Go Ask Alice (Mass Market Paperback)

~ Anonymous (Author) "Yesterday I remember thinking I was the happiest person in the whole earth, in the whole galaxy, in all of God's creation..." (more)
Key Phrases: San Francisco, Doctor Langley, Coos Bay (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The torture and hell of adolescence has rarely been captured as clearly as it is in this classic diary by an anonymous, addicted teen. Lonely, awkward, and under extreme pressure from her "perfect" parents, "Anonymous" swings madly between optimism and despair. When one of her new friends spikes her drink with LSD, this diarist begins a frightening journey into darkness. The drugs take the edge off her loneliness and self-hate, but they also turn her life into a nightmare of exalting highs and excruciating lows. Although there is still some question as to whether this diary is real or fictional, there is no question that it has made a profound impact on millions of readers during the more than 25 years it has been in print. Despite a few dated references to hippies and some expired slang, Go Ask Alice still offers a jolting chronicle of a teenager's life spinning out of control. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

Library Journal An important book, this deserves as wide a readership as libraries can give it. -- Review --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Simon Pulse; 1 edition (March 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689817851
• ISBN-13: 978-0689817854
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1,286 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #256,618 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #17 in	Books > Teens > Social Issues > Drug Use & Abuse > Nonfiction
  #84 in	Books > Teens > Social Issues > Drug Use & Abuse > Fiction

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

133 of 157 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Adult Reader's Review, May 25, 2002

By	Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Presumably the diary of a teenage drug addict, GO ASK ALICE was first published when I was in junior highschool. It was widely distributed at my school, and the faculty urged the students to read it for an accurate portrait of the horrors of drug use--and read it I did. At the time I was very, very impressed by the book. But that was almost thirty years ago. Today I am 40 years old, and I am a much more critical reader than I was when I was 12. And my thoughts upon rereading this book are quite different than they were when I first came to it.

The obvious issue here is whether or not the book is what it purports to be. Upon re-reading it, I find myself willing to believe that GO ASK ALICE is indeed the diary of a teenage drug user--but I also think it has been heavily re-written in spots to intensify its anti-drug agenda. I base this observation on two points. First, whenever the book describes drugs or their effects, it suddenly changes tone and becomes very, very specific in a way that the other entries are not. Secondly, the descriptions it offers re the effects of certain drugs are exactly those you would expect of a non-drug-user writing with reference to studies available in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

This does not change the fact that this is a good book for young teenagers to read. The literary merit is zero--but that is not the point; the point is, as it always was, that casual drug use is simply not a good idea, and it places you in a situation where one thing can easily lead to another without the user being aware of the drift or having concious control. But it is also a book that needs to be read with responsible adult imput, for some of its content may need qualification. Ultimately, although dated and perhaps not quite as honest as it at first glance seems, it remains a powerful tool in any parent's anti-drug arsenal.

57 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Take this book with a large grain of salt - IT'S FICTION!, November 27, 2004

By	lit teacher jones - See all my reviews

I don't mind people liking this book or gaining something from this book, but many of the adult reviewers here seem hellbent on promoting this book as either as either a major literary work or as an actual diary depicting the horrors of teen drug abuse. It is neither. I think it does potential readers, especially teen readers a true disservice to promote this book in either way. If you're doing this, you are not being honest.

It is NOT a real diary. It simply is not. It is a work of fiction created by Sparks. She continued this path - soap opera in diary form in a full-out series of books warning teens about the consequences of bad behavior. Don't believe me? Go to the Snopes Web site (you know, the one that confirms or dispells urban legends, rumors and out-and-out lies?) and read about Go Ask Alice. The researchers there confirmed that It is a work of FICTION written by SPARKS (not "Anonymous") as if it were a real diary. I'm not saying this is necessarily a bad thing, as long as teens aren't being told this is a girl's real diary. That would be a lie. I don't believe in lying to teens, regardless of how noble you think the cause. Interesting note - Sparks, who is now in her eighties - was (maybe still is, I don't know) a member of the Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints church. She wrote books that promoted the values of her church (obey your parents, clean living, etc.) - she just seemed to forget that annoying little commandment "Thou Shalt Not Lie." Apparently, there was even a 1979 musical inspired by "Alice" follow-up "Jay's Journal" that focuses on Spark's promoting fiction as fact, taking advantage of "Jay's" family (there actually was a "Jay," but most of the book about him was fiction) to enhance her own career, etc.

BTW, note to English teachers - if you're having your students write papers on this book (there are better books out there), make sure the papers aren't plaigerized from the net. I was amazed at how many "lift this paper" versions of Alice book reviews I found. A tipoff is that most, if not all, spoke of Alice as being a wonderful, emotional, true account of a teen struggling with drugs. If students actually research this book, they'll know it's fiction. Of course, being an English teacher, you already should know it's fiction, right?

There are books that give true, harrowing accounts of what happens when you use drugs. This is not one of those books. This book is a didactic soap opera - a cautionary tale written in a highly dramatic, unrealistic way. It is not particularly well-written, not great literature, but it's written in an emotional, dramatic, edgy (for it's time) way to draw in teen readers. Judging by its popularity and the doggedly admiring reviews here, it's been very successful.

I don't mind this book or its format, but I do have a tremendous problem with it being promoted to teens as something that it is not. Enjoy it as a work of fiction, realize that drug users generally have very sad, wasted lives, use it as a way to realize you should "just say no," whatever. But realize it's basically a fictional soap opera or an after-school-special in fake diary form. If you understand that, then by all means, read and enjoy. Don't use drugs and don't lie to people. Both are nasty habits to have.

152 of 192 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Just silly, January 15, 2001

By	Tim Lieder "Founder of Dybbuk Press" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Look, I know I shouldn't be saying this because this book is the IMPORTANT BOOK to keep children off of drugs, but it's pure drug hysteria. It's one of those books that you read before you even know anyone who drinks beer and it scares you. Later on, you take drugs anyhow especially when you realize that your potsmoking cousin has yet to shoot up with heroin. By making a huge issue out of drugs, it undercuts it's message and renders it useless. False notes include:

"Alice" being tricked into taking acid: Acid's expensive. Acid's also easy to freak out on, and if you are with someone whose tripping that isn't liking the experience, it's going to ruin your evening. Usually when people take acid for the first time, their friends make sure that they are not going to go paranoid.

Dealing to school children: Why would 10 year olds want the stuff? They've all been indoctrinated in the "Drugs kill little kids" paranoia. If you were dealing to elementary kids, you'd be lucky to get out of the playground alive.

Being raped by heroin addicts: Heroin kills all sexual urges. Nothing more to say there.

Shooting up after being on acid for awhile: People don't go comparison shopping for drugs. People tend to settle on what they like. I was a pothead in college. My friends were drunks. We usually didn't mix and match and I only know a few people who even tried smack or cocaine.

Being tricked back into Acid: This had to be the most ridiculous scene in the book. Alice is babysitting. She eats the candy in the dish. It's Acid. She goes nuts. Huh? Did her friends break in when she wasn't looking? Did the nice young couple that hired her do it as part of the DRUG CONSPIRACY! Is this the magical Acid that doesn't fall apart at room temperature. Besides that why would a drug addict want to actively recruit other addicts. Drugs aren't plentiful. If someone wants to stop using, you let them. It leaves more for you.

It would have been so much more realistic if "Alice" had tried to hang out with her old friends and realized that they had nothing in common and that made her want to go back on drugs if only to have something to talk about with them. The evil drug addicts who try to get their lost sheep back into the fold is the stuff of Moonies, Scientologists and Christians - not drug fiends.

I could go on but I won't. All in all, this is a silly melodrama, with a lot of drug myths strung together in order put fear into the hearts of teenagers. If you want to read a REAL diary about drug addiction - read THE BASKETBALL DIARIES by Jim Carroll. It's urbane, realistic, funny and blisteringly evil. It shows the pure horror of drug addiction from the perspective of a punk kid who doesn't realize how horrible life is getting for him until it's too late. He's not a whiner like "Alice" and he's not making excuses for himself and there's no "He died of a heroin overdose isn't that sad" shock ending. The movie is Disney-melodrama, but the book is pure brilliance.

For other books about drug addiction try Please Kill Me: The Oral History of Punk, Trainspotting or even Naked Lunch.

If you want to know what drug addiction is really about then don't read the literary equivalent of Reefer Madness.