From My Young Adult Book Shelves

ALICE, I THINK by Susan Juby

I loved this book!

And I think I have found a new favorite author.  I bought this book at a library sale, and I'm so glad I did.  I found it a delightful read, a true hard-to-put-down book.  I knew it was going to be a delightful book when I read the first paragraph.  Any book that begins, "I blame it all on THE HOBBIT.  That, and my supportive home life." can only be wonderful!

Alice is a home-schooled, intelligent girl with slightly wacky parents, but an adorable, normal younger brother, and a therapist she calls Death Lord Bob.  Alice's parents had raised her to be creative and freely expressive, and the first week into her first grade school experience proved that this is not necessarily a good thing when dealing with your peers in a school setting.  So they took her out of school and taught her at home.  Now, at 15, she is going to go back to regular high school and is wondering how things will work out this time around.  The story is told with a lot of satire and wry humor.

Simply Audiobooks summed up their review of the book this way: "Alice, I Think is the story of a teenager attempting to survive her parents, her hometown, and her reentry into society. Told through keenly observant, satirical journal entries, Susan Juby's first novel is wise, witty, and utterly original."

Juby is very witty, and I cannot count the times I read a sentence and then had to re-read it just so I could experience again the pure joy of her turn of phrase. The description of Juby herself, on the back flyleaf, says it all:

Susan Juby dropped out of fashion design college at a young age and it shows. She lives on an island with her husband, James, and their dog, who prefers to remain anonymous. Alice, I Think is Susan Juby's first novel. She hopes there will be many more, as a career in fashion does not, at this point, seem likely.

I look forward to finding and reading more of her books and perusing her web site.

My copy of ALICE, I THINK is a very good ex-library copy with dust jacket and was published in 2003 by Harper Tempest.

Tags: Susan Juby, Alice I Think