Eating The Cheshire Cat (Helen Ellis)

* Eating the Cheshire Cat lures us into a world of perfectly planned parties and steep social ladders, where traditional rites of passage take unpredictable and horrifying turns as three girls and their overbearing mothers collide. In Tuscaloosa, Alabama, beauty is as beauty does, with axes and knives and killer smiles.

Sarina Summers and her mother will stop at nothing to have it all. Nicole Hicks harbors a fierce obsession with Sarina, which repeatedly undermines Mrs. Hicks's ambitious goals. Bitty Jack Carlson, a nice girl from the wrong side of the tracks, is caught in the crossfire but struggles to succeed outside the confines of this outrageous yet eerily familiar Southern community. It's survival of the fittest. Which girl will come out on top?

Covering everything from summer camp to the University of Alabama's Homecoming game, this fast-paced and unforgettable novel will keep readers guessing until the bitter end.

Among the three characters, Nicole was the one who really got into me. She is so terribly obsessed with Sarina that she revolved her life around Sarina. She stalked her and did everything she could to please Sarina. Aside from her obsession with Sarina, she also like to cut herself. Every time she cuts herself, I close the book and think of something else for a few minutes before reading again. I just couldn't stand it. I once cut my thumb with a blade when I was 8 years old out of curiosity. It hurt like hell so I never did it again. So it somehow amazes me why some people get a kick out of cutting themselves.

Sarina, on the other hand, is the almost perfect and mean girl everyone loves to hate. I don't hate her though. I actually pity her. She does every thing she could to get what she wants but always gets hurt in the end.

Bitty Jack is the nice girl whose life is tormented by Sarina both directly and indirectly. She finally got the explosive revenge she always wanted at the end, but with a conscience that would haunt her for as long as she live.

This book is dark, funny, and crazy. A nice book to read on a lazy afternoon - that is if you don't mind reading about people cutting themselves with blades and chopping off people's fingers with an ax.