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Aljce in Therapy Land
"On her first day the sky had a salmon tint to it; after the rain, and before the cloud entirely cleared, as if it had been put into a washing machine with roses. Someone was probably really annoyed at the way they had run. Aljce parked in the asphalt car park outside the Therapy Hub. She was looking forward to her new job. It would be an exciting adventure with new challenges."
Aljce in Therapy Land is the first novel from Alice Tawhai. She is best known for her short story collections Dark Jelly, Luminous and Festival of Miracles (all released through Huia). This story traverses workplace bullying, online relationships and stoned friendships, with a good measure of Wonderland added in.
Aljce in Therapy Land is the first novel from Alice Tawhai. She is best known for her short story collections Dark Jelly, Luminous and Festival of Miracles (all released through Huia). This story traverses workplace bullying, online relationships and stoned friendships, with a good measure of Wonderland added in.
282 pages, Paperback
Published November 1, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 13, 2022
Reading this book was like therapy in itself - seeing workplace bullying and gaslighting at its finest and cheering for Aljce as she learns to free herself.
The story is totally surreal, helped by the ongoing references to Alice in Wonderland, turning what could be an average workplace-novel into something wonderfully unique. It's darkly comedic, satirical, horrifying, and heartbreaking. The line between fact and fantasy is blurred, in the same way that the constant gaslighting makes Aljce feel confused. As she goes deeper down the rabbit hole, the world makes less and less sense.
Add a healthy dose of stoner philosophy and a failed attempt at online romance and you've got a perfectly balanced story.
Alice Tawhai's prose is beautiful and she clearly has a unique way of seeing the world.
The story is totally surreal, helped by the ongoing references to Alice in Wonderland, turning what could be an average workplace-novel into something wonderfully unique. It's darkly comedic, satirical, horrifying, and heartbreaking. The line between fact and fantasy is blurred, in the same way that the constant gaslighting makes Aljce feel confused. As she goes deeper down the rabbit hole, the world makes less and less sense.
Add a healthy dose of stoner philosophy and a failed attempt at online romance and you've got a perfectly balanced story.
Alice Tawhai's prose is beautiful and she clearly has a unique way of seeing the world.
March 20, 2026
Workplace bullying is a fantastic thing to write about thank you Alice Tawhai. Come to think of it I’m surprised I haven’t read a book about this before since it is such an absolutely soul destroying experience. An experience which is captured brutally in this book eg I was first going to write the review about how uniquely delicious the writing was, descriptions of colours and the natural world and the self, quenching fruits and honey metaphors… until of course this all disappears to make way for the person the character evolves into through workplace bullying. Aka colourless and fruitless and paranoid. It’s an important novel in my opinion because of the way Aljce manages the situation and this should be the example. It is too easy to be lead down a siphon of believing you are crazy -
“That’s why so many people lost battles. They put their emotions out in front of them, and the emotional vampires said to everyone, ‘See, they’re crazy!’ Feeding off the feelings of others while at the same time making out that normal feelings were a sign of instability. After poking them with a stick to make sure that the feelings come out; then pretending they’d never done anything, so that the feelings looked random/unexplained/craaazy.”
“It’s all about stories, isn’t it? Life is the stories we tell ourselves. […] But Aljce wasn’t always sure who was telling the stories”
Instead, keep your cool, give them nothing, then take them to employment court and win. Though the employment court part of the novel felt a bit rushed and unrealistic and it was especially triggering when the lawyer was like omgggg girl your story is so random because your employer said the exact opposite about it so you’ll probably lose and it’ll be thousands of dollars.
Also found interesting the constant concern over bad karma which made me reflect. I also NEED to understand what is with the j in Aljce. Is it just to differentiate her from Alice? Does it have a different pronunciation? Is J just a delicious letter???? The Alice in Wonderland references went over my head until I read other reviews but it’s a great extended metaphor upon reflection because you do tumble down the rabbit hole and lose touch with reality when being gaslight and having others false perceptions beamed onto you constantly. Now I think I should read Alice in Wonderland and then come back to the novel again. It’s also cool the contrast of the workplace bullying being in a therapy environment so there is naturally an element of psychological analysis to the bullying which was fascinating.
Furthermore I now need a novel with crossover of these themes between workplace bullying (Aljce in therapy land) and ableism and stigma (eg Janet Frame faces in the water or in the memorial room).
“Perhaps crying was watering her flowers”
Love <3
5 stars
“That’s why so many people lost battles. They put their emotions out in front of them, and the emotional vampires said to everyone, ‘See, they’re crazy!’ Feeding off the feelings of others while at the same time making out that normal feelings were a sign of instability. After poking them with a stick to make sure that the feelings come out; then pretending they’d never done anything, so that the feelings looked random/unexplained/craaazy.”
“It’s all about stories, isn’t it? Life is the stories we tell ourselves. […] But Aljce wasn’t always sure who was telling the stories”
Instead, keep your cool, give them nothing, then take them to employment court and win. Though the employment court part of the novel felt a bit rushed and unrealistic and it was especially triggering when the lawyer was like omgggg girl your story is so random because your employer said the exact opposite about it so you’ll probably lose and it’ll be thousands of dollars.
Also found interesting the constant concern over bad karma which made me reflect. I also NEED to understand what is with the j in Aljce. Is it just to differentiate her from Alice? Does it have a different pronunciation? Is J just a delicious letter???? The Alice in Wonderland references went over my head until I read other reviews but it’s a great extended metaphor upon reflection because you do tumble down the rabbit hole and lose touch with reality when being gaslight and having others false perceptions beamed onto you constantly. Now I think I should read Alice in Wonderland and then come back to the novel again. It’s also cool the contrast of the workplace bullying being in a therapy environment so there is naturally an element of psychological analysis to the bullying which was fascinating.
Furthermore I now need a novel with crossover of these themes between workplace bullying (Aljce in therapy land) and ableism and stigma (eg Janet Frame faces in the water or in the memorial room).
“Perhaps crying was watering her flowers”
Love <3
5 stars
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 26, 2022
I loved reading this book. I was completely invested from the first page, and my empathy was in full gear. Honestly, the last time I was this frustrated for the main character was Harry Potter. What Aljce went through in her workplace was unbelievable. I wanted to throw this book at the wall sometimes! I loved the growth she goes through and the strength she earns from one of the worst workplace bullying situations I've ever read about. The parallels between this story and Alice in Wonderland were on point and very entertaining. But my favorite thing about this book is the way Alice writes. What a fascinating person. Some examples of her writing that I love:
"When you think of how we just started out with wood and rocks and other natural things....Look at the colors we can make. Look at the materials we can make. Listen to the sounds we can make. Look at the magic we can do. Steel birds hovering in the air. Flowers growing in winter. Ways to stop ourselves from feeling our own pain. A brain with invisible tentacles that connects everyone...called the internet. And those are commonplace things.
...It's so much science that it may as well be magic. We've created our own magic. We've magicked up our reality...."
"Everything in the universe seemed to be made up of a finite number of patterns, no matter whether it was stars in a galaxy or grains of sand on a beach. Radio waves and microwaves and ocean waves and particle waves. Nebulas like the pupils of an eye. Galaxies connected like the neurons of the brain or city streets lit up at night, seen from above. Everything was the same. The same thing in the same moment. Reality was incredibly small on the outside, but it was incredibly big in the center where infinite possibility lay."
What beautiful and enlightening writing. I will read more of her work.
"When you think of how we just started out with wood and rocks and other natural things....Look at the colors we can make. Look at the materials we can make. Listen to the sounds we can make. Look at the magic we can do. Steel birds hovering in the air. Flowers growing in winter. Ways to stop ourselves from feeling our own pain. A brain with invisible tentacles that connects everyone...called the internet. And those are commonplace things.
...It's so much science that it may as well be magic. We've created our own magic. We've magicked up our reality...."
"Everything in the universe seemed to be made up of a finite number of patterns, no matter whether it was stars in a galaxy or grains of sand on a beach. Radio waves and microwaves and ocean waves and particle waves. Nebulas like the pupils of an eye. Galaxies connected like the neurons of the brain or city streets lit up at night, seen from above. Everything was the same. The same thing in the same moment. Reality was incredibly small on the outside, but it was incredibly big in the center where infinite possibility lay."
What beautiful and enlightening writing. I will read more of her work.
June 25, 2022
I haven't experienced workplace bullying but I have experienced situations where someone makes you question yourself and your judgment by their confusing passive aggressive behaviour, their seemingly nice manner that has hidden barbs, or their nice to your face, aggressive by text/email behavioir. This book very much as an Alice in Wonderland surrealist feel about it but a lot of truth too. I was gripped by the work scenes and I loved Aljie's conversations with Strauss. I didn't enjoy so much the scenes with the mad neighbour and ended up skipping through them.
October 10, 2024
Five stars, but dear Heaven this is a hard read, I'll warn you upfront. Really captures the uncertainty particular to female bullying, where you find yourself constantly asking, 'Did that just happen, or am I overthinking it? Am I reading too much into things? Am I being oversensitive?'
Also, the sheer... mundanity of the ways in which people can decide to be awful to each other.
I read it, and then immediately started it over again.
Also, the sheer... mundanity of the ways in which people can decide to be awful to each other.
I read it, and then immediately started it over again.
December 21, 2023
I got lost in Therapy Land with Aljce and couldn't put the book down until I finished it. As someone who has been in similar shoes as Aljce, the misery of her situation was so real, and then the joy was so sweet when she escaped in the end. I really enjoyed the prose, especially Aljce's unique point of view and her dialogue, I just finished the book and I already miss her!
June 9, 2022
A masterpiece about workplace bullying & relationships. At times it felt almost too painfully real and Kafka-esque, but also very funny and likeable.
As a lawyer I very much appreciated the accuracy of the employment law stuff towards the end.
As a lawyer I very much appreciated the accuracy of the employment law stuff towards the end.
January 5, 2022
Incredible that a novel about workplace bullying (and more) can be so deeply relatable and so wildly creative / ethereal at the same time. Love Tawhai's brain.
January 23, 2023
Very intense but well worth the read.
October 9, 2024
I enjoyed this book. It happens in so many workplaces, and I could relate to a similar experience.
January 12, 2025
I liked this in a quirky extremely relatable way. Interjected with some really beautiful prose and imagery. Not my usual but very much enjoyed
April 26, 2026
Really liked the dialogs with her mad neighbour
Interesting book - and gave me some things to ponder
some inner dialogue sections dragged but maybe I’m just impatient?
Interesting book - and gave me some things to ponder
some inner dialogue sections dragged but maybe I’m just impatient?
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews