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Alice
Alice’s commune seems a small hippie utopia in a dreamlike forest, but the utopian surface begins to crack when strange things start happening. A small deformed creature with a bowling ball head appears out of nowhere and turns to Alice for support. Her trips to the pond start to bring transcendental omens and strange visitors. Thus begins a journey in which Alice wanders away from her idyllic home to find another world and to slowly connect the dots of her own world’s missing history. This post-apocalyptic adult hippie fairy tale is comic, poignant, thoughtful, and sparkling, a magical tapestry with many threads by an Amazon bestselling author (90-minute reads free list) and two-time Faulkner-Wisdom Prize finalist.
- GenresAmazon
252 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 24, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 21, 2022
This enjoyable book shines where all of the author's stories shine...in the appealing, real-world dialogue Gary Gautier cooks up to make his characters spring into life, to keep the story humming and the book's pages turning, and to propel Alice onward to its satisfying conclusion. Interesting and quirky!
June 24, 2026
Alice is defined by its control of tone and its commitment to ambiguity.
The novel presents a world that initially appears contained and harmonious, but gradually reveals fractures through a series of unsettling encounters and symbolic disruptions. Rather than offering direct explanations, the narrative allows meaning to emerge through accumulation—images, events, and shifts in perception that suggest a larger structure without fully resolving it.
What gives the book its strength is the balance between contrasting elements. There is a surface-level whimsy that coexists with an undercurrent of unease, and the transition between the two is handled with restraint. The reader is never forced into a single interpretation, but is also not left without orientation.
The symbolic aspects of the story remain open, resisting reduction into fixed meaning. This allows the narrative to function as both a journey and an inquiry, maintaining coherence while preserving its interpretive space.
For readers drawn to surreal, allegorical, and concept-driven fiction, Alice offers a controlled and thoughtful narrative—one that invites engagement without insisting on resolution.
The novel presents a world that initially appears contained and harmonious, but gradually reveals fractures through a series of unsettling encounters and symbolic disruptions. Rather than offering direct explanations, the narrative allows meaning to emerge through accumulation—images, events, and shifts in perception that suggest a larger structure without fully resolving it.
What gives the book its strength is the balance between contrasting elements. There is a surface-level whimsy that coexists with an undercurrent of unease, and the transition between the two is handled with restraint. The reader is never forced into a single interpretation, but is also not left without orientation.
The symbolic aspects of the story remain open, resisting reduction into fixed meaning. This allows the narrative to function as both a journey and an inquiry, maintaining coherence while preserving its interpretive space.
For readers drawn to surreal, allegorical, and concept-driven fiction, Alice offers a controlled and thoughtful narrative—one that invites engagement without insisting on resolution.
March 8, 2024
Why?
Read 50% before quitting. Nothing made sense. Have no idea what the purpose is supposed to be. No story to speak of.
Read 50% before quitting. Nothing made sense. Have no idea what the purpose is supposed to be. No story to speak of.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews