Mark… and Alice

Comment:

I don’t know whether this question has been asked, but I want to know how and when did you decide to write what happened to Mark? Was it planned all along? Has it always been Mark?
I also want to let you know that the Indonesian publisher stopped translating Alice after Including Alice and for a while, I stopped reading Alice, too. I think it was somewhere between ninth and tenth grade. Now I’m in my fourth year of college and just recently finished reading the series, and I can imagine why they did it: Alice’s advancing in sexual department. You see, the Indonesian society these past few years has become more and more conservative. The general ideal is you’re not supposed to have sex before marriage, and any kind of sex talk by teenagers is frowned upon. I’m pretty sure this was the deal because I noticed that they didn’t publish neither The Grooming of Alice nor Patiently Alice as sex was addressed more in both than in the previous books. But I’d say your books would have helped me a lot during my high school years. I fortunately managed to get the knowledge, but I think getting through – the curiosity, embarrassing moments, and a lot of self-doubt – with Alice would’ve made it more bearable. Alice has always been a friend and an older sister. So thank you, Ms. Naylor, for sharing Alice with us.

Phyllis replied:

Thanks so much for your email.  I knew for a long time that Alice would have to face a sad situation like Mark’s, and yes, I had decided it would be him.  Just a number of factors–length of time she’d known him, being an only child–the effect on the parents, the group’s use of their pool….  But it was so sad to write.  I cried as I wrote it.  As for the Indonesian publisher stopping the publication of the Alice books, I think you’re right.  Different societies do approach sexuality differently, but physically–everyone in every society experiences many of the same physical feelings…  curiosity, desire, experimenting, embarrassment, pleasure….possibly guilt…   I feel as you do that having the necessary information, and watching a book character go through the experience is helpful and reassuring, and I’m so glad that you consider Alice a friend and older sister!