Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Alice and the Fly
    Unavailable
    Alice and the Fly
    Unavailable
    Alice and the Fly
    Audiobook6 hours

    Alice and the Fly

    Written by James Rice

    Narrated by Scott Williams

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHachette Audio
    Release dateJul 5, 2016
    ISBN9781681441412
    Unavailable
    Alice and the Fly
    Author

    James Rice

    Author/illustrator James Rice (1934-2004) produced sixty books, including the illustrations for Pelican's treasured The Night Before Christmas Series. Rice's first book, the well-loved classic Cajun Night Before Christmas®, has more than 750,000 copies in print. Young readers can enjoy more of Gaston®'s adventures in Gaston® Goes to Mardi Gras and sample Rice's other children's stories with favorites such as Texas Jack at the Alamo. With more than 1.5 million copies of his books in print, Rice ranks among the nation's best-selling creators of children's books, receiving awards from Printer Industries of America and the Children's Book Council, among others. Years after his death, Rice's family found the art and text Gaston® Joins the Circus, and this discovery has brought Gaston® back for one more adventure!

    Related to Alice and the Fly

    Related audiobooks

    YA Social Themes For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      You’ve Heard This Before, The Only Way Out Is Through.

      Jul 1, 2019

      When my family burnt it all, weeven burnt the dolls. I writeabout this all the time, but have youever seen anything like it? A pitof ashes and dozens of porcelainhands, sprouting up like girlishweeds. So far in this life, I haveheard a number of unac

      2 min read

    • Article

      Rare Consolation: Reading A Memoir of Addiction

      Sep 13, 2017

      Rausing thoughtfully, painstakingly, works a deep groove into the stubborn surface of certain bedeviling questions: “How do you write about addiction?” “Who can help the addict?” The post Rare Consolation: Reading A Memoir of Addiction appeared firs

      7 min read

    • Article

      The Chaotic Elegance of Flea

      Oct 30, 2019

      The Chaotic Elegance of Flea
      4 min read

    • Article

      Book Extract

      Oct 24, 2020

      Book Extract
      5 min read

    • Article

      Learning To Walk

      Oct 28, 2019

      Learning To Walk
      5 min read

    • Article

      Take FIVE

      Aug 31, 2023

      Small: On Motherhoods by Claire Lynch I found this exquisite book when I was looking for parenting tips a few months after my baby was born. I hadn’t realised that what I actually needed was to delve into my emotional journey with IVF and ‘failed’ fe

      2 min read

    • Article

      Amazing Grace: Reading Kelly J. Beard’s ‘An Imperfect Rapture’

      Sep 30, 2019

      For another memoirist, it would be easy to resort to a rhetoric of absolutes, but Beard’s elegant and direct prose teems with complexity and nuance. The post Amazing Grace: Reading Kelly J. Beard’s ‘An Imperfect Rapture’ appeared first on The Million

      5 min read

    • Article

      Fiction

      Jan 20, 2023

      Fiction
      3 min read

    • Article

      South Africa, My Home

      May 20, 2021

      Her company Diana Ferrus Publishers publishes the work of writers from previously disadvantaged communities. In association with the University of the Western Cape, she has published the life stories of former activists and unionists: Liz Nana Abraha

      2 min read

    • Article

      On Making Friends With Raina Telgemeier

      Aug 26, 2019

      Our kids' books columnist Juanita Giles says the cartoonist Raina Telgemeier is almost like a personal friend to her own children, who fight over tattered copies of Telgemeier's graphic novels.

      4 min read

    • Article

      A Brand-new ending

      Jan 29, 2022

      A Brand-new ending
      7 min read

    • Article

      How the Lark Got Her Crest

      May 30, 2023

      How the Lark Got Her Crest
      15 min read

    • Article

      The Final Truth

      Jan 21, 2020

      The Final Truth
      5 min read

    • Article

      Six Poems

      Jul 1, 2018

      When I said, to my mother, What was a goodthing about me as a child?, my mother’sface seemed to unfurl from the center,hibiscus in fast motion, the anthersand flounces springing out with joy. Oh you wereenchanting, she breathed. What do you mean—craz

      5 min read

    • Article

      No Place like home

      Aug 14, 2021

      No Place like home
      3 min read

    • Article

      This Back Is a Familiar Back

      May 1, 2023

      This Back Is a Familiar Back
      8 min read

    Reviews for Alice and the Fly

    4/5

    2 ratings4 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      An unsettling, but worthwhile read. Not the easiest book to finish, but it offers an unusual and interesting look at mental illness from the perspective of a teen dealing with it. Many of the entries have a surrealistic flavor which, from my 27 years experience as a mental health professional, seem spot on.
    • 5/5
      Greg is different. He has a mental illness and also has a phobia of THEM. He also likes Alice. Told from Gregs point of view in journal form to Alice the reader sees how events turned out for Greg.This is not a book I would have picked up st all. I didnt like the cover or the blurb so I wouldn't have read except it is for book club. I was however quite surprised how quickly I was drawn into Gregs world and really wanted to see how things turned out. Its quite obvious with the police interviews inbetween thst things dont go well. I felt for Greg all the way and I thought the author did a good job in making me feel this way. Gregs plain chatty narrative, with how he sees things draws the reader in. The story is compelling, funny at times and other times quite sad. This is an excellent read snd im glad that I made myself pick it up.
    • 3/5
      This book is very mid-range for me.

      It is a story told largely through the eyes of Greg, a troubled teen who battles with mental illness. Greg's wealthy family are largely emotionally absent, and Greg is the complete opposite of popular in his school. Told through Greg's journal entries, the reader gets an intimate portrayal of his sad and depressing life. The only ray of positivity is his crush on a girl from school -Alice. In between Greg's journal entries, the reader is treated to a police interview transcript about Greg referring to a tragic incident.

      The actual event was pretty anti-climatic for me and so this book didn't really have the 'wow' factor. It is pretty easy read, and the story is interesting but it wasn't a book that amazed me.
    • 5/5
      Review courtesy of Dark Faerie TalesQuick & Dirty: An amazingly intense read about a teenage boy with mental issues and how his phobias and obsession take over his life. Creepy, morbid and definitely unusual, James Rice is an author to watch out for.Opening Sentence: The bus was late tonight. It was raining, that icy winter rain, the kind that stings.The Review:This is the kind of story that haunts you even after you?ve finished reading it. I first thought that the main character was a girl because of the attention to detail, the thoughtful and quiet personality. Only when he introduced himself as Greg did I realise that this boy was rather odd.The book is written from two perspectives: Greg?s entries in his journal, which are interspersed with the Detective?s interviews. Greg has been advised by Miss Hayes to write his thoughts in a journal, in an attempt to help him overcome some of his issues, and by reading these we glimpse a snapshot of Greg?s day, his obsession with Alice and his unusual habits.Each interview is conducted with someone linked to Greg, such as his classmates, family members and teachers so that the Detective can learn more about Greg?s personality. The interviews take place after an ?event? unknown to the reader and the journal entries all lead up to this same ?event.? This mixture of journal entries and interviews, past and present, kept me guessing as to what actually happened, though I had my suspicions earlier on. With each interview, the reader is given another clue about the event but it?s not until the very end that the gruesome details are fully revealed.How can I describe this book and do justice to the amazing writing? Honestly, I?ve never read anything like it. The detail in which James Rice captures Greg?s episodes and the panic that suffocates him is surreal. Clearly, Greg has issues and violent outbursts, but from his journal entries it?s near impossible not to sympathise with his character. He has no friends, his family treat him like an embarrassing burden and he is constantly bullied at school, referred to as ?psycho.? He tries so hard to be normal but it is almost like his body doesn?t listen to his brain. On numerous occasions, Greg tries to speak up and prove he is normal, but he can?t bring himself to speak, and it?s sad to see how his silence always makes things worse.As you might have guessed, Greg is the fly from the title of this book. I thought this was a most appropriate likeness, given that Greg is always hovering near Alice in a stalker-like fashion so that no one notices him and those that do just get annoyed by his existence.The only problem I had with this book was that I became a tad bit bored during the middle of the story because I felt that the build up was being dragged on longer than necessary. Alice and the Fly was a powerful read opening my eyes to the extremeness of some people?s phobias. Although it isn?t a book I plan to re-read given the depressing nature of the story, I will be looking out for further releases by James Rice because his writing style for his debut novel was amazing.Notable Scene:?I can?t bump into her,? Mum said. ?Not like this.?I couldn?t work out why. Mum was wearing her heels and her hair and makeup were perfect. She looked beautiful. She kept repeating the word ?No,? over and over, under her breath. ?No, no no, no, no.? Then she turned to me and said, ?Just promise me, if she sees us, just promise me you?ll try and be normal.?I didn?t reply to that because I didn?t know how to reply, I didn?t know how I could promise something I had failed to do my whole life.FTC Advisory: I purchased my own copy of Alice and the Fly. No goody bags, sponsorships, ?material connections,? or bribes were exchanged for my review.