"Teenage angst has paid off well. Now I'm bored and old."

There is nothing wrong with Alice Lange's life, but nothing feels quite right either. It is the kind of ennui only the most privileged among us are ever able to experience, and Alice has it in droves. Beauty and brains is how most people would describe Alice, and she has comfortably filled the role of "golden girl" for her entire life. But Alice is able to predict exactly how her life will continue to play out if she traverses down this well-trodden path, so when something more dark and dangerous comes lurking in her sleepy suburban neighborhood, she doesn't hesitate. Without a backwards glance, Alice leaves her comfortable middle class life to follow Wesley, a glorified cult leader, to join his harem of woman and learn how to live on the edge. Now one of five women, Alice is enveloped in a world where boundaries are tested and lines are blurred all in the name of glorifying a man whose motives are specious.

Alison Wisdom's debut We Can Only Save Ourselves is a sleepy literary dive into cult life, and seems to have readers sharply divided as to whether or not it is worthy. I was hesitant to read this book after seeing its less than stellar rating on Goodreads, but found myself enjoying it despite the bad reviews. While many readers describe it as a book in which not a lot happens, I believe they are missing the point. We Can Only Save Ourselves is a piece of literary fiction and is meant to explore the characters and their motives as opposed to telling a remarkable story. It is those characters you are supposed to remember here, not the plot. While, yes, not a lot happens in this book, we learn much about the ways that our upbringing manifests itself when we set off into the world on our own. This novel is as much a coming-of-age story as anything.

Cult dynamics naturally play strongly throughout this book. Behaving much like "sister wives," all of the women that Wesley has collected and cultivated play a role within the group. While none seem to be in love with their leader, they worship him all the same in their own ways. In sharp contrast to her previous life, Alice, who was once a goddess in the flesh among her peers, now has to take on the submissive role of devoting her mind and body to a man who is loved by many, but known by few, without getting anything in return. How Wesley molds and shapes these girls, stripping them of their former identities and making them into something he finds palatable, and how the girls react to his control is the central focus of this novel.

It should be noted that this book is told through the first person perspective of the mothers of the community Alice left behind. They speak of Alice as if they are telling her story for her, and this technique can be quite jarring if you are not expecting it. On the other hand, it keeps the story interesting, and I appreciated Wisdom's use of this literary technique, as it is not one that I have ever encountered in the books I have previously read. Readers should also note that there is a rather gratuitous instance of animal abuse in this story, which may be a complete turn-off for some readers.

Recommended to and only to lovers of literary fiction.

I’m judging the L.A. Times 2021 fiction contest. It’d be generous to call what I’m doing upon my first cursory glance—reading. I also don’t take this task lightly. As a fellow writer and lover of words and books, I took this position—in hopes of being a good literary citizen. My heart aches for all the writers who have a debut at this time. What I can share now is the thing that held my attention and got me to read on even though it was among 296 other books I’m charged to read.

I really like the movement and pacing. Very well plotted. Cinematic. “We ate dinner. We watched television. We sang to our children as they fell asleep. We washed dishes, the clothes, our bodies. We laid down, we reached for our husbands. We did not discuss the man we saw. Why would we?”

"We Can Only Save Ourselves" is the type of book you read and need to think about after you finish it. Or maybe that was just me. Wisdom creates such a well-crafted story that pushes the boundaries of what I normally would read. The pace of the narrative is perfect as the reader begins to ask questions about society and cult culture in itself. There is so much to unpack in this book, but there is also an addictive tension and suspense within these pages. If this is the author's debut, I cannot wait to see what is coming next.

3.75. I do love a cult story, and this one was narrated in such an interesting way, taking on the persona of the collective community reacting to Alice's disappearance after she chooses to run away with cult leader Wesley. I really enjoyed the relationships between the women living together, and I loved Apple's character, though I wish we could have had even more moments between her and Alice. Jealousy and identity was explored well, and while I don't think this book is entirely unique from other cult books I've read, I still found it compelling.

I always appreciate a good cult fiction and this was no different! The writing reminded me a lot of The Virgin Suicides, which added a wonderful touch.

I didn't love the way the narrative switched between 1st person plural and 3rd person - it felt disjointed to me. I love a good cult story but this one didn't measure up for me. Thank you!

This was nearly 350 pages worth of nothing.

This debut novel follows teenager Alice Lange who, at the beginning of the book, learns something upsetting, then, in response, destroys something in an act of vandalism, and - supposedly because she "has to" leave after that - she runs away with a man she barely knows. This man is running some sort of half-cult, half-harem full of teenage girls and seems to believe that the end of the world is nigh and only their weird household will be safe.

Though Alice is the main character, we also hear from the group of mothers in the town Alice has just fled, an all-seeing and all-knowing collective of mothers acting as a Greek chorus, mourning the loss of Alice, a girl who everyone in the town loved, to this Doc Antle-wannabe. That element definitely gives this book a "Virgin Suicides" meets "Stepford Wives" kind of vibe.

Right off the bat, character motivations were hazy. Why in God's name did Alice (who admittedly was happy living with her mom in this town) run away with some loser who took her picture once? I would have been more willing to accept this fact if we learned more about how she was secretly restless or unhappy the whole time she was living in the town. But no - she was adored by basically everyone and had a very nice life.

And what is it about this Wesley guy that's so attractive to all of these girls that live with him? We can clearly see that all the girls are committed to him (even the ornery Apple), but it is never apparent why. From my understanding, in these types of situations, abusers (which Wesley is, make no mistake) continuously have to maintain their hold on the people they're attempting to control and must continuously reinforce messages that will keep their victims from wanting to leave. The only thing Wesley does is repeatedly tell the girls that the world is not safe and that the group of them "aren't like other people." But he never really defines what this means nor did I think it was believable that most of these girls would stay. Are you telling me none of them had questions about what the end of the world would entail or why the group of them are special enough to be spared? Is Wesley's message a religious one? Does he have some sort of sexual hold over them? I wish I wouldn't have bothered wondering about these things, because they're never answered.

I kept waiting for there to be more to this book - for any psychological elements to be revealed, for an underlying message to shine through, or for something explosive to happen to add some flavor dust to this rice cake, but it remained an empty, low-calorie snack the entire time.

This novel is compelling and thrilling. It keeps the reader on the edge of their seats. I love the neighbors as the narrator. The story takes on a different feeling, it's very dark and ominous but in a really good way. I don't think that the author would have been able to achieve that from any other perspective.

If you want to read a totally captivating, tense and haunting thriller, look no further than We Can Only Save Ourselves. This is an amazing debut that will grip you with Alison Wisdom's beautiful writing.

Alice is the all around epitome of a good, decent girl. She has the love and devotion of her mother, and she is loved by classmates and friends alike. She has so much, but she is on the edge of something. An unsettled feeling of mundane-ness that has her falling for the intrigue of a man named Wesley, who whisks her away to live a different kind of life. One that he promises will give her the kind of fulfillment she craves.

When she gets to his home she learns she isn't the only woman he has convinced this same truth to. There are four other women living in his home. Wesley is a master manipulator, using his charm and effortlessness to create his Manson-esque following. And soon, everything comes to a boiling point.

Meanwhile, life still goes on back in Alice's hometown, with Alice being not only a cautionary tale, but a topic of conversation among mothers. Alice's own mother, the poor thing, is left with no clue as to why her baby girl just up and left her like this.

There were definitely parts of this book that were harder to read. There is some animal abuse that I had to skim over, but otherwise, this was a riveting and emotional thriller that really packs a punch.

This novel showed realism in the mind of a teenager girl- popular, respectful, provincial and class conscious- who through hormones and maybe the earth’s movement, just like Joni Mitchell “gets the urge for going.”

Going with a strange to an alien life, the girl arrives in an unexplored culture and faces new expectations, along with a Manson-esque group of other young women. The psychological and physical bondage is more fearful to the reader in its understatedness.

The book may hold appeal for a niche audience who prefer a raw and cerebral literary experience.

We Can Only Save Ourselves, Alison Wisdom’s debut novel, immediately sucked me into its dark suburbia world full of fallen Homecoming queens, naive youth, cults, and a tongue and cheek dose of 1970s homemaker neighborhood gossip/judgement.

The unoriginal elements of the book include that the writing style was clearly heavily influenced by the collective chorus of boys in Jeffrey Eugenides’s Virgin Suicides suburbia and the plot takes notes from the Manson storyline following the atmosphere most recently set in Emma Cline’s The Girls, which are both referenced on the cover blurb, but what could be interpreted as imitation instead read as being delightfully influenced by.

I devoured this one and am looking forward to Wisdom gaining a more clear and original voice that stands on its own in future works to come.

We Can Only Save Ourselves is so gorgeously written--and the lyrical prose only adds to the atmosphere of the story, which ventures into a dark psychological examination of who we define ourselves as, and what happens when someone has so much charisma that they pull people into a deep and frightening web. Definitely recommended for fans of The Girls, as well as fans of literary fiction about the rot that can be lurking under what's normal or ordinary.

In her debut novel, Alison Wisdom offers a delicately chilling tale about a girl who runs away from home and becomes enamored with a stranger.

“We Can Only Save Ourselves” tells the story of Alice Lange, the neighborhood golden girl who suddenly decides she no longer wants to live her “perfect” girl life anymore and the story is told from the perspective of the neighborhood’s mothers. As Alice’s story unfurls, she decides to live with a charismatic older man who already lives with four other young women (including underage girls) and joins his chaotic family.

“We Can Only Save Ourselves” is written with a hypnotic community voice that echoes the narration in Jeffrey Eugenides “The Virgin Suicides” but it also incorporates the tense frisson of life within a cult. Alice falls quickly becomes infatuated with Wesley and she allows her feelings to blind her to the strange nature of life in the house and to the control the women give him over their lives.

Propulsive and beautifully written, “We Can Only Save Ourselves” reveals how Alice’s actions changed not only her life, but how her flight from suburbia cast a shadow over the whole neighborhood.

I feel very hmmm about this book and how to write a review for this book as it left me so unsettled. I'm not sure what felt so alarming about this story to me- I am not, generally, so easily bothered by fiction. This is incredibly well written and readable, and I really enjoyed the chorus style narration parts, as well as the vague setting of place and time so that this story felt ominously universal. Perhaps that is exactly what is so troubling about this story for me- it felt too close, too possible, too true.

I really wanted to like this book, but I had trouble syncing into the narrative of the collective "We" it was narrated by. I found this intriguing at first but it soon felt like a gimmick the more I got into the book. There wasn't enough complexity in this book for me, as a lot of cultural nuance of the period is left to fall to the wayside. Honestly at the end of the day, I didn't feel connected to what motivated Alice to disrupt her life in the first place. The prose and writing was a bit lacking at times for me as well.

Alice Lange is the queen of her small town...but she wants something more purposeful. When Alice follows a mysterious man away from her home, everyone is left wondering what does it mean to want to belong somewhere. Very beautifully written.

*I was gifted a free ARC of this book by Harper Perennial in exchange for an honest review*

This book follows Alice Lange, the effervescent and admired beauty queen of her small suburban town. Seeking for experiences beyond the bounds of her sleepy high school, Alice follows a mysterious character back to his home. Leaving behind the life she knew to fall at the heels of this man leaves both Alice and her old friends and neighbors to consider what it means to belong, to stay, and to leave.

I was both nervous and excited when I saw this book compared to The Virgin Suicides. I’m not certain it’s an apt comparison, but more on that later. This is by far the best debut I’ve read in a long time. The prose is elegant and lyrical without being overly flowery. Both the suburban neighborhood where the narrators live and the cultish homestead where Alice finds herself living felt full and realized. Wesley, the patriarch of the homestead, effectively illustrates the manipulative tactics people like him use to maintain power over others. Alice felt rather cookie cutter, but I suppose that’s the point. The final chapters were surprisingly resonant and sentimental, and the politics of the mothers finally felt relevant.

I don’t have any overwhelming negative feelings about this book. I think it was quite good. That being said, it has a very overtly subversive use of point-of-view, as it’s told from first person plural, through the eyes of the mothers living in the Lange’s neighborhood. I don’t think this odd choice really served the narrative, and it could have just as easily been told in third person. The book also dragged a bit in the middle.

Overall this was a very enjoyable read.

This book is like a Virgin suicides meets Valley of the dolls. When the town queen bee commits an act of vandalism and follows a mysterious stranger out of town to a makeshift commune they try to create their own society.