Alice and the Fly

By: James Rice

Narrated by: Scott Williams

Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's Summary

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.

©2015 James Rice (P)2015 Hodder & Stoughton

Critic Reviews

"One of the most stunning debuts I've read in a long time. The talent behind it is huge.' (Helen Walsh, author of The Lemon Grove)
"Alice and the Fly is a darkly quirky story of love, obsession and fear. A disconcerting but beautiful story hung around the enchanting and heartbreaking voice of teenager Greg." (Anna James, The Bookseller)

Unique book from a teenager's voice & perspective

First of all, the performance was great especially in places where we needed to hear the actual voice, a good job by Scott Williams who I have not listened to before. However, the story was a mixture of mental illness narrative with a teenager's life. Neither were developed as fully as they could have been leaving the listener/reader filling-in some gaps. I felt like descriptions of other characters were more detailed and developed. Worth a listen though and does provide some insight into mental illness and how it affects a person.

Gloomy story of an unhappy life

I can't really say I enjoyed this book. I felt empathy for the main character and the story of his unhappy life is vividly described. What let this down for me was the fact that the ending is trumpeted rather too early in the proceedings and this was basically a long plod to the inevitable. The narration is also quite flat and this added to the overall depressing atmosphere. I am giving this three stars because I recognise the quality of the writing and I would be happy to try out another book by this author.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

I didn't expect this much emotion...

I absolutely loved this book! James Rice has crafted an exceptionally honest, intense and emotional story of the life of a young man who's haunted by 'them'. Only, who are they?
The narration is nothing short of perfect - Scott Williams must have spent a long time acquainting himself with the character and his way of thinking and dealing with emotions.
I only just finished listening to this book and it left me shaking and thinking.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Absolutely loved it

Excellent Story,
Well Wrote,
Fantastic Twists,
Very Well Narrated,
I Really Really Enjoyed This Audiobook It Kept Me Hooked And All The Time Wanting More...
Lexie...

1 of 2 people found this review helpful