this was so fantastic.
if i'm honest, i wasn't expecting much from this book. i'd never heard of glenda millard and the cover didn't intrigue me too much. and when i started, i was thoroughly confused for the first six pages.
this is the wonderful story of alice. she's an amazing character with such a beautiful point of view. this novel deals with big problems like abuse, disorders, wars and broken families. but it does it gently, softly, and really makes you understand the subject matter and how the characters feel.
what i particularly liked about this book was that the author doesn't exactly explain her writing. alice's point of view is written with no capital letters and an unusual amount of full stops. and manny's point of view is written very properly with formal language. she never explains why she writes this way, but leaves it to the reader to work out as the story progresses. sometimes the way a character will describe things or react to things is unusual, but it adds to the weight of the story. it makes you understand the character more, because you can feel how they are feeling. you are being shown, not told - and that is the way a book should be.
guaranteed, there will be people who don't like this novel and say that it's "too confusing" or "there's no plot".
but that's their fault for not reading it properly to be honest.
this novel is beautiful, quiet and loud at the same time and even had me on the edge of my seat for the end of it. i personally loved this story.