Only a work of such searing, meticulously controlled brilliance could provoke such a wide range of visceral responses. Here is the incredible story of an imprisoned pedophile who is drawn into an erotically charged correspondence with a nineteen-year-old suburban coed. As the two reveal -- and revel in -- their obsessive desires, Homes creates in The End of Alice a novel that is part romance, part horror story, at once unnerving and seductive.
The End Of Alice
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From Amazon
The narrator is Chappy, a pedophile who's been locked up in Sing Sing for 23 years for the rape and decapitation of 12-year-old Alice. The tale alternates between Chappy's own story (both outside and inside of prison), and letters he receives from a 19-year-old girl who knows of Alice's fate and wants to start playing with 12-year-old boys. The girl's letters disturb Chappy, bringing his memories vividly to the fore. In prose that is both lyrical and horrifyingly direct, A.M. "Amy" Homes takes us into the minds of the correspondents. Chappy is bright, analytical, and reminiscent of Nabokov in the way he talks about his "Lolita." But the sex is graphic and often bizarre, and the author's tone is chilly, so it's not a book to be picked up lightly. As Daphne Merkin writes in the New York Times, it's a "splashy, not particularly likable book whose best moments are quietly observed and whose underlying themes are more serious than prurient."
From Library Journal
In this deeply disturbing novel, Homes (In a Country of Mothers, LJ 8/93) seems to be attempting to create as repulsive a protagonist as possible-a nameless pedophile serving his 23rd year at Sing Sing. Alongside his narrative is the tale of a 19-year-old college coed obsessed by a preteen boy. A large part of the novel centers on the half-real, half-imagined ties that develop between the convict and the college student as a result of her increasingly graphic letters to him. The rest is a reminiscence of his affair with a 12-year-old seductress named Alice that ends in her gruesome murder. Deliberately shocking and confrontational, Homes's purpose seems to be to force the reader into a kind of Dostoevskian identification with the blackest and most perverse elements of human nature. An optional purchase for larger libraries.
Lawrence Rungren, Bedford Free P.L., Mass.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Lawrence Rungren, Bedford Free P.L., Mass.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I would have to disagree with most of the other reviewers, who seem to be divided about equally into the "it's shocking, so it must be good" and the "it's shocking, so it must be bad" camps. Instead I would suggest a third "it's kinda but not really shocking, and even if it sometimes is, so what?" camp.
Even on the level of pure prose, an aspect of the book most readers seem to agree is terrific, isn't really. Instead Homes presents an overblown and overwritten first-person narrative (by the killer) written in a silly and juvenile style I wouldn't have thought possible for any serious writer over the age of 20. Homes fails on every level in making the killer credible or believable as a character, especially a male character, yet still focuses on the killer's backstory instead of the much more interesting but disappointingly underdeveloped story of the girl he corresponds with (filtered through his psyche and mostly or entirely imagined by him). The post-modern narrative tricks are distracting and not very illuminating, more clever than smart, and even the ratio of genuine shocks to limp shock-for-its-own-sake ones, which can be credited only to Homes' constant grandstanding, is extremely unfavorable to say the least. The only reason this one gets three stars is because the girl's story really had some merit and (squandered) potential.
By A. Mabley
Format:Paperback
I really enjoyed this book. It is the first book I've read of AM Homes. I am not even sure what else she has written. The writing is brilliant and holds the reader throughout the entire novel. The way she flip flops between Chappy and the girl he corresponds with whilst sitting in jail is a brilliant concept. A few things will be said about Chappy and what's going on in jail or his story about Alice, and right when it comes to an area you would like to more about it would switch to a kind of sub chapter about the life of the girl he is corresponding with, and vice-versa. I hope that makes sense, in other words it's like watching a good television series that continually ends every episode with a cliff hanger. It makes the reader never want to put the book down, at least that's the effect it had on me. I would give it 5 stars and the only reason I didn't is because I think it ended a little too soon with little detail about what happened...I thought it would be a bit more drawn out in the end. You have to read to know what I am talking about. Great book though, and I highly recommend it!!
By Brandy
Format:Paperback
The End of Alice went above and beyond what I expected when I read the summary. It is very descriptive and not for the faint of heart or those unwilling to accept that criminals are, in fact, people too. Homes does an excellent job of letting the reader into the mind of a convicted child molester and murderer. I applaud her for her research on this novel as I would imagine it takes quite the talent to complete a book like this one. This book is definately for only the very open-minded reader. It is vulgar and often times disgusting in its description, but if you enjoy exploring new and very off the wall avenues when you choose your reading material I definately recommend this book.
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3.7 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant Book
Skip the reviews that say things like, 'great if you have an open mind.' All you need is a love for literature, a good story, and brilliant writing. Read more
Published on Aug 16 2007 by Reader and Writer
1.0 out of 5 stars
Repulsive, Textual Vomit
If Hannibal Lechter were to pen a cheap Harlequin romance novel, this is would be the outcome. The author's overuse of ridculous adjectives and graphic sexual deviance does... Read more
Published on Jun 14 2004
5.0 out of 5 stars
Intense Drama
The End of Alice is not for everyone; especially those off-put by racy subject matter. Homes has a natural ease with which she writes about the most perverse (and at the same time... Read more
Published on May 30 2004 by Allison
2.0 out of 5 stars
Product of a Childish Mind
It's a childish book. As I made my way through all the vomit, semen, bowel movements, scabs, etc., I was reminded of how scandalized children are by bodily secretions, and yet how... Read more
Published on Mar 19 2004
1.0 out of 5 stars
nothing new or spectacular
a note of warning, when hearing the words "shocking", "spectacular", "erotic" and the likes from the literati, immediately flee to the next book. Read more
Published on Jan 30 2004 by Literary Drunkass
1.0 out of 5 stars
Worst Book I Have Ever Read In My Life
This is the most revolting, disjointed, lean story there is. It seems to me that the author relies heavily on shock and leaves the story bare and lean. Read more
Published on Jan 18 2004
5.0 out of 5 stars
You'll love it, or you'll loath it -- no middle ground . . .
It's hard to know how to write a review of such a strange and disturbing book. I can start with the "abouts. Read more
Published on July 18 2003 by Michael K. Smith
3.0 out of 5 stars
You have to wonder...3 1/2 stars
...The premise of this book is weird--a 19 yr old girl with a crush on a 12-yr-old boy writes to a man who raped and killed little girls. Read more
Published on April 9 2003
3.0 out of 5 stars
Quite disturbing
This book is a very disturbing story but is well written. I have read and will be reading other books by this author as her style is unique. Not a book for the faint of heart.
Published on Dec 18 2002 by AnjeleJ
2.0 out of 5 stars
Give me a bucket
...
Let me say that you will only enjoy this novel if the idea of pedophilia--and the advancement of pedophilia--arouses you in any way. Read more
Published on Sep 19 2002 by Phil Kailer
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