I liked this because it's truly Alice's story. In the same way that Quentin's story is all about Quentin, Alice's story is all about Alice, and Quentin is just a bit player in it. Her own brain getting in her way, her disconnection from the world, and her ambivalence towards her parents -- not quite hate, not quite love -- go a long way to tying this book together, and I love her description of niffinhood.