Alice's true depth as a heroine is really apparent in this story as she not only works through but even rises above all of the (screw)balls life throws at her.
Alice MacLeod, Realist at Last doesn't qualify as truly "realistic" fiction because of the humor and general madness that surrounds Alice. But Alice is still an utterly real and engaging character with a quirky sense of humor (and style) that will leave readers smiling.
(I'd recommend reading the entire trilogy in sequence to fully appreciate how awesome it is, but the stories do stand alone fairly well if you happen upon them out of order.)
August 24, 2011
I should write these right away - I kind of forget what my impressions were!
I know it wasn't quite as good as the other two Alice books, but it was still Alice-ish and funny and good. I wasn't a huge fan of the scripts but I understood that that was the whole concept - I just didn't enjoy them as much as the straight Alice narration. I also wasn't a huge fan of the guys hovering around her, they all seemed fairly creepy. I remember creepy guys hovering when I was that age though (TMI?) so I guess it's a gross rite of passage for small-town girls.
If ever there's another Alice book I will totally read it.
I know it wasn't quite as good as the other two Alice books, but it was still Alice-ish and funny and good. I wasn't a huge fan of the scripts but I understood that that was the whole concept - I just didn't enjoy them as much as the straight Alice narration. I also wasn't a huge fan of the guys hovering around her, they all seemed fairly creepy. I remember creepy guys hovering when I was that age though (TMI?) so I guess it's a gross rite of passage for small-town girls.
If ever there's another Alice book I will totally read it.
April 11, 2008
So I have to say right away, I was so afraid Alice was going to be date raped when she went away with Evan.
I would also like to state for the record that Wallace is the sweetest guy.
I enjoyed the book, it didn't really wrap up Alice's story as well as I would have liked. All in all an amicable read.
I would also like to state for the record that Wallace is the sweetest guy.
I enjoyed the book, it didn't really wrap up Alice's story as well as I would have liked. All in all an amicable read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 19, 2008
Title: Alice Macleod, Realist at last
Author: Susan Juby
Copyright date: 2005
Publisher: Harpertrophycanada
How many pages: 331 pgs
Category: Fiction
I learned about this book from: the TV series
Comments: I'm glad that she found some closure...kind of...hopefully, there's a fourth one coming...
Author: Susan Juby
Copyright date: 2005
Publisher: Harpertrophycanada
How many pages: 331 pgs
Category: Fiction
I learned about this book from: the TV series
Comments: I'm glad that she found some closure...kind of...hopefully, there's a fourth one coming...
October 19, 2008
I read the first two book while I was still in High School and I went to the library and found this book. I didnt really like it as much as the first or even the second. Its just going into a downward slope. Alice had her funny moments. What I found charming and unique while in high school, I now found sad and thought to myself that Alice needs to straighten out.
December 22, 2008
I love the character of Alice. This is the third book- and from what I've read- not the very best of the series- but great enough to be well worth the read and make me want to find the other two. Alice was funny and engaging and so were the rest of her zany family, friends and would-be-boyfriends. I smell a fourth book as this last one left a lot of stuff unresolved.
January 13, 2008
I read the others. They are pretty good books. I first picked up Alice, I Think because I thought it was another in the Alice Series, written by Phylis Renolds Naylor (which I also recomend) Alice has learned a few things since the start of the collection. As always it is hilarious.
August 10, 2008
I would've liked to have seen more of Macgregor, as he is painted to be quite a deep young character. As the story stood, Alice's self-centeredness proved to finally be too much for me, hence the two stars.
January 24, 2012
I'm sorry, but I hated this book. It seemed really shallow to me (and hello, I'm also sixteen) and...it's just so hard to articulate. Hated Alice's character, hated the plot line, and hated all the characters-- except Betty Lou.
Sorry guys.
Sorry guys.
July 5, 2008
This is the 3rd and last book of Susan Juby's Alice series.
September 15, 2008
Such a good book, I lovea all the diary entries!
September 25, 2009
Start with the first book in the series!!!
Read
October 25, 2010This 3rd in the series is still brilliantly hilarious.
February 4, 2011
Good book I love the characters!
May 8, 2011
I found this book unenjoyable. When reading this book, you feel like skidding right through it. It was so boring (sorry to people who are fans of this author) and I didn't like it. One star!
August 10, 2011
Simply amazing.
October 29, 2012
My cries.
I love Alice so much. She really grew up in this book. I just... ugh. I may or may not have been trembling with adoration while reading this.
I love Alice so much. She really grew up in this book. I just... ugh. I may or may not have been trembling with adoration while reading this.
August 26, 2012
Such a fun little series. I will miss spending time with Alice and her wonderfully weird adventures. She's so self centered in the funniest way a teenager can be. A character I will remember!
January 8, 2013
kinda boring. its a play
September 24, 2019
Such fun books! I loved Alice. I loved her moon boots and her lists. I saw myself in her quirks and wanted to be her best friend.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews