Saving Alice

In this frustrating faith-based novel, Lewis teeters on the edge of a good story, only to sabotage his narrative with weak prose, nagging implausibilities and inadequate explanations of characters' motivation. Told in the first person by Stephen, a 36-year-old husband, father and stockbroker in Aberdeen, S.D., the story begins as an explication of his special bond with his daughter, Alycia. When Alycia persuades him to tell her a painful story from his past, however, the novel turns unrelentingly bleak. As Stephen narrates his downfall, he comes off as a hapless man who makes a series of regrettable choices into which he has very little insight. While Stephen briefly describes what he did to alienate his family, he portrays himself predominantly as a good, if absent-minded, husband and father. As such, his family's crisis, like most of the novel's significant plot developments, ends up making very little sense. In the last 40 pages, the novel takes an interesting turn toward magical realism. This the strongest part of the story, and it sheds light on what Lewis has unsuccessfully attempted.