In The End of Alice, an aging paedophile has spent the last twenty years incarcerated for the murder of a 12 year old girl. The story begins when a 19 year old college girl started writing him. A kindred spirit, the 19 year old has been stalking and seducing a particular 12 year old boy herself. In her letters to the imprisoned paedophile, she reveals gradually her unnatural obsession and erotic games with the 12 year old Matthew. The correspondence in turn led him down a series of emotionally charged memories of how he came to be.
The End of Alice has been banned in parts of the UK and cancelled for publication in France for its frank depiction of the grotesque psycho-sexual innerscape of its characters.
Not an easy book. Either to read nor to write.
In an interview, Homes says, "With Alice, I wanted to write a book where people, at times, would be very drawn into it, seduced by it - then on the very next page want to throw the book across the room because they're so upset that they've been seduced, that they've been had by this guy. Then a minute or two passes and they have to get up and go get it so they can pick it up and read some more.
"I like that book a lot. I feel, as a writer, that I worked incredibly hard and I did what I wanted to do. A big thing was to not shy away from the material. My responsibility is to not worry about what people are going to think, but to worry about the character and how to most accurately represent him."
No comments:
Post a Comment