Finding Alice
The award-winning Carlson has penned more than 90 books for the CBA market, and her experience is in full evidence here. Using the allegorical characters and imagery of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Carlson unfolds the tale of Alice Laxton, a smart, talented senior at Oregon's Portland State whose life is about to be irrevocably changed by the onset of full-blown schizophrenia. As Alice moves deeper into paranoid delusions, her alarmed mother attempts to have her "demons" cast out by the pastor at Salvation Center, the family's fundamentalist church, then takes her to a mental hospital. After rebelling against treatment, Alice escapes to the streets. She soon acquires a sickly cat, predictably named Cheshire. The "Cat Lady" Faye offers healing for the kitty, a temporary home for Alice and the keys to finding wholeness again-and possibly romance with her nephew, Simon. As Alice gropes toward mental healing, she also finds spiritual healing from her distorted view that schizophrenia is a punishment for her sins. The excellent choice of first-person narrative draws the reader into close identification with Alice, and her bizarre illusions and paranoia feel poignant and believable. The pacing slows a bit toward the end, and some of the scenes where Alice temporarily hooks up with a group of hippies are reminiscent of Carlson's novel Looking for Cassandra Jane. But kudos to Carlson for tackling this disturbing topic in ways that should broaden an understanding of schizophrenia and have crossover appeal to both the CBA and general market.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.