Alice And The Fly

Alice And The Fly
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of Bookbridgr

This is a book about phobias and obsessions, isolation and dark corners. It's about families, friendships, and carefully preserved secrets. But above everything else it's about love. Finding love - in any of its forms - and nurturing it.

Miss Hayes has a new theory. She thinks my condition's caused by some traumatic incident from my past I keep deep-rooted in my mind. As soon as I come clean I'll flood out all these tears and it'll all be ok and I won't be scared of Them anymore. The truth is I can't think of any single traumatic childhood incident to tell her. I mean, there are plenty of bad memories - Herb's death, or the time I bit the hole in my tongue, or Finners Island, out on the boat with Sarah - but none of these are what caused the phobia. I've always had it. It's Them. I'm just scared of Them. It's that simple.

Okay so this is GoodReads synopsis, I'm not doing my own because I WILL accidentally spoil it, and I don't want to give anything away! I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but I was so entranced by it, I couldn't put it down, it really is an incredible debut.  This book was so haunting, I finished the book and just sat there for a while, thinking,  I was still in the world, still feeling the atmosphere of the book, slightly creepy atmosphere at that, and it was beautifully written. 

I loved how you really got in to Greg's head, how you came to understand him and I personally, connected with him and really sympathised with him. You're pretty much reading Greg's diary, and it's so sad to see how isolated he is, and how cruel kids at school can be, and not to mention his parents ignoring him all the time. The interesting thing was, that while Greg was so different, and so disliked by his peers, and seen as strange by other people, he saw a lot more than other people did about his peers, and you get a great look at other people from his point of view. Being inside his head leaves you feeling a bit unsettled, as his view of the world is so strange compared to ours. 

Greg was very well created by the author, and very well portrayed, and he came alive off the page. Not to mention the other characters that the author has created, they're all kept at quite a distance by the character, seeing as the ignore him mostly, but every character is so realistic, and natural, well as natural as you can be when you pretty much ignore your kids existence and the bullies being...well...bullies, you know? 

I don't want to say too much because I don't want to give anything away which is why this review is shorter than usual, but the plot was fantastic. There where little twists and intrigues that you couldn't work out or see what was coming, and I ended up being surprised multiple times. I LOVED the extracts from the interviews, they added so much intriguing, without giving away the ending of the story, and giving you tidbits of information about the past, and it gives you the opportunity to see Greg through the eyes of other characters, which is quite a sad/heartbreaking thing. Especially his dad. Not buying his "showing her the house excuse either". It's so hard to put this book down because you want to keep reading, to find out what this event is and so on. 

I thought the entire book was very well written, the world was very natural and realistic and believable, and it felt like Greg was a real person, and I was reading a real account of events that happened, and I even felt a bit guilty for reading his diary! This book was quite emotional for me, and the plot is woven with lots of different elements and themes, and it was all fantastically blended together to create a truly incredible read.

The ending left me feeling a bit bereft, and sad, and teary, because I didn't want to leave Greg, I wanted to see what would happen next for him, I wanted to see his father and sister have more of a relationship with him which they where clearly starting to do, and I wanted to see him, I don't know, become less alone? I felt so many emotions reading this and finishing this and I think this is a book that's going to stay with me, and I'll keep coming back to. I really think it's a book you all should read, it's utterly fantastic.