One Pill Makes You Smaller A Novel [Paperback]

Eleven-year-old Alice Duncan has a problem: her body is, literally, growing up too fast. Gawky, innocent, and tongue-tied, Alice is taller than her teachers, with long, long legs and a voluptuous chest she refers to it as The Breasts.

One Pill Makes You Smallerbrings to life the surreal experience of being a girl--stuck in a woman's body. Dierbeck shoots down the rabbit hole of 1970s misbehavior, combining her modern tale with the fantastic universe of Alice in Wonderland, set in the black-lit, drug-infested art world of Andy Warhol's Manhattan. When Alice is shipped off to a freethinking art camp in North Carolina, she encounters J.D., a sweet-talking adult man who engages her in a dangerous flirtation. This deliciously pop, self-assured debut is an inspired paean to lost innocence.

Bracing...the dark heart at the center of the book is just right. It leaves a lasting impression. The New York Times Book Review

A tour de force, a meshing of the myths of the counterculture with the fantastic universe of Lewis Carroll... Genuinely original, compulsively readable. Publishers Weekly (starred)

Riveting. O Magazine

A lavish, unnerving portrait. Time Out New York

Marks an important literary debut. The Boston Phoenix

Lisa Dierbecklives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband. Twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize, she is a contributor toBarron'sandThe New York Times Book Review.One Pill Makes You Smalleris her debut novel.

For Discussion
1. What links did you find in howOne Pill Makes You Smalleraddresses the notions of both
parenthood and morality--or the lack thereof? What about the links between artistic expression and
personal experience?
2. Describe Alice Duncan. In what ways is she a victim? In what ways does she personify
empowerment, skill, control, and drive? What makes her different from other clÓn