Alice Isn't Dead - Review by Nia Lopez

nblniabellelopez — 2025-05-23 16:35:54 UTC

"It's dark now, and the darkness is vast here. It really has a depth to it; keeps going. I didn’t think that dark could have a bottom until I saw a dark that didn’t."

nblniabellelopez — 2025-05-23 16:40:48 UTC

"I don’t know who this… I won’t say “man.” He isn’t a man. I don’t know what he is. Do you know, Alice? Is this why you left? Or was it something else? Was it me?"

The horror aspect reminds me a little of Gothic horror. While the Gothic horror genre of haunted houses touch on domestic violence, now it kind of turns on its head. The narrator comes face to face with her own fear that maybe... just maybe, she is the "problem."

nblniabellelopez — 2025-05-23 16:44:21 UTC

"I went to groups. I sat in circles and talked about you. That’s what we do now, right? As a civilization, we sit in a circle and we describe the shape of the monster that is devouring us. We hope, like a talisman, that our description will provide some shelter against it. It won’t, though. We are helpless."

nblniabellelopez — 2025-05-23 16:46:51 UTC

"And in the background, you. Just for a moment sometimes, or sometimes long and staring. You, over and over. I made a list of every place I saw you on the news, and that list became a map of America. So, my wife wasn’t dead. That’s good to know. That’s new information."

nblniabellelopez — 2025-05-23 16:47:37 UTC

"I’m still sitting in a circle. Just telling the story over and over into this radio, hoping that you will hear it, and understand. Hoping to ward off the monster by describing the shape of it."

nblniabellelopez — 2025-05-23 16:51:41 UTC

"There are a lot of different types of freedom. We talk about freedom the same way we talk about art, like it was a statement of quality rather than a description. “Art” doesn’t mean good or bad. Art just means art. It can be terrible and still be art. Freedom can be good or bad, too. There can be terrible freedom. You freed me, and I didn’t ask you to. I didn’t want you to. I am more free now than I have ever been, and I am spiraling. I am spiraling across the country. Maybe you are, too. I want our lines to cross, even one more time."

Alice Isn't Dead

nblniabellelopez — 2025-05-23 16:52:11 UTC

NOTES

nblniabellelopez — 2025-05-23 16:52:19 UTC

OVERALL IMPRESSION

nblniabellelopez — 2025-05-23 16:54:45 UTC

I'm not a horror buff, but this was fun! Jaw dropped even!

Does this qualify as literature? Oh, certainly. While I am reading a little, I am learning WITH this character, and for that, I think there is something valuable to learned from the commentary (retrospectively as a general comentary, but also learning prospectively as the narrator speaks more about herself).