Finding Alice

Finding Alice

Author: Melody Carlson

Publisher: WaterBrook Press (2003)

ISBN: 1578567734

pages: 384

genre: Christian fiction

4 (out of 5) STARS

Annotation: For years, Alice's "little idiosyncrasies" were excused for her high intelligence, but during her senior year at college it becomes apparent that she is suffering from schizophrenia and must now cope with new demons and "treatments.".

Summary: Sliding into the Rabbit Hole, Would She Ever Return?

On the surface, Alice Laxton seems no different from any other college girl: bright, inquisitive, excited about the life ahead of her. But for years, a genetic time bomb has been ticking away. Because of Alice's near-genius intelligence, teachers and counselors have always made excuses for her little idiosyncrasies. But during a stress-filled senior year at college, a new world of voices, visions, and unexplainable knowledge causes Alice to begin to lose her grip on reality.

As Alice's schizophrenia progresses, she experiences a disturbing religious awakening, believing that God and angels and demons are speaking to her. When others attempt to intervene, Alice is subjected to a wide range of treatments even more frightening and painful than her illness.

Powerfully raw and brutally honest, Finding Alice is a story of individual suffering and hope, a family's shared ordeal, and a search for true mental and spiritual healing. (www.goodreads.com)

Evaluation: Finding Alice was a great heart-wrenching book. It is from the genre of Christian fiction which is not a genre I particularly enjoy, but this good was a wonderful exception. I like Christian fiction where the Christian part of it explores all the different types of problems and rigidity that religion can present.

Read-a-likes:

The Rapture of Canaan by Sheri Reynolds

Pearl by Mary Gordon

Cage of Stars by Jacquelyn Mitchard

The Grass is Singing by Doris May Lessing