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Alice Bliss
When Alice Bliss learns that her father, Matt, is being deployed to Iraq, she's heartbroken. Alice idolizes her father, loves working beside him in their garden, accompanying him on the occasional roofing job, playing baseball. When he ships out, Alice is faced with finding a way to fill the emptiness he has left behind.
Matt will miss seeing his daughter blossom from a tomboy into a full-blown teenager. Alice will learn to drive, join the track team, go to her first dance, and fall in love, all while trying to be strong for her mother, Angie, and take care of her precocious little sister, Ellie. But the smell of Matt is starting to fade from his blue shirt that Alice wears everyday, and the phone calls are never long enough.
Alice Bliss is a profoundly moving coming-of-age novel about love and its many variations--the support of a small town looking after its own; love between an absent father and his daughter; the complicated love between an adolescent girl and her mother; and an exploration of new love with the boy-next-door. These characters' struggles amidst uncertain times echo our own, lending the novel an immediacy and poignancy that is both relevant and real. At once universal and very personal, Alice Bliss is a transforming story about those who are left at home during wartime, and a teenage girl bravely facing the future.
Matt will miss seeing his daughter blossom from a tomboy into a full-blown teenager. Alice will learn to drive, join the track team, go to her first dance, and fall in love, all while trying to be strong for her mother, Angie, and take care of her precocious little sister, Ellie. But the smell of Matt is starting to fade from his blue shirt that Alice wears everyday, and the phone calls are never long enough.
Alice Bliss is a profoundly moving coming-of-age novel about love and its many variations--the support of a small town looking after its own; love between an absent father and his daughter; the complicated love between an adolescent girl and her mother; and an exploration of new love with the boy-next-door. These characters' struggles amidst uncertain times echo our own, lending the novel an immediacy and poignancy that is both relevant and real. At once universal and very personal, Alice Bliss is a transforming story about those who are left at home during wartime, and a teenage girl bravely facing the future.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2011
85 people are currently reading
4424 people want to read
About the author
Laura Harrington
11 books170 followersLaura Harrington's award-winning plays, musicals, and operas have been widely produced across America, in Canada, and Europe in venues ranging from off-off-Broadway to Houston Grand Opera. She is the 2008 Kleban Award Winner for most promising librettist in American Musical Theatre. Harrington has twice won both the Massachusetts Cultural Council Award and the Clauder Competition for best new play in New England.
A Catalog of Birds, her new novel, published by Europa Editions, is set in 1970, a watershed moment in American history, A Catalog of Birds tells the story of the Flynn family and the devastating impact of the Vietnam War. At the heart of the novel is the relationship between siblings Nell and Billy Flynn. Nell excels academically and is headed to college and a career in science. Billy, a passionate artist, enlists as a pilot to fulfill his lifelong dream of flying. The only survivor when his helicopter is shot down, he returns home so seriously wounded he may never use his right hand again. As Billy struggles to regain the life he once had, Nell and their family will have to do all that’s possible to save him.
“Taut and true, A Catalog of Birds is a beautiful book about family, loss and love. Its memorable characters will haunt you long after you put it down.”
Claire Messud, award-winning author of The Woman Upstairs
"You know the Flynns. They’re that family down the street—or perhaps your own family— imperfect, loving, loyal, angry, secretive, stubborn, barely making ends meet, church-going but not always believing, each carrying burdens they can never quite put down. At once spare and richly symphonic, A Catalog of Birds brings you into the very marrow of the Flynns and those in their orbit, each page wrapping you in more tightly until you can’t let go even after the words stop. Get a copy for a friend—you’ll want to have someone to talk to about it as soon as you finish."
Juliette Fay, best-selling author of The Tumbling Turner Sisters
Her first novel, Alice Bliss, (Viking/ Penguin) is a Boston Globe bestseller and the winner of the Massachusetts Book Award in Fiction. Alice Bliss has been lauded as a "Discover Great New Writers" at Barnes & Noble, "Best Books of the Summer" at Entertainment Weekly, a "People Pick" at People Magazine and "Best Books of 2011" by the School Library Journal. Foreign rights have been sold in the UK, Italy and Denmark.
Alice Bliss was chosen by the Richard and Judy Book Club in the UK, where it was featured in all WH Smith Book Shops throughout Britain.
Laura teaches playwriting at MIT where she was awarded the 2009 Levitan Prize for Excellence in Teaching. She has also been a frequent guest artist at Tufts, Harvard, Wellesley, and the University of Iowa and most recently, the Jack Kerouac Writer in Residence at UMASS Lowell.
She is currently writing Alice Bliss, the musical, with a commission from Playwrights Horizons in NYC. She is working with the composer Jenny Giering, lyricist Adam Gwon, and director Mark Brokaw.
Book Clubs: If you'd like me to visit your book club -- in person or by phone or Skype -- please contact me. Also, please "Like" my page on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/LHarringtonbooks
Read more at:
Books: www.lauraharringtonbooks.com
Theatre: www.laura-harrington.com
A Catalog of Birds, her new novel, published by Europa Editions, is set in 1970, a watershed moment in American history, A Catalog of Birds tells the story of the Flynn family and the devastating impact of the Vietnam War. At the heart of the novel is the relationship between siblings Nell and Billy Flynn. Nell excels academically and is headed to college and a career in science. Billy, a passionate artist, enlists as a pilot to fulfill his lifelong dream of flying. The only survivor when his helicopter is shot down, he returns home so seriously wounded he may never use his right hand again. As Billy struggles to regain the life he once had, Nell and their family will have to do all that’s possible to save him.
“Taut and true, A Catalog of Birds is a beautiful book about family, loss and love. Its memorable characters will haunt you long after you put it down.”
Claire Messud, award-winning author of The Woman Upstairs
"You know the Flynns. They’re that family down the street—or perhaps your own family— imperfect, loving, loyal, angry, secretive, stubborn, barely making ends meet, church-going but not always believing, each carrying burdens they can never quite put down. At once spare and richly symphonic, A Catalog of Birds brings you into the very marrow of the Flynns and those in their orbit, each page wrapping you in more tightly until you can’t let go even after the words stop. Get a copy for a friend—you’ll want to have someone to talk to about it as soon as you finish."
Juliette Fay, best-selling author of The Tumbling Turner Sisters
Her first novel, Alice Bliss, (Viking/ Penguin) is a Boston Globe bestseller and the winner of the Massachusetts Book Award in Fiction. Alice Bliss has been lauded as a "Discover Great New Writers" at Barnes & Noble, "Best Books of the Summer" at Entertainment Weekly, a "People Pick" at People Magazine and "Best Books of 2011" by the School Library Journal. Foreign rights have been sold in the UK, Italy and Denmark.
Alice Bliss was chosen by the Richard and Judy Book Club in the UK, where it was featured in all WH Smith Book Shops throughout Britain.
Laura teaches playwriting at MIT where she was awarded the 2009 Levitan Prize for Excellence in Teaching. She has also been a frequent guest artist at Tufts, Harvard, Wellesley, and the University of Iowa and most recently, the Jack Kerouac Writer in Residence at UMASS Lowell.
She is currently writing Alice Bliss, the musical, with a commission from Playwrights Horizons in NYC. She is working with the composer Jenny Giering, lyricist Adam Gwon, and director Mark Brokaw.
Book Clubs: If you'd like me to visit your book club -- in person or by phone or Skype -- please contact me. Also, please "Like" my page on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/LHarringtonbooks
Read more at:
Books: www.lauraharringtonbooks.com
Theatre: www.laura-harrington.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 619 reviews
February 16, 2023
Alice Bliss' father is off fighting in Iraq, when the Army inform her family that he is officially MIA. Tear-jerker style, but ultimately a very moving story of the daughter and family left behind as they struggle to cope, yet try to continue with their lives. A different kind of coming of age drama! 7 out of 12, Three Star read.
2013 read
2013 read
July 30, 2011
What can I say about this book that I simply devoured in the last 24 hours. I cried, I laughed, and I was deeply touched from this novel that destroyed a family's happiness and closeness. Matt Bliss is a father and a husband that feels that it is his duty to serve his country in Iraq via the National Guard. He was always one to get the most out of life, and serving his country would allow this. His family, wife Angie and daughters Alice and Ellie, don't understand why he has to go to Iraq. While he is away, the family misses him terribly...Angie immerses herself in work, Alice wears one of his shirts daily to be surrounded by her father so she doesn't forget him, and Ellie tries to improve herself...changing her hair and learning definitions of long words. The family tries to go on with their life while waiting for letters and phone calls from Matt whenever it’s possible. Alice, the oldest daughter, seems very close to her father so she decides not to change anything that her father has done every year on schedule like planting his garden after the first home baseball game. She still works in his workshop often to make it feel that he is with her. She joins the track team to run free and forget her troubles, while relying on her childhood best friend, Henry, to get her through this most difficult time. The family is plugging along until the day when two soldiers arrive on their doorstep...Matt is “Missing in Action”. As the family lies in wait for the military to contact them saying that they found Matt, each main character, along with Uncle Eddie and Gram, realizes that they must turn to each other for support in case the news regarding Matt is bad. Eventually the information that they receive is not good. It’s a story that will tug at your heart and give meaning and respect to all the men and women who serve in our military and have sacrificed their lives for our freedom...not just in the most recent wars going on today, but wars that have occurred many years ago beginning with the Revolutionary War which proclaimed America’s freedom from Great Britain. A tribute to lives lost and rebirth found. Please read this novel, you will not be disappointed!
Here are just a few ideas of everyday life that parents have tried to instill in their children that Laura Harrington wrote in the novel, which I found gratifying and true to one’s spirit:
Cultivate gratitude.
Think for yourself.
Treat all people equally.
Respect your body.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions.
Ask for help when you need it.
Be your own best friend.
Don’t be afraid to fail.
Do one thing at a time.
Learn to dance.
Good manners never go out of style.
Treat your family and your friends like gold.
Give more than you receive.
Aim high.
Here are just a few ideas of everyday life that parents have tried to instill in their children that Laura Harrington wrote in the novel, which I found gratifying and true to one’s spirit:
Cultivate gratitude.
Think for yourself.
Treat all people equally.
Respect your body.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions.
Ask for help when you need it.
Be your own best friend.
Don’t be afraid to fail.
Do one thing at a time.
Learn to dance.
Good manners never go out of style.
Treat your family and your friends like gold.
Give more than you receive.
Aim high.
September 14, 2012
If a novel could have a heartbeat, Alice Bliss would have one. If an author could capture a slice of America's soul, Laura Harrington succeeded in doing so!
Alice Bliss is the story of Alice, a fifteen-year-old faced with the absence of her father who, as a member of the New York National Guard, is sent to Iraq. Laura Harrington does such an exceptional job bringing Alice Bliss and the supporting characters to life, that you will find yourself completely enthralled in her story. Each sentence leads the reader to form images and sounds and emotions and tastes and smells that jump right off the page. It's no wonder Alice Bliss has received so many awards.
This novel is nothing short of a gift, a blessing to those who walk in Alice Bliss's shoes every day, but find it difficult to explain to others the emotions created by the absence of a family member who serves our nation. It also serves as a comfort to those who have experienced loss and provides hope when the world seems to dim.
Read Alice Bliss and see how poignant, powerful, stunning, and alive a novel can be. Pick it up, read it, share it, talk about it!
Brilliant, Laura. Congratulations and thank you.
Alice Bliss is the story of Alice, a fifteen-year-old faced with the absence of her father who, as a member of the New York National Guard, is sent to Iraq. Laura Harrington does such an exceptional job bringing Alice Bliss and the supporting characters to life, that you will find yourself completely enthralled in her story. Each sentence leads the reader to form images and sounds and emotions and tastes and smells that jump right off the page. It's no wonder Alice Bliss has received so many awards.
This novel is nothing short of a gift, a blessing to those who walk in Alice Bliss's shoes every day, but find it difficult to explain to others the emotions created by the absence of a family member who serves our nation. It also serves as a comfort to those who have experienced loss and provides hope when the world seems to dim.
Read Alice Bliss and see how poignant, powerful, stunning, and alive a novel can be. Pick it up, read it, share it, talk about it!
Brilliant, Laura. Congratulations and thank you.
August 10, 2011
Alice Bliss is a 15-year-old girl who is trying to deal with her father's deployment to Iraq. She picks up all the slack when her mom can't handle things at home, while at the same time she is missing her father terribly. This book is written so honestly and so emotionally that it seems like a true life story, not fiction. I could easily sympathize with both Alice and her mother all the way through the story. As I was finishing this book, I saw the story in the news about the recent helicopter crash that killed 20+ Navy SEALS. I couldn't help but think that one of them may have a daughter like Alice, and it brought tears to my eyes. This book has given me a new outlook and more respect for the U.S. Military and their families.
January 5, 2012
Alice Bliss broke my heart.
(I've been trying, but I can't separate my review of the book from my personal response to it, which necessitates a spoiler. Be forewarned.)
I could write at length about the floodgates of emotions that the book brought to the surface, but it would be rather more than I am comfortable sharing in a public review. Suffice to say, the book hit very close to home for me.
Matt Bliss, an Army reservist, gets called up and deployed to Iraq, leaving his wife Angie and daughters Alice and Ellie behind. The family struggles to deal with Matt's deployment and their feelings of loss in his absence. Matt is obviously the glue that holds the family together, as Angie retreats into herself, leaving Alice, at age fifteen, to take over many of the responsibilities of the household, caring for her sister, and navigating adolescence on her own. Alice, who is particularly close to her father, struggles to keep him as close to her as she can, wearing his clothes, planting the garden they'd planned together, and trying to fix up his workshop before his return.
There wouldn't be a book here without bad news. Matt's letters and phone calls grow more infrequent, and then the Bliss family gets the bad news that he is missing in action.
Alice grows increasingly worried about her beloved father's well-being, and starts imagining the worst even as she hopes against hope and tries to keep up a brave facade for her younger sister's benefit. But the hope is in vain, as one day a soldier and an army chaplain show up at the Bliss house bringing the worst news imaginable.
I lost my own father when I was fifteen. The circumstances were very different -- my father died after a long illness -- but regardless, the book took my breath away. Change a few little details, and it was like looking into a window at my own family and what we went through, right down to my uncle teaching me how to drive because my dad couldn't.
Harrington's portrayal of Alice's emotions is absolutely, to my experience, spot-on. Being a teenager is enough of an emotional rollercoaster even without the absence, nevermind the total loss, of a parent. I remember all too well the conflict I felt during the time surrounding my father's death, wanting desperately to hold on to my childhood, wishing that nothing needed to change, while at the same time looking anxiously forward to the future and all the promise it held.
I was especially touched, in the book, by Alice's relationship with her childhood best friend, Henry, as they tentatively explore their new feelings for each other, Henry acting as Alice's rock as her world shatters around her. The conflicting emotions, the euphoria of first love contrasting with -- and providing a welcome respite from -- the seemingly soul-crushing grief: it rang very true to me. Other reviews I have read question Alice's reactions and behavior; I think that these reviewers are looking at the situation from adult eyes. It's confusing, being old enough to understand completely what's going on, but having neither the experience nor the emotional maturity to really be able to deal with it. Everyone's experiences are different, of course, but Harrington's portrayal of Alice was very real and very raw to me. It's clear, too, that despite it all, Alice will be okay. She is a strong, determined young woman, and part of me wants to revisit her in ten years, in fifteen years, to check in on her. She will be remarkable.
Laura Harrington is a playwright and librettist, and this is her first novel. I'm glad she made the jump -- her writing is lovely and lyrical and there were passages I read over and over again just to savor the language.
All in all, this was a wonderful, if painful, book: your reaction to it may not be as strong as mine was, but still, I recommend tissues.
(I've been trying, but I can't separate my review of the book from my personal response to it, which necessitates a spoiler. Be forewarned.)
I could write at length about the floodgates of emotions that the book brought to the surface, but it would be rather more than I am comfortable sharing in a public review. Suffice to say, the book hit very close to home for me.
Matt Bliss, an Army reservist, gets called up and deployed to Iraq, leaving his wife Angie and daughters Alice and Ellie behind. The family struggles to deal with Matt's deployment and their feelings of loss in his absence. Matt is obviously the glue that holds the family together, as Angie retreats into herself, leaving Alice, at age fifteen, to take over many of the responsibilities of the household, caring for her sister, and navigating adolescence on her own. Alice, who is particularly close to her father, struggles to keep him as close to her as she can, wearing his clothes, planting the garden they'd planned together, and trying to fix up his workshop before his return.
There wouldn't be a book here without bad news. Matt's letters and phone calls grow more infrequent, and then the Bliss family gets the bad news that he is missing in action.
Alice grows increasingly worried about her beloved father's well-being, and starts imagining the worst even as she hopes against hope and tries to keep up a brave facade for her younger sister's benefit. But the hope is in vain, as one day a soldier and an army chaplain show up at the Bliss house bringing the worst news imaginable.
I lost my own father when I was fifteen. The circumstances were very different -- my father died after a long illness -- but regardless, the book took my breath away. Change a few little details, and it was like looking into a window at my own family and what we went through, right down to my uncle teaching me how to drive because my dad couldn't.
Harrington's portrayal of Alice's emotions is absolutely, to my experience, spot-on. Being a teenager is enough of an emotional rollercoaster even without the absence, nevermind the total loss, of a parent. I remember all too well the conflict I felt during the time surrounding my father's death, wanting desperately to hold on to my childhood, wishing that nothing needed to change, while at the same time looking anxiously forward to the future and all the promise it held.
I was especially touched, in the book, by Alice's relationship with her childhood best friend, Henry, as they tentatively explore their new feelings for each other, Henry acting as Alice's rock as her world shatters around her. The conflicting emotions, the euphoria of first love contrasting with -- and providing a welcome respite from -- the seemingly soul-crushing grief: it rang very true to me. Other reviews I have read question Alice's reactions and behavior; I think that these reviewers are looking at the situation from adult eyes. It's confusing, being old enough to understand completely what's going on, but having neither the experience nor the emotional maturity to really be able to deal with it. Everyone's experiences are different, of course, but Harrington's portrayal of Alice was very real and very raw to me. It's clear, too, that despite it all, Alice will be okay. She is a strong, determined young woman, and part of me wants to revisit her in ten years, in fifteen years, to check in on her. She will be remarkable.
Laura Harrington is a playwright and librettist, and this is her first novel. I'm glad she made the jump -- her writing is lovely and lyrical and there were passages I read over and over again just to savor the language.
All in all, this was a wonderful, if painful, book: your reaction to it may not be as strong as mine was, but still, I recommend tissues.
October 29, 2012
I am usually not one who cries when reading books, but in this book I cried in almost every page. This book is so good. It is written so beautifully, the style easy to read and the characters easy to connect to. It was such a lovely book, but so painful that it had to be so sad. What I really loved about this book was that Laura, the author, did not try to force down the story on you. She let you connect to the characters, feel their pain, she let the story materialize inside you. She did what a good author should do, and because of that this book is superbly splendid, lovely, and immaculate.
June 25, 2012
I really liked this book! I gave it a 5 out of 5 stars! This is her debut novel and she did a great job. I loved her writing style because it really flowed well and made the book go quickly. The only thing I didn't like with her writing was the conversation style. I liked that there was a lot of conversations but I didn't like that she never said who said what so you really had to keep along with the book.
The other thing I loved was the character of Alice Bliss. She was really thought out and seemed like a person I could be friends with in real life. The other characters really blended well with her also. I could feel her emotions throughout the whole book.
One last thing I really enjoyed was how she ended the book. I never saw some of those things happening but she put it together very well.
I also did a youtube review for this in a little more detail; here is the link! Go check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UkFII...
The other thing I loved was the character of Alice Bliss. She was really thought out and seemed like a person I could be friends with in real life. The other characters really blended well with her also. I could feel her emotions throughout the whole book.
One last thing I really enjoyed was how she ended the book. I never saw some of those things happening but she put it together very well.
I also did a youtube review for this in a little more detail; here is the link! Go check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UkFII...
January 4, 2016
This was an interesting debut - heartfelt and seemingly real. Harrington is a lyricist and librettist and these talents are evident in the dialogue. The story fell a bit short for me as it seemed too simple, as though there were more impressive heights Harrington could have aspired to, but couldn't pull it off.
This novel would make a great mother-daughter (I would say girls aged 13+) read. I also think it offers a good portrait of families at home while their loved ones are away, fighting wars.
Alice Bliss was a quick read and it is a good platform for Harrington's potential as a novelist. I would be interested in reading more from her and hope that her abilities develop well.
This novel would make a great mother-daughter (I would say girls aged 13+) read. I also think it offers a good portrait of families at home while their loved ones are away, fighting wars.
Alice Bliss was a quick read and it is a good platform for Harrington's potential as a novelist. I would be interested in reading more from her and hope that her abilities develop well.
September 2, 2013
Alice Bliss is a beautifully tender story. When my friend recommended it to me, she said, "Maybe I liked it so much because of the close relationship I have to my dad. I found a connection here." I can see why. Alice and her father Matt share a love of life. They talk and share and garden together. It's the kind of relationship any girl wants with her dad. Conflict comes when Matt goes to war, and Alice is left to deal with a mother she cannot relate to and an ache that comes from missing her dad. This book lets us see inside the hurt and hope of a family torn by a father's call to serve his country. It's poignant and real and heartbreaking.
July 4, 2011
Read this for the book club. it is a wonderful story and I really enjoyed it. the first half was really slow moving and hard for me to get into but the second half was really good. make sure you have a box of tissues while reading this book.
September 30, 2012
For those of us who have no real experience with military life, Laura Harrington's book is a window into the lives of those who stay behind when a loved one goes to war. It feels real. It is filled with tension. It is heart-wrenching on many levels. I really, really like this book and it left me in tears when I turned the last page.
The main character is 15 year old Alice Bliss. Her father, Matt, is a member of the Army Reserves whose unit has been called into action. Matt is the heart of his family and his absence brings the differences between Alice and her mother, Angie, to the forefront. Alice is determined to carry out everything that Matt would do if he were at home. She works in his workshop, plants the garden and listens for his voice. Angie is simply trying to get by until Matt comes home and finds Alice's stubbornness annoying. The youngest member of the family is 8 year old Ellie.
It seems that the more I like a book the less I have to say about it in a review. I don't want to give away too much and it is hard to express all the thoughts and emotions that the book brought up. There are some language issues but the language doesn't feel forced. For me this is a great book and I highly recommend it.
-Janeth
Readingteen.net
Content:
Sexual Content: Moderate
Profanity: Heavy
Violence: Mild
Other Notables: Underage drinking
For more details, check out Alice Bliss on Parentalbookreviews.com
The main character is 15 year old Alice Bliss. Her father, Matt, is a member of the Army Reserves whose unit has been called into action. Matt is the heart of his family and his absence brings the differences between Alice and her mother, Angie, to the forefront. Alice is determined to carry out everything that Matt would do if he were at home. She works in his workshop, plants the garden and listens for his voice. Angie is simply trying to get by until Matt comes home and finds Alice's stubbornness annoying. The youngest member of the family is 8 year old Ellie.
It seems that the more I like a book the less I have to say about it in a review. I don't want to give away too much and it is hard to express all the thoughts and emotions that the book brought up. There are some language issues but the language doesn't feel forced. For me this is a great book and I highly recommend it.
-Janeth
Readingteen.net
Content:
Sexual Content: Moderate
Profanity: Heavy
Violence: Mild
Other Notables: Underage drinking
For more details, check out Alice Bliss on Parentalbookreviews.com
October 1, 2012
I'm not sure why this book got any good reviews. The author took an interesting story (a teenage girl who's father is sent to Iraq) and did a dreadful job of writing a book. Her writing was not just mediocre, it was bad. It isolated a very currently, relevant topic and reduced it to an irrelevant book. There was no mention of how the town or the country reacted to war, or anyone's comments about the war and how this would make the character feel having her dad there, there was absolutely no thought on any character's part on why the war was being fought and what war meant to a country or a class of people, and no mention of how other little girls in the other country might be experiencing the loss of their fathers. The characters seemed contrived and two dimensional. I'd like to read a good book on this topic, but this wasn't it.
January 18, 2012
I ADORED this book. It was so engaging from the first page, and I'm not afraid to admit that I cried on and off (mostly on) for the whole second half of the book. It was so well written and believable. All of the characters were well fleshed out, and they each bought their own emotions to the story. At times I wanted to shake Alice (or her mother), or scream at Henry (or John), and on and on. My only real complaint about the book is that at times the dialogue felt a little to mature and sophisticated coming from 14-year-old Alice's mouth. It was great dialogue, but it just didn't fully jive with the character (or at least the character that lived in my head . . . maybe in your version of Alice she doesn't sound weird).
Buy it. With a box of tissues.
You will love it.
Buy it. With a box of tissues.
You will love it.
June 2, 2011
Alice Bliss
Author: Laura Harrington
Reviewed by Fran Lewis
Alice Bliss adored her father. She enjoyed nothing more than having him as a dance partner, someone to confide in and just being around him. Alice Bliss could see, feel, hear and smell the scent of her father just thinking about him. Images stay sharp when people are close by.
Matt Bliss had a vision for his life one that differed from his wife Angie. Angie enjoyed going out to dinner, the finer things in life where as Matt enjoyed the country, living off the land and just the plainer or simpler things in life. Matt Bliss loved his family but was restless and wanted to do more. Enlisting in the reserves he was required to spend one weekend each month training in case his unit was called up. Which to the dismay of his wife and family it was. Matt was being sent to fight in Iraq and Angie, Emma and of course young Alice’s lives would forever change. Images fade and become just shadows of what they once were as Matt’s memory that was stronger and sharper before he left became duller, cloudier and almost transparent as time went on. Alice Bliss longed for her father but had to care and support her mother. As the story begins she recalls the many times she danced with Matt and his simple touch.
A story told in diary form from start to finish Alice Bliss is a unique and heartfelt book of one young girl and her hopes for the future. As the time draws near for Matt to leave he and Alice sit together and discuss what he expects of her when he’s gone. Alone with her thoughts and listening to her parent’s last moments together Alice feels isolated and alone. Going to her Gram’s, working on the farm and trying to get her own rhythm in life, Alice will learn many hard lessons. Angie, her mom seems lost and desolate and begins isolating herself by working longer hours bringing her job home. Emma seems to have adjusted better to not having her father home yet when he finally does call right before being shipped to Iraq, Alice lingers on the phone as long as possible, Angie clings to hope and Emma listens to his words. Each lost in their own thoughts and desires and Alice seeming to miss him the most. What will happen if he never returns? Wearing his old shirt to sleep and trying to find some type of connection with her father, Alice widens the gap between herself and her family.
Letters come few and far between but when they do Alice learns about Falluja and the people living there. Matt describes the dust, the kids playing soccer in the streets and the different places and things he has access to in this country so far away. Yet, Alice clings to the scent, memory, shirt and even the foods her father loved in order to keep that connection as she tells him about her life without him. Running track, friends with Henry and how she is helping at home like he asked her to before he went away. Added to that the narrator describes each person’s personal torments, struggles and hopes for their own lives and future. Hardest it appears on Alice, but what about Angie and Ella?
The author brings to light so many issues that many families face each day when loved ones are called to serve their country or like Matt they decide it’s their duty. Just how many families cope will be different but this novel brings to bear one family’s true to life experiences.
You can hear the voices of each character as the narrator relates their feelings, torments, hopes and dreams. Alice is given many more jobs and responsibilities allowing her mother to have more freedom to explore the world and develop her own life without Matt. Uncle Eddie provides the levity and humor as the one constant male present in all of their lives making things somewhat easier for everyone especially Alice. Added to that he teaches her how to drive a car, encourages her to be herself and she remembers her father’s words telling her to look for her inner voice and hear it when things get mixed up or she does not know where she is going.
Ellie and Alice are quite different but they are sisters and start to bond. Henry just wants Alice to like him. But, then the unthinkable happens and her world comes crashing down as Matt is reported MIA. No one knows where he is only that he was captured and the army is not answering all of Angie’s questions. Will they find him or will he be another casualty of this horrific war?
Angie and Alice battle it out at times. Angie hears Matt’s voice in her head telling her to keep the faith, she can handle whatever life throws at her and Alice relives helping her dad on the roof and being afraid of heights.
Alice and Angie start to bond and things begin to really change as everyone tries to sort out what to do about trying to find Matt and get the information needed to learn what really happened to him. Then the truth comes out and they learn Matt’s fate and everyone seems to move in slow motion. Angie needs get answers and they all need to understand. The army is not really straightforward with their responses and end result you need to read for yourself.
As the family gathers to say their final goodbyes Alice does something that will surprise the reader with the help of Henry, his father and one young man named Caleb she honors her father the way she feels he would have liked her too.
Memories and images might seem to fade but they never really do. Close your eyes and you can sometimes hear and see the face of someone you’ve lost. They are always there. Uncle Eddie, Henry, Gram and Mrs. Minty teach Alice the true meaning of loyalty, friendship, understanding and family unity. One little girl named Ella who loves words and wants to be a neologist when she grows up. Another who just wants to remember her father, follow in his footsteps and keep him close by. This is a story that will touch the hearts and souls of every American, every family that has ever lost someone in the war or sent a father, son or grandson overseas to fight in Iraq or any other war. Matt Bliss had vision. He wanted to live life but he felt he owed something to his country. Alice faces many torments and lashes out when faced with the end result. Ella begins to bond and grow each day. Henry is steadfast, kind, well mannered and is always there for Alice no matter what. An ending so riveting, heartbreaking and yet filled with hope and inspiration for Alice, but Angie, Ella, Gram, Henry and Uncle Eddie. Author Laura Harrington reminds us that the war is not over and not all wars are fought on the home front or on the battlefield. One community tightly joined together. One special girl named Alice who just wanted one thing in her life: Her Father. As she seeks the truth about herself, finds her own path will she find her way back home.
Characters that are so well defined each with their own personalities and a story that will keep the reader enveloped in the events related in this outstanding journal of one family’s losses and gains. Alice is truly a strong minded, strong willed and intelligent young teen whose faith in herself blossoms as she reads her father’s words and hears his voice on the pages he left behind.
Fran Lewis: Reviewer
Author: Laura Harrington
Reviewed by Fran Lewis
Alice Bliss adored her father. She enjoyed nothing more than having him as a dance partner, someone to confide in and just being around him. Alice Bliss could see, feel, hear and smell the scent of her father just thinking about him. Images stay sharp when people are close by.
Matt Bliss had a vision for his life one that differed from his wife Angie. Angie enjoyed going out to dinner, the finer things in life where as Matt enjoyed the country, living off the land and just the plainer or simpler things in life. Matt Bliss loved his family but was restless and wanted to do more. Enlisting in the reserves he was required to spend one weekend each month training in case his unit was called up. Which to the dismay of his wife and family it was. Matt was being sent to fight in Iraq and Angie, Emma and of course young Alice’s lives would forever change. Images fade and become just shadows of what they once were as Matt’s memory that was stronger and sharper before he left became duller, cloudier and almost transparent as time went on. Alice Bliss longed for her father but had to care and support her mother. As the story begins she recalls the many times she danced with Matt and his simple touch.
A story told in diary form from start to finish Alice Bliss is a unique and heartfelt book of one young girl and her hopes for the future. As the time draws near for Matt to leave he and Alice sit together and discuss what he expects of her when he’s gone. Alone with her thoughts and listening to her parent’s last moments together Alice feels isolated and alone. Going to her Gram’s, working on the farm and trying to get her own rhythm in life, Alice will learn many hard lessons. Angie, her mom seems lost and desolate and begins isolating herself by working longer hours bringing her job home. Emma seems to have adjusted better to not having her father home yet when he finally does call right before being shipped to Iraq, Alice lingers on the phone as long as possible, Angie clings to hope and Emma listens to his words. Each lost in their own thoughts and desires and Alice seeming to miss him the most. What will happen if he never returns? Wearing his old shirt to sleep and trying to find some type of connection with her father, Alice widens the gap between herself and her family.
Letters come few and far between but when they do Alice learns about Falluja and the people living there. Matt describes the dust, the kids playing soccer in the streets and the different places and things he has access to in this country so far away. Yet, Alice clings to the scent, memory, shirt and even the foods her father loved in order to keep that connection as she tells him about her life without him. Running track, friends with Henry and how she is helping at home like he asked her to before he went away. Added to that the narrator describes each person’s personal torments, struggles and hopes for their own lives and future. Hardest it appears on Alice, but what about Angie and Ella?
The author brings to light so many issues that many families face each day when loved ones are called to serve their country or like Matt they decide it’s their duty. Just how many families cope will be different but this novel brings to bear one family’s true to life experiences.
You can hear the voices of each character as the narrator relates their feelings, torments, hopes and dreams. Alice is given many more jobs and responsibilities allowing her mother to have more freedom to explore the world and develop her own life without Matt. Uncle Eddie provides the levity and humor as the one constant male present in all of their lives making things somewhat easier for everyone especially Alice. Added to that he teaches her how to drive a car, encourages her to be herself and she remembers her father’s words telling her to look for her inner voice and hear it when things get mixed up or she does not know where she is going.
Ellie and Alice are quite different but they are sisters and start to bond. Henry just wants Alice to like him. But, then the unthinkable happens and her world comes crashing down as Matt is reported MIA. No one knows where he is only that he was captured and the army is not answering all of Angie’s questions. Will they find him or will he be another casualty of this horrific war?
Angie and Alice battle it out at times. Angie hears Matt’s voice in her head telling her to keep the faith, she can handle whatever life throws at her and Alice relives helping her dad on the roof and being afraid of heights.
Alice and Angie start to bond and things begin to really change as everyone tries to sort out what to do about trying to find Matt and get the information needed to learn what really happened to him. Then the truth comes out and they learn Matt’s fate and everyone seems to move in slow motion. Angie needs get answers and they all need to understand. The army is not really straightforward with their responses and end result you need to read for yourself.
As the family gathers to say their final goodbyes Alice does something that will surprise the reader with the help of Henry, his father and one young man named Caleb she honors her father the way she feels he would have liked her too.
Memories and images might seem to fade but they never really do. Close your eyes and you can sometimes hear and see the face of someone you’ve lost. They are always there. Uncle Eddie, Henry, Gram and Mrs. Minty teach Alice the true meaning of loyalty, friendship, understanding and family unity. One little girl named Ella who loves words and wants to be a neologist when she grows up. Another who just wants to remember her father, follow in his footsteps and keep him close by. This is a story that will touch the hearts and souls of every American, every family that has ever lost someone in the war or sent a father, son or grandson overseas to fight in Iraq or any other war. Matt Bliss had vision. He wanted to live life but he felt he owed something to his country. Alice faces many torments and lashes out when faced with the end result. Ella begins to bond and grow each day. Henry is steadfast, kind, well mannered and is always there for Alice no matter what. An ending so riveting, heartbreaking and yet filled with hope and inspiration for Alice, but Angie, Ella, Gram, Henry and Uncle Eddie. Author Laura Harrington reminds us that the war is not over and not all wars are fought on the home front or on the battlefield. One community tightly joined together. One special girl named Alice who just wanted one thing in her life: Her Father. As she seeks the truth about herself, finds her own path will she find her way back home.
Characters that are so well defined each with their own personalities and a story that will keep the reader enveloped in the events related in this outstanding journal of one family’s losses and gains. Alice is truly a strong minded, strong willed and intelligent young teen whose faith in herself blossoms as she reads her father’s words and hears his voice on the pages he left behind.
Fran Lewis: Reviewer
October 20, 2016
Couldn't put this book down. To describe it in one word: Anguish. What happens when your dad goes to Iraq and never comes back like he promised. Pure anguish. This story made me cry so much with it's heartbreaking themes as a 14-15 year old Alice deals with being a teenager as well as missing her dad.
February 20, 2024
Alice is 15 and, on top of all the usual teenage stuff (though not too much of it here), she has to deal with the fact that her idolised father has volunteered to serve in Iraq and is about to be shipped out. I wasn't sure what to expect here, and I was pleasantly surprised. Never dull.
September 30, 2012
WARNING: SPOILERS.
I have read a few other books between the Selection and Alice Bliss but I felt like I needed to write this review first. There are very few books that I will sit down and read in one shot. When I started Alice Bliss I knew that it was going to be an emotional story and I knew that it was a story that was going to strike home. I did not intend to stay up until two in the morning reading it. I did not intend to cry as much as I did. This is one of those rare books that I've found I could connect with and I was glad that it was able to capture some of the realities of my childhood.
See, I grew up as an army brat. Second generation - my mom was also a military brat. My father is still active duty and is currently stationed at Fort Drum in Upstate New York for the third time. I grew up there for the most part and if I have a hometown I suppose it's probably there.
Alice Bliss, the title character, is the daughter of a reservist from Central New York. Already we're treading on some common ground. Granted, Alice had a much different childhood than most military kids. Her father was not career military and Laura Harrington portrays an interesting sub-sect of our unique subculture: the kids who never realized that they might some day be must like us until their fathers were taken away.
I have read a few other books between the Selection and Alice Bliss but I felt like I needed to write this review first. There are very few books that I will sit down and read in one shot. When I started Alice Bliss I knew that it was going to be an emotional story and I knew that it was a story that was going to strike home. I did not intend to stay up until two in the morning reading it. I did not intend to cry as much as I did. This is one of those rare books that I've found I could connect with and I was glad that it was able to capture some of the realities of my childhood.
See, I grew up as an army brat. Second generation - my mom was also a military brat. My father is still active duty and is currently stationed at Fort Drum in Upstate New York for the third time. I grew up there for the most part and if I have a hometown I suppose it's probably there.
Alice Bliss, the title character, is the daughter of a reservist from Central New York. Already we're treading on some common ground. Granted, Alice had a much different childhood than most military kids. Her father was not career military and Laura Harrington portrays an interesting sub-sect of our unique subculture: the kids who never realized that they might some day be must like us until their fathers were taken away.
September 27, 2012
For a similar review: http://www.loveisnotatriangle.com/201...
To read about my book group's discussion with Laura Harrington: http://www.loveisnotatriangle.com/201...
I have a confession to make. My daily life is not all that affected by the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. I don't know anyone personally who is fighting. If something big happens the news reports about it, but I don't think a lot about what is going on in the Middle East. Or what happens to the families that the soldiers leave behind. Alice Bliss is about those families. It's a book that made me start paying attention.
Matt Bliss joined the army reserves years ago because he believes in serving his country, and as an example to his wife Angie and daughters Alice and Ellie. But with the war in Iraq dragging on, men in the reserves are being called to fight. Alice Bliss is 15 and starting her sophomore year of high school when her father gets word that he is being deployed to Iraq. Not only does she have to deal with the concerns of a normal high schooler - first crushes, friends who decide they could do better elsewhere, and a mother who doesn't get her - she is facing the absence of a father she idolizes and tremendous responsibility at home.
Alice Bliss is the story of how the war affects one fifteen year old girl, in one family, in one small town in America. It is about how life keeps going despite the absence of a family member. And how easily childhood innocence is lost.
1) Once her father leaves, Alice wears his shirt constantly, refusing to wash it. Alice's mother doesn't understand this (in fact it annoys her). But it is a tangible connection that Alice has to her father. The shirt makes her feel safe - and like she can protect him.
2) Alice's mother struggles to cope without her husband, and most nights Alice cooks dinner because it won't be done otherwise (they have a lot of mac and cheese).
3) Alice learns to drive, develops her first crush and discovers she loves running after her father leaves. She also struggles to stay interested in school and tries to keep up with her father's projects - like planting the garden and changing the oil.
Everyone knows that Alice's dad is a good person - great even. If anyone can make it back from Iraq, Matt Bliss can. And so they hope. Everyone needs hope. I found myself hoping along with Alice and her family.
But is that true? Does war discriminate based on what kind of person you are? And if you make it back, will you be the same as you were before? I thought a lot about these questions while reading Alice Bliss. I also sobbed through portions of this story (ugly tears, guys). Although the book is set in 2006 during the current war, much of it felt timeless. I could imagine generations of people hoping for the safe return of their loved ones, and realizing that sometimes they don't come back the same way that they left.
Laura Harrington is a playwright and Alice Bliss has a lovely, cinematic quality to it, which speaks to that. It is written in third-person present tense, and though the book focuses mostly on Alice's perspective, the point of view rotates between characters. As a reader I felt as if I was watching the story unfold, getting to know characters as they were introduced and visualizing the scene around me.
The reader gets small details about every single character who is introduced, and I felt like I knew Alice's friends and neighbors in her small town of Belknap, New York (near Rochester). Although it took me a bit of time to get used to the writing style, the way Alice Bliss was written became one of my favorite parts of the novel. I think the story was much more complex because of it. The rotating perspective allowed me to understand for instance, the mindset of Alice's mother and how her father feels about his impending departure (instead of everything filtering from Alice to the reader). Also indicative of a playwright, Ms. Harrington employs a lot of dialogue, which was fun to read, and helped to keep up the pacing of the story.
Alice Bliss was published as adult fiction, but it is a book that I would recommend to teens as well. In fact, it was nominated for the 2012 Alex Award, which honors books published for adults that have special appeal for young adults. I even picked the more YA friendly cover for this post, because of that fact.
To read about my book group's discussion with Laura Harrington: http://www.loveisnotatriangle.com/201...
I have a confession to make. My daily life is not all that affected by the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. I don't know anyone personally who is fighting. If something big happens the news reports about it, but I don't think a lot about what is going on in the Middle East. Or what happens to the families that the soldiers leave behind. Alice Bliss is about those families. It's a book that made me start paying attention.
Matt Bliss joined the army reserves years ago because he believes in serving his country, and as an example to his wife Angie and daughters Alice and Ellie. But with the war in Iraq dragging on, men in the reserves are being called to fight. Alice Bliss is 15 and starting her sophomore year of high school when her father gets word that he is being deployed to Iraq. Not only does she have to deal with the concerns of a normal high schooler - first crushes, friends who decide they could do better elsewhere, and a mother who doesn't get her - she is facing the absence of a father she idolizes and tremendous responsibility at home.
Alice Bliss is the story of how the war affects one fifteen year old girl, in one family, in one small town in America. It is about how life keeps going despite the absence of a family member. And how easily childhood innocence is lost.
1) Once her father leaves, Alice wears his shirt constantly, refusing to wash it. Alice's mother doesn't understand this (in fact it annoys her). But it is a tangible connection that Alice has to her father. The shirt makes her feel safe - and like she can protect him.
2) Alice's mother struggles to cope without her husband, and most nights Alice cooks dinner because it won't be done otherwise (they have a lot of mac and cheese).
3) Alice learns to drive, develops her first crush and discovers she loves running after her father leaves. She also struggles to stay interested in school and tries to keep up with her father's projects - like planting the garden and changing the oil.
Everyone knows that Alice's dad is a good person - great even. If anyone can make it back from Iraq, Matt Bliss can. And so they hope. Everyone needs hope. I found myself hoping along with Alice and her family.
But is that true? Does war discriminate based on what kind of person you are? And if you make it back, will you be the same as you were before? I thought a lot about these questions while reading Alice Bliss. I also sobbed through portions of this story (ugly tears, guys). Although the book is set in 2006 during the current war, much of it felt timeless. I could imagine generations of people hoping for the safe return of their loved ones, and realizing that sometimes they don't come back the same way that they left.
Laura Harrington is a playwright and Alice Bliss has a lovely, cinematic quality to it, which speaks to that. It is written in third-person present tense, and though the book focuses mostly on Alice's perspective, the point of view rotates between characters. As a reader I felt as if I was watching the story unfold, getting to know characters as they were introduced and visualizing the scene around me.
The reader gets small details about every single character who is introduced, and I felt like I knew Alice's friends and neighbors in her small town of Belknap, New York (near Rochester). Although it took me a bit of time to get used to the writing style, the way Alice Bliss was written became one of my favorite parts of the novel. I think the story was much more complex because of it. The rotating perspective allowed me to understand for instance, the mindset of Alice's mother and how her father feels about his impending departure (instead of everything filtering from Alice to the reader). Also indicative of a playwright, Ms. Harrington employs a lot of dialogue, which was fun to read, and helped to keep up the pacing of the story.
Alice Bliss was published as adult fiction, but it is a book that I would recommend to teens as well. In fact, it was nominated for the 2012 Alex Award, which honors books published for adults that have special appeal for young adults. I even picked the more YA friendly cover for this post, because of that fact.
December 8, 2011
Oh, Alice Bliss. If only I’d known ahead of time . . . or maybe not. This isn’t a story one can prepare for, and it’s not one from which a person can turn away. ALICE BLISS is a slice of life—a timely American classic from the day the words first hit the page. A story that is not only “now,” but also ageless. One of life and love and letting go, of moving on and healing and reaching for life through those hours that seem the darkest and equally those of blinding sun.
It’s amazing.
Alice Bliss the character is a fifteen year old girl saying goodbye to a father who, as a Reservist, was never “supposed” to go to war. Existing as a pre-teen girl is a shaky habit at best, but nothing in Alice’s adolescent world has anything on the wrenching act of taking away Matt Bliss. This love—this beautiful, agonizing love between father and daughter—is carved into every nuance of the story . . . into every fiber of Alice.
ALICE BLISS the book is the story of a family desperately trying to rearrange the pieces left behind when a parent is deployed. So much remains the same—the sun rises and sets and the seasons change—but under it all is a threadbare, patchwork attempt at normalcy. It’s as if no matter how they fit together the pieces, there’s always that hole . . . full of hope. Full of anguish. It’s the story, truly, of those who are left behind to “serve” from home—the families who love and wait and worry without choice. Without end.
In Matt’s absence, the Bliss family dynamic hits the skids. Mom Angie is falling apart, any façade she manages to pull together for her day job lost between her car and the front door of her home. She withdrawals, leaving Alice to take care of her younger sister Ellie with the help of Gram and Uncle Eddie, himself a character and a half. And there’s Henry, the boy next door who is equally bewildered and awed by his changing relationship with Alice, though it’s doubtful he is more confused than she.
The frequent clashes between Alice and Angie—over Matt’s garden, his shirt, his space—are perhaps most poignant, as it’s easy for the reader to see how desperately they each love Matt, yet in such different ways their own relationship remains tenuous at best. Indeed, it’s because of those diverse threads that the few moments Alice and Angie share in understanding are so beautiful, so great in magnitude. And just exactly as they should be.
This is the kind of story that can deepen the reader’s sense of self, but not with its depth. It truly is a glimpse of the every day—the extraordinary every day—with a talent for bringing things into crisp focus. Laura Harrington’s ALICE BLISS is not one a reader can walk away from unchanged. It’s a unique look—both timely and timeless—of a world in which far too many families live.
ALICE BLISS defies summation. It’s almost certainly unlike anything you’ve ever read, and as such, it’s absolutely unforgettable.
It’s really that simple, but it is, incredibly, so much more.
It’s amazing.
Alice Bliss the character is a fifteen year old girl saying goodbye to a father who, as a Reservist, was never “supposed” to go to war. Existing as a pre-teen girl is a shaky habit at best, but nothing in Alice’s adolescent world has anything on the wrenching act of taking away Matt Bliss. This love—this beautiful, agonizing love between father and daughter—is carved into every nuance of the story . . . into every fiber of Alice.
ALICE BLISS the book is the story of a family desperately trying to rearrange the pieces left behind when a parent is deployed. So much remains the same—the sun rises and sets and the seasons change—but under it all is a threadbare, patchwork attempt at normalcy. It’s as if no matter how they fit together the pieces, there’s always that hole . . . full of hope. Full of anguish. It’s the story, truly, of those who are left behind to “serve” from home—the families who love and wait and worry without choice. Without end.
In Matt’s absence, the Bliss family dynamic hits the skids. Mom Angie is falling apart, any façade she manages to pull together for her day job lost between her car and the front door of her home. She withdrawals, leaving Alice to take care of her younger sister Ellie with the help of Gram and Uncle Eddie, himself a character and a half. And there’s Henry, the boy next door who is equally bewildered and awed by his changing relationship with Alice, though it’s doubtful he is more confused than she.
The frequent clashes between Alice and Angie—over Matt’s garden, his shirt, his space—are perhaps most poignant, as it’s easy for the reader to see how desperately they each love Matt, yet in such different ways their own relationship remains tenuous at best. Indeed, it’s because of those diverse threads that the few moments Alice and Angie share in understanding are so beautiful, so great in magnitude. And just exactly as they should be.
This is the kind of story that can deepen the reader’s sense of self, but not with its depth. It truly is a glimpse of the every day—the extraordinary every day—with a talent for bringing things into crisp focus. Laura Harrington’s ALICE BLISS is not one a reader can walk away from unchanged. It’s a unique look—both timely and timeless—of a world in which far too many families live.
ALICE BLISS defies summation. It’s almost certainly unlike anything you’ve ever read, and as such, it’s absolutely unforgettable.
It’s really that simple, but it is, incredibly, so much more.
December 3, 2019
I went back and forth between a 4 and a 5 for this book, but overall the story won me over and I had to give it a 5. The story is emotion-packed, filled with beautiful, descriptive writing, and includes some of my favorite male characters.
Matt Bliss, Alice's father, is the center of this book without actually being in most of is. In the first section of the book, Matt is deployed to Iraq leaving his wife and two daughters behind. Though we don't know him for every long, it is made quite clear that he is an amazing person. I love when the father figure within a book is a positive presence as I feel that too often in young adult books parents, especially the father, are shown to be the bad guy when we all know, as adults now, that more likely they are just trying to protect their children. In this book, Alice loves her father and he is only shown in the positive light that you hope your daughter would have of you. The other character I loved was Alice's best friend Henry who was such an old soul. He is a great teenage boy character and you love him almost instantly.
Along with this truly realistic father figure and a wonderful friend, Laura Harrington has included a cast of believable characters within a story that is happening across the country as we speak. It will touch anyone who reads it, but will especially be special for those going through a similar situation as Alice's.
My only issue with the book was the point of view. I normally understand why authors make a certain choice for POV and even if I don't understand why, I can usually get used to the style; however, in this book I never found myself flowing along with the transitions within the narration. The POV is 3rd person omniscient and switches the focus of the narrator throughout. I wish that it had been 1st person (even alternating) or 3rd person limited. This is the 2nd book that I've had trouble with the POV choice, but I am glad that this time it didn't affect the impact of the story too much for me. The story still was poignant and emotional and I found that I could ignore my trepidation because I loved the characters and story so much.
Mentor text for: Description, Emotional Impact, Multiple formats (letters, newspapers), Characterization, Vocabulary
Snatch of Text: "A climate of expectation fosters the possibility, even the near certainty of achievement. If I believe in you, and I communicate that to you, you will find things in yourself you never knew were there." (p. 198)
"Mrs. Baker says there can be ineffable joy in pursuing the absurd." (p. 60)
"What's your new favorite word?" Gram asks.
"I have two: Acnestis. Noun. On an animal, the point of the back that lies between the shoulders and the lower back, which cannot be reached or scratched. And pandiculation. Noun. The stretching that accompanies yawning." (p. 213)
Matt Bliss, Alice's father, is the center of this book without actually being in most of is. In the first section of the book, Matt is deployed to Iraq leaving his wife and two daughters behind. Though we don't know him for every long, it is made quite clear that he is an amazing person. I love when the father figure within a book is a positive presence as I feel that too often in young adult books parents, especially the father, are shown to be the bad guy when we all know, as adults now, that more likely they are just trying to protect their children. In this book, Alice loves her father and he is only shown in the positive light that you hope your daughter would have of you. The other character I loved was Alice's best friend Henry who was such an old soul. He is a great teenage boy character and you love him almost instantly.
Along with this truly realistic father figure and a wonderful friend, Laura Harrington has included a cast of believable characters within a story that is happening across the country as we speak. It will touch anyone who reads it, but will especially be special for those going through a similar situation as Alice's.
My only issue with the book was the point of view. I normally understand why authors make a certain choice for POV and even if I don't understand why, I can usually get used to the style; however, in this book I never found myself flowing along with the transitions within the narration. The POV is 3rd person omniscient and switches the focus of the narrator throughout. I wish that it had been 1st person (even alternating) or 3rd person limited. This is the 2nd book that I've had trouble with the POV choice, but I am glad that this time it didn't affect the impact of the story too much for me. The story still was poignant and emotional and I found that I could ignore my trepidation because I loved the characters and story so much.
Mentor text for: Description, Emotional Impact, Multiple formats (letters, newspapers), Characterization, Vocabulary
Snatch of Text: "A climate of expectation fosters the possibility, even the near certainty of achievement. If I believe in you, and I communicate that to you, you will find things in yourself you never knew were there." (p. 198)
"Mrs. Baker says there can be ineffable joy in pursuing the absurd." (p. 60)
"What's your new favorite word?" Gram asks.
"I have two: Acnestis. Noun. On an animal, the point of the back that lies between the shoulders and the lower back, which cannot be reached or scratched. And pandiculation. Noun. The stretching that accompanies yawning." (p. 213)
August 18, 2011
Alice Bliss broke my heart. The story is a simple one: Alice Bliss is the elder of two daughters in a close family. Her beloved father is sent to Iraq when his National Guard unit is called to active duty. What follows is the story of how the family he left behind learns to cope with his absence. Laura Harrington allows the reader to enter into the minds of Alice, her family and some friends. The love is palpable, though individual emotions are not always understood or recognized by those concerned. Having lived through horrific loss, I understand the importance of clinging to hope and clutching at ritual. Alice struggles with her father's absence, trying so hard to hold on to what they did together, or to keeping him alive in her life. Part of me screamed that no one in her school, besides her friend Henry, seemed to know her father was serving in Iraq. That seemed so wrong, especially since it was oh, so likely that the outcome in this case might not be a happy reunion. But Alice Bliss is about positive outcomes, about digging deep and finding reserves in yourself and those you love.
I found the characters in this novel extremely well drawn. I wonder if that is due, in part, to the fact that the author did a stage production of which the book is an offshoot. When you play a character, your psyche absorbs so much. Ms Harrington was able to translate this into the novel. I also marveled at the beautiful letters Alice's father wrote to his wife and daughters. I've recently been going through letters of my family, and wish that some of them had some of the eloquence and elegance of the letters penned by Matt.
The author has started a wonderful campaign to track where Alice Bliss travels around the world. The book I received was one of the inaugural books sent out on the where's Alice Bliss initiative. I took my copy down to the Battery and White Point Gardens, here in Charleston and took pictures. It seemed a good setting, as The Battery was also a focal point in another war that tore at the hearts of families. There were some moments in the last bit of this book that were so evocative, so beautiful, that I had to pause to absorb them. But I don't want to give spoilers, so I shall refrain for now. Though there are tough emotions in the novel, I ultimately feel it is one of hope. And, I feel it realistic, timely, informative, and well-crafted. Happy ending are not always what we imagine. They are what we make with the hand we are dealt.
Pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bookczuk...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bookczuk...
I found the characters in this novel extremely well drawn. I wonder if that is due, in part, to the fact that the author did a stage production of which the book is an offshoot. When you play a character, your psyche absorbs so much. Ms Harrington was able to translate this into the novel. I also marveled at the beautiful letters Alice's father wrote to his wife and daughters. I've recently been going through letters of my family, and wish that some of them had some of the eloquence and elegance of the letters penned by Matt.
The author has started a wonderful campaign to track where Alice Bliss travels around the world. The book I received was one of the inaugural books sent out on the where's Alice Bliss initiative. I took my copy down to the Battery and White Point Gardens, here in Charleston and took pictures. It seemed a good setting, as The Battery was also a focal point in another war that tore at the hearts of families. There were some moments in the last bit of this book that were so evocative, so beautiful, that I had to pause to absorb them. But I don't want to give spoilers, so I shall refrain for now. Though there are tough emotions in the novel, I ultimately feel it is one of hope. And, I feel it realistic, timely, informative, and well-crafted. Happy ending are not always what we imagine. They are what we make with the hand we are dealt.
Pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bookczuk...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bookczuk...
June 4, 2011
I received an ARC giveaway of this book from Goodreads and was so excited just to win something. Now that I have finished the book, I am doubly thrilled that Alice Bliss was so thoughtful, so touching, and so true. Alice Bliss is fifteen years old when her father, a member of the National Guard, is sent to Iraq. Alice is left to deal with coming of age without her father, with whom she is very close. The reader journeys with Alice and her other family members as they deal with sending a loved one off to war and the circumstances that arise in his absence.
According to the bio, the author is a playwright, a fact which shines through in her novel. I mainly enjoyed her style - present tense, dialogue without a lot of added description, and mostly Alice's point of view with an occasional view into another character's head. Sometimes when the author switched points of view, it would shock my system a bit. I would read the paragraph back and see that yes, I am in someone else's head. After much inner debate, I have decided that I ultimately liked this technique, especially where it concerned the relationship between mother and daughter.
In a sense, this book is timeless. There will always be husbands, wives, fathers, going to war. There will always be families left behind. It is certainly current. There are so many soldiers away from home, so many families trying to go on with life when loved ones are so far away and in such danger. For that reason, Alice Bliss is an important book. Read with tissues handy.
According to the bio, the author is a playwright, a fact which shines through in her novel. I mainly enjoyed her style - present tense, dialogue without a lot of added description, and mostly Alice's point of view with an occasional view into another character's head. Sometimes when the author switched points of view, it would shock my system a bit. I would read the paragraph back and see that yes, I am in someone else's head. After much inner debate, I have decided that I ultimately liked this technique, especially where it concerned the relationship between mother and daughter.
In a sense, this book is timeless. There will always be husbands, wives, fathers, going to war. There will always be families left behind. It is certainly current. There are so many soldiers away from home, so many families trying to go on with life when loved ones are so far away and in such danger. For that reason, Alice Bliss is an important book. Read with tissues handy.
July 8, 2012
What an emotional read! This book covers a lot of territory--a teenaged girl coming to terms with a horrible loss, falling in love with her best friend, trying to keep a relationship with her mother and figuring out how to live her life in the light of her loss. Alice has the best relationship a girl could have with her father. He teaches her everything from how to roof a house to how to plant a garden. When his National Guard unit ships out to Iraq, Alice and her mother and sister do NOT want him to go. Before he leaves, he pulls Alice aside to tell her where all the "important" papers are in case she should ever need them. At first I felt that the father put too much responsibility on Alice, but as the story went on I realized that she was such a pragmatist she needed to know these things. We watch as the family tries to keep going after Matt has deployed. It's not easy. Alice and her mother don't have a particularly close relationship and Alice steps in to take care of her younger sister, Ellie. Alice begins to have trouble at school; she doesn't care anymore about grades and homework. Her relationship with her best friend, Henry, also begins to change after Matt deploys. By the end of the novel we see Alice begin to find her way in a world that will forever be changed for her. A great story of a teenager who is forced to grow up way too fast. A fact that many teenagers in our country are having to come to grips with as their parents are deployed again and again to the Middle East. This book came to me courtesy of a Goodreads giveaway.
February 27, 2016
Damn, what an emotional read.
I’m not usually someone who allows my emotions to get the better of me in books, but this one… this one hit a nerve. Or it hit two nerves… or, more accurately, more than I’ll admit to.
That being said, such is why it received a three star review rather than a two. The fact that I finally found a book that managed to hit all the right places emotionally instantly pushed it up a star. But the actual book itself… it let me down.
I’ll admit that this is not my usual kind of read. So I guess my view is somewhat biased. However, even when I compare to the other books I have read in this genre – which whilst there are not that many I believe there are enough for me to make a general judgement – this one does fall just below the midline. Don’t get me wrong, I have read much worse, but this one… it wasn’t the best.
For me this is a book which exists solely to pull at heartstrings. The way we’re given details truly rips you apart. It’s the little things that get at you – and that is what makes is so great. But when it comes to the story itself I just couldn’t bring myself to truly enjoy it. I was following the story and yet I didn’t feel as though I was doing more than following the categorising of events. If there’d been more to it (I’m not saying there was no story, we did follow the heartbreak of the family, but it felt to me as though we could have had more than just the meltdown and occasional smiles) I’m sure I would have enjoyed it more.
Don’t get me wrong it wasn’t a truly horrible book; I just failed to love it.
I’m not usually someone who allows my emotions to get the better of me in books, but this one… this one hit a nerve. Or it hit two nerves… or, more accurately, more than I’ll admit to.
That being said, such is why it received a three star review rather than a two. The fact that I finally found a book that managed to hit all the right places emotionally instantly pushed it up a star. But the actual book itself… it let me down.
I’ll admit that this is not my usual kind of read. So I guess my view is somewhat biased. However, even when I compare to the other books I have read in this genre – which whilst there are not that many I believe there are enough for me to make a general judgement – this one does fall just below the midline. Don’t get me wrong, I have read much worse, but this one… it wasn’t the best.
For me this is a book which exists solely to pull at heartstrings. The way we’re given details truly rips you apart. It’s the little things that get at you – and that is what makes is so great. But when it comes to the story itself I just couldn’t bring myself to truly enjoy it. I was following the story and yet I didn’t feel as though I was doing more than following the categorising of events. If there’d been more to it (I’m not saying there was no story, we did follow the heartbreak of the family, but it felt to me as though we could have had more than just the meltdown and occasional smiles) I’m sure I would have enjoyed it more.
Don’t get me wrong it wasn’t a truly horrible book; I just failed to love it.
April 13, 2020
I bought an autographed copy of this book in Raleigh as the author had visited Quail Ridge book store. It is the story of a family learning how to live again after their dad/husband was deployed to Iraq. Every possible emotion and situation is mined for emotional impact. I wasn't affected in any big way because I felt that our emotions were being commanded rather than coaxed.
I enjoyed the relationship between Matt, the dad, and his fifteen year old daughter, Alice. I thought their interactions were touching without being sappy. The character that didn't work for me was Ellie. Ok, she was a precocious eight year old but she was way over the top. Kids that age just don't go around spouting words like fernticle, jillick, neologist and bibliobibuli. None of her relationships with other characters rang true to me.
I also felt that many of the descriptions were contrived and got in the way of the story. Here's one example: "Ellie releases her seat belt and climb's (yes, the apostrophe was there!) into Alice's lap. She snuggles under Alice's chin as Alice's arms go around her. She insinuates her little hands right around Alice's neck as she shifts her head to Alice's shoulder." Yikes! Insinuates.....
I also felt that the flashbacks that told of Matt's and Angie's courtship were not smoothly integrated.
This was the first novel by an author I will not seek out in the future. Interesting that she is an award winning playwright, lyricist, and librettist.
I enjoyed the relationship between Matt, the dad, and his fifteen year old daughter, Alice. I thought their interactions were touching without being sappy. The character that didn't work for me was Ellie. Ok, she was a precocious eight year old but she was way over the top. Kids that age just don't go around spouting words like fernticle, jillick, neologist and bibliobibuli. None of her relationships with other characters rang true to me.
I also felt that many of the descriptions were contrived and got in the way of the story. Here's one example: "Ellie releases her seat belt and climb's (yes, the apostrophe was there!) into Alice's lap. She snuggles under Alice's chin as Alice's arms go around her. She insinuates her little hands right around Alice's neck as she shifts her head to Alice's shoulder." Yikes! Insinuates.....
I also felt that the flashbacks that told of Matt's and Angie's courtship were not smoothly integrated.
This was the first novel by an author I will not seek out in the future. Interesting that she is an award winning playwright, lyricist, and librettist.
October 15, 2011
Alice Bliss is about what happens to Alice Bliss and her family (her father, mother, and younger sister) when her father, a member of the Reserves, is called up and sent to serve in Iraq. Alice is in high school. Her sister is much younger; second grade maybe. I thought all of the characters were well-drawn, particularly some of the more minor characters. They all rang true to me, which is to say that sometimes, they were annoying, and then a few pages later, I found myself feeling tender toward them and forgiving them all that they'd done to make me sigh a few pages before. This novel was, apparently, first a play. It shows in the narrative style, which is (and not in a bad way) sort of Our Town stage manager-y. Alice Bliss is a lovely look at father-daughter relationships, mother-daughter relationships, being a parent, being a kid, coming of age, and the ties that bind and sustain.
June 3, 2011
I won this in Goodreads First Read giveaway. It's storyline reminds me of the book Blue, only in more modern times.
*UPDATE* 6/2/11:
I think I would probably give this a 3.5. When I first started it, I didn't think it would touch me as much as at did. It is a compelling story of a 15 year old and her family struggling with their father's deployment to Iraq. While I wished there had been some deeper character development and the father was immortalized a little too much as a "perfect" man, I found myself bawling as I finished the last few chapters. There were a few "f" words, maybe 3, which always lowers the rating a bit for me since I consider them unneccessary and distracting in books. Overall, it was a nice, touching story that I enjoyed reading.
*UPDATE* 6/2/11:
I think I would probably give this a 3.5. When I first started it, I didn't think it would touch me as much as at did. It is a compelling story of a 15 year old and her family struggling with their father's deployment to Iraq. While I wished there had been some deeper character development and the father was immortalized a little too much as a "perfect" man, I found myself bawling as I finished the last few chapters. There were a few "f" words, maybe 3, which always lowers the rating a bit for me since I consider them unneccessary and distracting in books. Overall, it was a nice, touching story that I enjoyed reading.
June 22, 2011
I have never cried so much while reading a book as I did while reading Alice Bliss.
I empathized with how Angie and the girls were feeling leading up to and during the deployment. thankfully I never had to deal with the anguish and heartache of a MIA soldier.
And then again when they were at the wake and the funeral, I felt just as I had when my Dad passed away in 2005. I cried the hardest when Alice was in the car on the way to the beach at the end.
God, this was a great read. When I learned that Matt had indeed been killed, I felt as if I had lost a member of my family and not just a character in a book.
Although I wouldn't recommend this to anyone affiliated with a soldier, I will recommend it to my "civilian" friends.
I empathized with how Angie and the girls were feeling leading up to and during the deployment. thankfully I never had to deal with the anguish and heartache of a MIA soldier.
And then again when they were at the wake and the funeral, I felt just as I had when my Dad passed away in 2005. I cried the hardest when Alice was in the car on the way to the beach at the end.
God, this was a great read. When I learned that Matt had indeed been killed, I felt as if I had lost a member of my family and not just a character in a book.
Although I wouldn't recommend this to anyone affiliated with a soldier, I will recommend it to my "civilian" friends.
July 23, 2011
This book was the emotional rollercoaster that it promised to be; be prepared with Kleenex. The story is about a young girl (she is 15) and her family who are dealing with the dad's deployment to the Middle East as part of the National Guard. The book mainly explores the relationship between the father and daughter, but it also explores other relationships too: sister/sister, mother/daughter, friend/friend (or more than a friend?), grandmother/granddaughter, and uncle/niece. The book is able to do this because it uses the all-knowing third-person narrator instead of telling the story strictly from the girl's point of view. One thing I was left wondering given the emotional heft of the story: why are the main characters named "Bliss"? Sounds like a book club query.
July 2, 2012
Lately, I seem to be choosing powerful, heartwarming and extremely emotional books – with this being about the 3rd in the last few months that I’ve needed the box of tissues handy. ‘Alice Bliss’ draws you into the story where you care deeply about all the characters who are affected by her father’s call up to the war in Iraq. The family’s life is put on hold as we watch with admiration the 15 year old Alice deal with day to day life, and feel the tight bond she has with her Dad which is to be admired, and woven through the book we see how the rest of her family and community deal with the war and the consequences of it. Be prepared to laugh and cry and be unable to do anything but read while you finish the book.
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