Alice and the Fly - James Rice
Social inclinations and violent implications The altered perspective novel from the view of a disaffected teenager, often with a mental disability, is practically a genre in itself by now. Alice and the Fly is one of those books - written journal-style from the perspective of a kid who is a bit 'special', who thinks and sees the world differently. Seen in that light, James Rice's Alice and the Fly doesn't have anything particularly new to add to the genre, but the novel is never less than deeply involving, the writing often impressive, with a good eye for character and dialogue. Greg comes from a line that includes J.D. Salinger's Holden Caulfield and Matthew Quick's Leonard Peacock. He doesn't fit in well at school, is withdrawn and has a pronounced lisp. He's bullied by his classmates at school and ignored at home by a family that is rather wrapped up in their own petty middle-class social concerns and ambitions. A loner with a fondness for classic r...