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The End of Alice

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The End of Alice

By: A. M. Homes
Narrated by: Jeff Harding
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About this listen

The End of Alice treads the thin line between the evil and the everyday and caused a major controversy when it was first published.

The story centres on a disturbing correspondence between the narrator, a middle-aged killer serving his twenty-third year in prison; and his slang-speaking, sweet-seeming admirer, a nineteen-year-old girl intent on seducing a young neighbourhood boy.

Slowly, through these letters, the narrator's dangerous character emerges.

©1996 A. M. Homes (P)2015 W F Howes Ltd Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Scary

Critic reviews

"This is everything fiction should be - wrenching, disturbing and emotive." ( Independent)
"A. M. Homes never plays it safe and it begins to look as if she can do almost anything." (Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours)
"Undeniably shocking.... Superbly achieved by a writer who is a true artist in words." ( Vogue)
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The story is disturbing in its detail and it makes you wonder why the author would want to describe paedophilia in graphic detail.

Not a bad book but rather disturbing

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If you enjoy, eh… if you found reading de Sade a pleasure, no… The book is disturbing, nasty, ugly, painful and sickening. Would recommend to individuals who have read de Sade and recommended him to their friends. You know who you are…

Reminiscent of Marquis de Sade

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This is the first book in a long while that I have both struggled to read AND struggled to put down. Jeff Harding, as always, lends the subtlety and nuance to a story that lays bare a man(?) guilty of the most despicable crime of them all.

A transgressive, disturbing novel laced with pitch black humour.

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This is an incredibly graphic and disturbing book.

Written from the POV of a paedophile imprisoned, it describes the historical events that led to his capture and the depraved acts he did 23 years previously, as well as detailing the oddly grooming-esque relationship he has developed with a young woman via mail who is he helping seduce a young boy.

Although despondent about past activities, there is certainly no guilt or even shame at what he has done, which is what makes this book all the more sinister. Similarly, there is no guilt or shame from his female pen-pal who seduces a 12 year old boy. Both lots of stories are narrated by him, and both lack such utter conviction that they both do not see anything wrong with their behaviour.
It's this lack of emotional depth which makes this book as vivid and menacing as it is.

It's certainly not comfortable reading, and I would be loath to recommend it to anyone due to how graphic and appalling a lot of it is. However, that is not to say that this is a badly written book, because it certainly isn't. Any author who can illicit such strong reactions with a work of ficion has surely achieved something outstanding.

Jeff Harding does a great job narrating this book. It really couldn't have been easy, given the content.

Proceed to read this book with caution.

Proceed with caution

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It's quite disgusting in some parts. However, the language, and especially the alliteration, is on point. I couldn't wait for it to finish.

weird

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