"Ask Alice" takes place in the early 1900's through 1932.  I generally enjoy reading about this period in time.  There are some interesting moments, but over all I don't feel I "know " any of the characters.  There are not even that many different characters, I did not feel they were really developed thoroughly.
We begin on a train, Alice and her aunt traveling by train to Roswell from Kansas City.  Alice was living with her aunt and uncle but now going to live with other people, in hopes that she could marry or find a job.  She never gets there because a salesman picks her up, she ends up living with him for awhile; gets pregnant, he leaves.  Alice then begins acting,  moves in with a producer, leaves him to go act in Europe, where she boards her son out. 
Things get confusing.  The author introduces another story, and the reader is bounced back and forth between the stories.  Ste story got bogged down an became tedious.
Eventually, the story comes together at the end.
If there was a point, i missed it.