The Alice Network

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

This thread is to discuss The Alice Network by Kate Quinn.

Pages: 503 pages

Length: 1 month (December)

Participants: Amitha, Victoria, SarahKat

Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.

Here are some questions to help get the conversation started! Feel free to look up discussion questions specific to this book or come up with your own. Just make sure any questions that contain spoilers are under spoiler tags.
Discussion questions are not required but may be a fun way to talk about the book and get to know each other!

Prior to starting:
What prompted you to join this buddy read?
Have you read this author before? What do you think of their other books?

Mid-read:
What character or ideas do you relate to the most and why?
Do you have any favorite quotes or scenes?

After reading:
What was enjoyable or not-so-enjoyable about this book?
Did this book change your perception about anything, either within the book (character development) or in real life?

[Victoria]

I’m planning to start this book tomorrow night (I’m in the UK so I’ve just finished the book I was reading and it’s my bedtime already) I have never read any of her books before but if I enjoy this one I’ll explore more of her books. I am looking forward to this one, it’s different to a lot of the books I have been reading recently and I really enjoy books that have two protagonists that link over a time divide. I’m hoping it’s a good one.

[Carrie]

Hey everyone! I did not sign up to read this with y'all but I just now noticed it was on the list for December. I had already planned to read it this month. Can I join you?

I probably will not be able to start it until next week.

[Amitha]

Hi All! This was on TBR for so long and this is my first time reading this author. Hoping to enjoy this book.
Yes of course Carrie you are welcome to join this buddy read.

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

Welcome Carrie!

I have started this on audio, but may switch to physical when I've read some of the physical ones I'm working on. I'm having trouble focusing because of life stuff.

It's my first time with this author as well. I joined because I still needed a woman author with a Q initial for A-Z and I've heard great things about her.

[Carri Carey, TBR Twins]

I’m excited! I just happened to be planning to read this book in December! And now I have friends to read with!

[Brianna]

Hello!
I also did not sign up for this buddy read, but would love to join yall!

[Victoria]

Brianna wrote: "Hello!
I also did not sign up for this buddy read, but would love to join yall!"

Welcome Brianna, nice to have you join

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

Welcome all!

I wrote down a few notes when I finished part 2. (view spoiler)[This was a little hard to get into at first, keeping the women straight considering Eve is part of both stories and so is a Scottish (Irish?) man. Once I was more familiar with the path each woman was on, it was more enjoyable. I love both of these strong main characters!

I am glad Charlie made the choice for herself to keep her baby instead of letting her mother take her to Switzerland, and instead went to search for Rose with Eve.
I wonder if Rose was her real name or if she's another flower in the Alice Network in WWII. (hide spoiler)]

I just listened to a bunch more on a work trip today. So through Chapter 32: (view spoiler)[ Things are not good for anyone in the story right now. Eve got Rene's baby aborted by Violet which was painful. But also Eve was tortured and drugged. She held up but apparently the drugs made her give Lily/Alice up. I wonder if that actually happened. I'm glad she doesn't hate her for it.

Charlie just found out that Rose and her baby, Charlotte, died 3 years ago. I am hoping this isn't the case. I keep trying to find a way that Rose wasn't the person who was killed, like maybe that person was using her name. I don't know. I'd love a happy-ish ending. Since I'm new to this author I don't know where she'll go with this. (hide spoiler)]

[Victoria]

End of part 2 (chapter 16) I’m really liking the book so far, even if overall not a massive amount has happened yet, but with two parallel narratives it takes more of the beginning of the book to start exploring the stories. I really like both main characters, they are engaging once you sort out whose who in which timeline and each has a fire and a bravery that I love. I’m more drawn to Eve in 1915 at this point but that may be because her story is a bit more fleshed out at this stage - I imagine Charlie’s story will come more into focus in the later stages of the book. (view spoiler)[ I like the mechanism of piecing together Eve’s story from Le Lethe while running parallel the search for Rose. The author cleverly takes the reader to similar geographical locations in each timeline so it is almost like seeing the past and the present running alongside each other. It’s a literary device I have enjoyed in other books too and it’s applied with a level of skill by the author. Eve clearly has PTSS and I imagine some sort of torture in her future/past given her hands and the increasing dangerous closeness with Réne. Violette also intrigues me, her hatred of Eve seems extreme and I don’t doubt that Lili plays a significant part in those emotions. The links between the past and the present still aren’t apparent for me but the possibility that Réne is still alive and linked with the Le Lethe in Limoges where Rose is rumoured to have ended up points to an entwined narrative at some point and I hope it’s a good plot (hide spoiler)]. I am liking the writing in the book and if the plot is a good one I would definitely look into more books by this author.