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cinabeena 's review for:
Black Alice
by John Sladek, Thom Demijohn, Thomas M. Disch
I thought this was a rather excellent book. I happen to get it from a random download from a friend and I am very glad that I did. I read this book in a day. May contain a spoiler but here is the plot summary:
During the 1960s, in Virginia, while the blacks fight for their civil rights, a young white girl is kidnapped in Baltimore. Little Alice Raleigh, eleven years and blond like corn, and heiress of an immense fortune, is held for a ransom of a million dollars. Her kidnappers, trying to make her invisible to the police officers and the federal agents searching for her, manage to brown her skin and her hair. They hold her under an assumed name in a house held by an old black woman, near Norfolk, which turns out to be a house of prostitution.
Slowly, Alice adapts herself to this surprising life amidst the black culture of the time period, completely new for her; at no point in the book is the young Alice made to participate in prostitution, and in fact Alice only has a vague idea of what goes on in behind closed doors in the house. Alice who is smart as a tack eventually finds clues that lead her to who her kidnapper is.
This is one of those reads that leave you contented. I like the characters very much so even the "bad guys", finding out who the kidnapper was left me surprised just as much as Alice was when she discovered. Any book that I can read in a day, go to sleep, wake up and still like it is a great book to me. I would highly recommend this book and read it again.
During the 1960s, in Virginia, while the blacks fight for their civil rights, a young white girl is kidnapped in Baltimore. Little Alice Raleigh, eleven years and blond like corn, and heiress of an immense fortune, is held for a ransom of a million dollars. Her kidnappers, trying to make her invisible to the police officers and the federal agents searching for her, manage to brown her skin and her hair. They hold her under an assumed name in a house held by an old black woman, near Norfolk, which turns out to be a house of prostitution.
Slowly, Alice adapts herself to this surprising life amidst the black culture of the time period, completely new for her; at no point in the book is the young Alice made to participate in prostitution, and in fact Alice only has a vague idea of what goes on in behind closed doors in the house. Alice who is smart as a tack eventually finds clues that lead her to who her kidnapper is.
This is one of those reads that leave you contented. I like the characters very much so even the "bad guys", finding out who the kidnapper was left me surprised just as much as Alice was when she discovered. Any book that I can read in a day, go to sleep, wake up and still like it is a great book to me. I would highly recommend this book and read it again.