Alice, I Think
Reviews
"Alice, I Think" is about that all-important good haircut, the one that has the potential to change your life. It is also about becoming who you want to be, on your own terms.
Mizz
"...A totally fab book. 5 stars."
Vancouver Sun
"Imagine a younger, non-smoking, non-drinking, non-dieting Bridget Jones in a remote British Columbia locale. Imagine Adrian Mole with a father who writes (but never publishes) romance novels and a younger brother who breeds rare and unusual fish. Imagine Holden Caulfield in a 1950s housedress, nurse shoes and full 1980s makeup, adjusting to life at an alternative high school after 10 years of home-schooling.
Imagine Alice. You're going to love her."
Dallas News
"Some books are funny, others wickedly fun. Alice, I Think , an unusual first novel by Susan Juby, falls in the latter group. Ms. Juby's droll take on normal childhood and adolescent angst in an awkward world inspires laughter and sympathy."
New York Post
Most humor books about teenage girls settle for jokes about bras and thongs, but this one stalks bigger game. Alice is a maladjusted 15-year-old whose problems have a lot to do with being home-schooled by overprotective, hippie-like parents.
In a hilarious, Holden Caulfield voice, Alice skewers just about every New Age, post-modern, p.c. and psychotherapeutic fad.
The book is rich with characters and outright weirdos, from the black-clad, goatéed, whispering counselor she nicknames Death Lord Bob to her conspiracy-obsessed sometimes boyfriend, Aubrey.
Alice tries on different identities and careers, settling on alternative music critic, until discovering — to her horror — that she sort of likes Britney Spears.
Wry, honest, and somehow simultaneously cynical and innocent, Alice is an original.
Vancouver Sun, Top Pick for 2003
"This may be a book for young adults - or, as Juby herself claims, immature adults - but it's full of empathy and humour, both rare commodities in contemporary fiction."
Susan Faust, San Francisco Chronicle
"Juby turns out smart and sassy one-liners and a full catalog of pop-culture references ... as snappy as a sitcom and could turn out to be as popular."
Publisher's Weekly Starred Review
"Revised from a 2000 work published in the author's native Canada, this very funny first novel makes use of the same pseudo-diary format as Louise Rennison's books, but where Rennison's heroine is Everygirl, Juby's is a misfit extraordinaire. Juby's ... dark wit virtually glitters on every page."
Kirkus Starred Reviews
"Comedy rules in Juby's satirical, laugh-out-loud debut about a wacky home-schooled teenager who decides to try public high school... the biggest complaint readers will likely have is the pain in their stomachs from laughing. Hilarious."
Cam's Bookshelf
"Alice has a unique, witty and extremely funny way of looking at everything and anything. Her home town of Smithers BC. Her weirdo parents. The amusing characters inhabiting her life - at school, at her therapy centre, at the new age bookstore. You will laugh loudly and might embarass yourself if you read it in public."
"The best of YA fiction captures the pleasurable and disorienting chaos of childhood. It seems to be written because the author had a story she couldn't help but tell.
Lisa Moore, Globe and Mail
Take for instance the wonderfully arch Alice, I Think, by Susan Juby. This book runs on high-octane humour. ...There is nothing censored or condescending. This is the goods: what it's like to be a young adult."
Margaret Poole, The Chronicle Herald
"...What makes the telling of it so poignant and funny is Alice MacLeod's realization and acceptance of her own amazing "weirdness", delivered in a perfectly believable voice by first-time Canadian YA novelist Susan Juby....her honesty towards herself and her audience of readers stands out through her engaging narrative. It's often very funny but also always thoughtful...Her highly original self-expression is at once entertaining, endearing and eye-opening..."
YA Books Central
"... the entire book will have you laughing hard enough to make your parents wonder what is going on."
Books in Canada
"... this novel is a dead-on, laugh-out-loud female coming of age story... how did this miss out on the Leacock Award."
Canadian Literature
"... a great, funny romp of a book... completely unlike any other novel in this genre... a really strong debut from an obviously talented writer."
Brynna, BookDivas
"The first line had me laughing. I laughed throughout the entire book, each new day for Alice brought new hilarity. From her mothers wacky hippie friends to her 10 year old genius brother who breeds fish. I swear on my life this book was so awesome. It takes place in some town in northern B.C where I have never been, but that just adds to the comedy of the book. I really suggest you read it because I was amazed at how great it was."
Quill and Quire
"You've got to like a kid who continues in therapy just so her mental-health professional won't be traumatized. And 15-year-old Alice, notwithstanding the opinions of her classmates, parents and neighbors in Smithers, B.C., is terrific."