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Ask Alice (2009)

by D.J. Taylor(Favorite Author)

2.75 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0701183578 (ISBN13: 9780701183578)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Chatto & Windus

review 1: This was a very frustrating book...we never learn why Alice is being sent to live with a different set of relatives, we have no insight as to why she leaves the train with a man she has just met, or why she does many of the things she does. I kept thinking she met the definition of sociopath. We are presented no framework or justification of her amoral behavior and only the briefest glimpse into her thought processes. The portions of the book narrated by Ralph weren't much better...they seemed largely like a rumination on social change in England between the two world wars and the superficiality of the upper class. I spent the entire book puzzled by these people, not liking any of them. I'm not even sure why I kept reading.
review 2: This novel follows Alice, a... more beautiful young American woman, who tries to outrun a serious mistake by fleeing to England, where she becomes a famous actress. By the 1920s she is a wealthy widow and sought-after society hostess. Halfway through the book I began having odd moments of deja-vu: haven't I read about this scandalous party before? Didn't someone jump into a fountain in a fancy-dress costume just like this in some other book? Turns out that last year I read the non-fiction "Bright Young People: The Rise and Fall of a Generation" by the same author, and which covered some of the same ground. Nice recycling, but it didn't endear me to either book. less

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