The mind reels

In this bracing debut novel from cultural critic deBoer (How Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement), a young woman becomes a prisoner of her own mind. Alice, born and raised in Oklahoma, is a student of "advanced mediocrity," floating to a B+ level in high school without dazzling anyone with her intelligence. Rejected by all her reach schools, she ends up at the University of Oklahoma. There, earlier signs of Alice's psychological distress--such as when she ran tweezers across her thighs "until they were raw and bleeding" during her summer job as a lifeguard--escalate. She experiments with drugs, discovers she can function on only four hours of sleep, and loses 20 pounds despite not being overweight. Concerns from her parents and friends prompt Alice to visit doctor after doctor and try various medications, from antidepressants to lithium, with increasingly unmanageable side effects like weight gain and memory fog. Over the next 16 years, Alice loses friends, family, and romantic relationships as she repeatedly descends into paranoia. The author convincingly portrays Alice's chaotic and isolated life, in which she is gripped by "unyielding, endless shame." It's a searing portrait of a woman on the brink. Agent: William Callahan, InkWell Management. (Oct.)