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Go Ask Alice

by Beatrice Sparks (as "Anonymous"), Anonymous

3.72 of 5 stars 3.72 · rating details · 103,683 ratings · 5,347 reviews

Alice COULD BE ANYONE.

Alice

COULD BE SOMEONE YOU KNOW.

Alice

USES DRUGS.

With over a million copies in print, Go Ask Alice has become a classic of our time. This powerful real-life diary of a teenager's struggle with the seductive -- often fatal -- world of drugs and addiction tells the truth about drugs in strong and authentic voice. Tough and uncompromising, honest and distu...more

ebook, 192 pages

Published July 13th 1999 by Simon Pulse (first published 1971)

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Sep 01, 2007 Rachel rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: stupid faces

i read this in high school and went "oh my god...i'm never doing acid" and then went " how can anyone pretend this is a real diary?!" and then ate lsd-laced peanuts, locked myself in a closet, pulled out all of my hair and woke up three weeks later in a hospital bed..."what happened?" crap crap crap...this book is crap. plotline:
1. i'm a good girl
2. i'm going to a party...with boys...haha
3. i'll have a beer
4. i might as well try a joint
5. cocaine is awesome. what a fun fun double-fun night!
6. ls...more

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Mar 29, 2013 Manny rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: too-sexy-for-maiden-aunts, story-review, older-men-younger-women, pooh-dante

- Alice?

- Mm-hm?

- They told me to go ask you.

- Ask me what?

- Ah... I guess, should I do drugs?

- Well, how would I know? I'm just a made-up girl in a piece of anti-drugs propaganda that somehow became more famous than it deserved.

- Hey, don't be like that. I meant, if you actually had existed, then what would you have said?

The rest of this review is in my book What Pooh Might Have Said to Dante and Other Futile Speculations

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Aug 18, 2007 Laura rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

This book is crap on its own. But those of you old enough to remember the latter portion of the 70s might remember that Beatrice Sparks, the "editor" of Go Ask Alice, also "edited" a bunch of other alarmist books aimed at teens, all supposedly taken from teenagers' diaries. One was called "Jay's Journal," and was purportedly about a teen who gets involved with Satanism and eventually commits suicide to escape the horror of it all.

Even as a 12-year-old, however, it was obvious to me that every si...more

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Nov 12, 2012 Petra X rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography-true-story, death, popculture-anthropology

This was written by Nancy Reagan* as propaganda for her "Just Say NO" anti-drugs campaign. It contains every single cliche about how making friends with anyone whose social life doesn't involve Christian youth clubs will inevitably lead to the sort of parties where teenagers can drink beer and have a puff of a joint and it is downhill all the way from there.

Drugs lead to getting in with a bad crowd, having sex, stealing, dealing, prostitution, homelessness and insanity! Only the pastor can save...more

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Robert Since we are on a religion rant, what really gets me is the fear factor in religions. Take the story of Moses for example:
After 40 long and hard year...more
May 02, 2013 10:29am

Petra X Sorry it has affected you so badly. I didn't really see the story that way, I didn't take it as seriously as you, it's just a story. I think even as a...more
May 02, 2013 11:10am

Oct 19, 2007 Madison rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own, sad-but-good

It's hard for me to write this review because I don't really know where to begin.

Basically whether you believe this is fiction or not that should not matter. If you believe this story is too far fetched to be true, then I must say that you are absolutely wrong, because my (recovering) drug addicted sister is "Alice", I am the innocent "Alex", and our family is the one that will always love her and always take her back. Stories like this absolutely exist in real life. My sister even started using...more

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Nov 16, 2007 Patricia rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: youngadults, fiction

I was never forced to read this when I was younger, so I thought that I'd pick it up and read it now, for a laugh, being as there are days when there is just too much blood in my drug-stream.

7pm 12 Nov 2007

Well, I'm about 12 page into this book and I already hate Alice. Quite a lot, actually. I hope that as I read further, Alice's drug-induced diary entries mark an improvement upon her character.

1pm 16 Nov 2007

Finished the book 3 days ago, and just finally stopped laughing so that I can be able...more

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Jun 05, 2008 Meredith rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Bwaaah. So disappointing. Some of my co-workers were discussing this book at lunch one day, and I remembered being super curious about it when I was younger, but for some reason never got around to it. Unfortunately for my enjoyment of the book, I did some digging before reading it. I see on Goodreads that the author is not credited as "Anonymous" (as it still is on the cover of the book), but Beatrice Sparks. On the book, Sparks is listed as the editor, but a preface still states it is the real...more Bwaaah. So disappointing. Some of my co-workers were discussing this book at lunch one day, and I remembered being super curious about it when I was younger, but for some reason never got around to it. Unfortunately for my enjoyment of the book, I did some digging before reading it. I see on Goodreads that the author is not credited as "Anonymous" (as it still is on the cover of the book), but Beatrice Sparks. On the book, Sparks is listed as the editor, but a preface still states it is the real diary of a real teenager. Now there are three possibilities here, 1. Sparks has the most depressing job ever, surrounding by teens facing fatal distasters, but always keeping a diary about it, 2. Sparks stalks especially literate high-risk children across the country, 3. Sparks totally made it all up. Go Ask Alice is one of about seven diaries of anonymous teenagers edited by Sparks (with Jay's Journal even having the same cover, but with a boy instead), who also is apparently a Mormon youth counselor. SO, unsurprisingly, there's a bit of an agenda going on, with the plot lines seeming a little to hyperbolic and a pretty obvious anti-hippie/free love vibe throughout the book (and a bizarre and troubling underlying theme of drug use causing homosexual desires and behavior, which is later regretted and seen as intensely shameful and dirty).

So, if the events of the book are not true, it robs it of the punch at the end of the book. But maybe if it's written really well, it would be redeeming. Sadly, no. This is a book written by an adult, I suppose, trying to sound like a teenager. Apparently, teenagers use the phrasing "I do, I really, truly do!," "I want to, I would really, really, want to!," a LOT, as well as an excrutiating number of sacchrine adjectives and adverbs (along the lines of "Daddy is such a lovely, sweet, caring, lovely, lovely Daddy!"). Ugh.

Some reviews I've read also attack the diarist as exceptionally weak, self-pitying, and self-absorbed, with no willingness to change her circumstances. I didn't have a problem with her characterization, however, since a kid would likely have self-esteem issues in order to be tempted into the lifestyle that she had. Also, this is supposed to be a diary, where someone would reveal their thoughts, fears, and flaws, without really trying to defend themselves. I can't imagine a diary that I wrote in middle school would be free of weakness or self-absorption.

I suppose there was an underlying noble cause in wanting to scare kids off drugs motivating the creation of this book, so it has some sort of value. But at least from my experience, kids read this book and were freaked out in around 5th grade, a while before they would even have an interest in drugs (contrary to Go Ask Alice, 10 year olds do not generally sell LSD to elementary school kids in upper-middle-class suburban neighborhoods). Once kids got to the age where they would be tempted to use drugs, the scariness of the book had faded, and it was more of a "hey, remember that crazy book we read when we were little?" The unrealistically exaggerated plot lines also probably distances kids from relating the diarist's lessons to their own lives.

I guess what I'm getting at is the hoax in authorship robs the book of the punch delivered in the epilogue (which is itself given away by reading the summary on the back of the book, amateurs), which would be the only poignant/jarring aspect of the book. The rest is simply drug scare tactics written poorly. If you don't have authenticity to rely on, you need something else to carry your book.(less)

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Oct 16, 2007 Rachel rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: everyone

I first read this book in sixth grade. When I tell people this, they usually look at me in an appalled fashion, and ask if my parents knew I was reading it. And I tell them, yes, my mother knew, before I was even finished with the first entry. I had/ have a tendency to talk openly with my mother, especially upon the topic of books. When she saw that I was reading it, she looked at me a moment, then said something along the lines of: "Rachel, if you weren't such a mature reader/person, I would t...more

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Feb 07, 2011 James rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult

This infuriating book is the most repugnant piece of reactionary propaganda that I've ever had the misfortune to read. Go Ask Alice is unnecessary proof that sex and drug stories are the best money makers; it helps when they also support a staunchly conservative, traditionalist agenda. The whole book is a fetid lie, and a poorly executed one at that.

OK, now that I've calmed down a little bit, let's actually discuss this "real diary." If there ever was a real diary (which seems hardly likely) it...more This infuriating book is the most repugnant piece of reactionary propaganda that I've ever had the misfortune to read. Go Ask Alice is unnecessary proof that sex and drug stories are the best money makers; it helps when they also support a staunchly conservative, traditionalist agenda. The whole book is a fetid lie, and a poorly executed one at that.

OK, now that I've calmed down a little bit, let's actually discuss this "real diary." If there ever was a real diary (which seems hardly likely) it was probably very mild compared to this oversexed and overwritten garbage. What seems most likely is that Beatrice Sparks set out to write a book that would prove that smoking a joint or two, having sex without marriage, and (gasp!) not praying all the time would lead to a tragic decline and fall, eventually leading to a premature death. Now, to be fair to Sparks, I'm sure that this literary hoax was on some level a serious effort to help kids avoid the pitfalls of drugs and promiscuous sex, etc., but the author goes about it a way that is misguided at best and morally indefensible at worst. If this is on some level a real diary (once again, extremely unlikely) the advertisement and sale of it as a lurid, trashy cautionary tale is a disturbing thought. But, the fact that it is a lie disguised as the truth is simply disgusting. It is a blatant slap in the face to all families who have suffered real drug related losses. It's the commercialization of tragedy.

Next, there is the writing style and storyline (remember, it is a story) to consider. The book does tug at the heartstrings, but only in way most abusive to the reader. If there is one thing that always upsets me in fiction, it is any tragedy involving the elderly; this has always bothered me. Naturally, Sparks kills off both of the narrator's grandparents in the most tragic ways the story allows. She exploits the reader's archetypal love of grandparents for cheap heartache (is it any wonder that this was made into a TV movie of the week?). If there was any clue to this book's lack of authenticity, it's the glaringly obvious fact that the grandparents will die before book's end, something a child could see coming. The reader is supposed to accept that a girl who can't figure out how a doctor can tell if a girl is a virgin, would, a relatively short time later, be using language out of a Henry Miller novel. The attempts to sound like an innocent girl and a jaded junkie are hackneyed and incompetent. The progression is totally unrealistic, but is still clearly the progression of a novel, not a real diary. I have to hand it to Sparks, she really throws in everything, including some outrageous, barely concealed homophobia: of course the drug dealers are gay, and drugs make the narrator want to be a lesbian and similar such things. And unsurprisingly, it must be pointed out at the end that the publication of this "real diary" is a commemoration of the "thousands of drug deaths that year." I think that if parents chose to sit down with their kids and talked about drugs instead of letting them read this crap, it would be a small, but much more intelligent (and certainly more tasteful) tribute to the dead and a step towards a more educated future.

Go Ask Alice was an important book for me; I can honestly say I've never run to the computer so fast to tap out a review, good or bad, before. I do understand, truly, why books like Alice exist. Parents fear for the welfare of their children and want to have preventative measures, while kids love stories packed with drugs and sex. I just wish there was a way to educate young and old without having to engage a ridiculous, exploitative forgery like Go Ask Alice. (less)

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Jul 24, 2007 Carly rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult

This book is pretty silly & most likely a work of complete fiction. It was written back when conservatives thought they needed to fictionalize drug abuse in order to frighten teenagers. Luckily, this is a new millenium & most of us know what crack whores look like or have known people whose lives have been ruined by drugs. Most kids read this book at a young age & find it too thrilling to realize it's anti-drug propaganda. If you're not convinced that Go Ask Alice is fiction, read an...more

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Reader Carly wrote: "A true story about a person's problems with drug addiction is far more compelling than any propaganda will ever be. What's wrong with an...more
Jul 25, 2010 07:33am

Carly Propaganda: The systematic propagation of a doctrine or cause or of information reflecting the views and interests of those advocating such a doctrine...more
Jul 25, 2010 09:01am

Aug 30, 2007 Mary rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this for the first time in college as part of a reading-intensive young adult lit class, and it was the worst of the many, many books we read. For one girl in the class, it was the only book of the many, many we read that she actually liked, solely because it was the only one she morally approved of (man, how she loathed Weetzie Bat). She went on to become our slacker school's valedictorian. She was a poet and used the word "tapestry" too much in her writing. I think all of this is quite...more

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Sep 02, 2007 Osho rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: psychology

Speaking as a psychologist: Lies, damned lies, and politics. My rating reflects my teenage reading of it; even at the time, it was clear to me that it was fictional and was being misrepresented as a memoir/diary. Guess that's why I'm a good psychologist!

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Mar 14, 2011 Amy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. In my opinion GO ASK ALICE is a very realistic book. Because it was written and published in 1971 you have to forgive the book being a generation behing in coolness, if you will. However, coolness is not what GO ASK ALICE is about. This diary style written book is a story of a 15 year old girl who goes through the trials and tribulations of the basic teenager who throughout the book remain anonymous. Anon finds her diary to be her only friend and confides in it for almost 2 years. During this ti...more

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Dec 19, 2007 Kirk rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: medium-warm

When I was a child I used to slip into my mother's paperbacks late at night when no one was looking. This was one of the first books I gobbled up, in part because my babysitters (who would now be in their fifties) had me mystified by this thing called adolescence. In all honesty, I was drawn at eight or nine by Alice's drug use, sex, and profanity. (There's a certain seven-letter compound word that I learned from the book---only back then it was two words). I pretty much thought this was what ha...more

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Aug 24, 2007 Courtney rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I picked this book off the self to read at work as I am determined to familiarize myself with the collection more and because it's a "classic" and on the ALA banned book list.

While reading I often found myself thinking..."What? No 16 year old girl says that. This was obviously a part the editors edited heavily." Then I realized how often I was thinking that. The whole thing struck me as oddly UNrealistic even though it was supposed to be a real account. (And is shelved in our non-fiction section...more

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Jan 29, 2008 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My daughter read this book. I was ready to freak out - This book is way too graphic for an 11 year old. I was composing a letter to the middle school librarian who allowed her to check this book out. I was preparing a lecture for Ashley about what is and is not appropriate for a child to read. Then Ashley came to me and started talking about drugs. She started talking about the things that kids say about drugs at school. She told me that she and her best friend had a teary talk about how sad the...more

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Oct 22, 2007 Ammy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: girlsz

this book is so interseting is like so many surprising things happen unexpected .like this one girl has no control over herself shes been taken over by drugs and running away from her difficulties.i really like it because it shows how we complain so much of our everyday lives but what we dont know is anyone around us can be thinking the same . however solving it diferently in a way that can be so dangerous.

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Mar 12, 2008 xAnissax rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: EVERYONE

This book is something every kid should read before high school. The main character is slipped LSD and hooked on drugs. As she becomes an addict, her diary explains her deepest fears and thoughts. The truth in stories can be scary.

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Aug 02, 2008 Mr. Frade rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a sensationalist piece of garbage. A DARE commercial on speed (pun was intended) and I just didn't care about anyone because it was so poorly written.

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Dec 19, 2011 Nyra rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

FRAGMENTO:

"Diciembre 3
Anoche fue la peor noche de mi puerca, podrida, apestosa, terriblemente cabrona vida. Sólo éramos cuatro y Sheila y Rod, su (novio) de turno, nos iniciaron en la heroína. Al principio tuvimos algo de miedo, pero sin embargo nos convencieron de que todas las historias de horros que se cuentan sobre la heroína son puros mitos americanos. Creo no obstante, que estaba muy excitada, y la verdad es que me moría de ganas de probar viéndoles a ellos prepararlo. El sabor produce...more
FRAGMENTO:

"Diciembre 3
Anoche fue la peor noche de mi puerca, podrida, apestosa, terriblemente cabrona vida. Sólo éramos cuatro y Sheila y Rod, su (novio) de turno, nos iniciaron en la heroína. Al principio tuvimos algo de miedo, pero sin embargo nos convencieron de que todas las historias de horros que se cuentan sobre la heroína son puros mitos americanos. Creo no obstante, que estaba muy excitada, y la verdad es que me moría de ganas de probar viéndoles a ellos prepararlo. El sabor produce una gran sensación,diferente a todo lo que había probado. Me sentí amorosa, lánguida y maravillosamente blanda, como si flotase sobre la realidad y las mundanas cosas se hubiesen perdido para siempre en el espacio. Pero, antes de perder totalmente la noción de lo que ocurría a nuestro alrededor, vi a Sheila y a su lameculos preparándose un (rápido). Recuerdo que me extraño ver que se disponían a ponerse tan (altos) cuando acababan de ponernos a nosotras tan maravillosamente (bajas), y sólo más tarde me di cuenta de que los asqueroso hijos de perra se habían turnado para violarnos, tratándonos sádica y brutalmente. Ése había sido su plan estratégico desde el comienzo, los ruines comemierda."

La primera vez que leí este libro tenía 15 años, estaba en bachillerato y me lo prestó una amiga de mi aula de clases, a ambas nos gustaba eso de escribir y leer asi que nos intercambiabamos nuestras lecturas regularmente, entonces un día me dijo "tienes que leerlo, es increible". Sin duda, la historia de Alicia me impactó grande y positivamente de tal manera que creo en mí, una fobia y repugnancia instintiva a los vicios de cualquier tipo: Drogas, alcohol, cigarrillos, etc. De hecho mantengo esa linea actualmente. Fuí una chica afortunada, porque púde entender el mensaje que transmite la protagonista, sin bien esta escrito en un lenguaje duro, con palabras fuertes y carente de sutilesas; me explicó en palabras de una adolescente que el mundo tiene más de mil rostros y no todos son buenos y e inocentes. En esos años solía escribir en un diario y todo eso, a estas alturas no tengo ni idea de donde fueron a parar mis palabras escritas en esas hojas de color rosa palido. En todo caso, vuelvo a leer la historia de Alicia 11 años después, gracias a un amigo que sin saberlo me lo obsequió y una vez más me sorprende lo que puedo ver ahora, con una mente y una personalidad más madura. Recomendarselos, no sería suficiente. Es un libro de esos que hay que leer. Sin tomar en cuenta, si la historia es o no verídica, todo indica que los hechos escritos allí constituyen una descripción bastante aproximada de la realidad hoy en día. Muchos conocemos a un "amigo/a" que consume ese tipo de sustancias y podríamos crear un contexto y distinguir el mensaje que nos dice Alicia en letras mayúscula y negrita
"DILE NO A LAS DROGAS".

En cuanto a la historia en sí, brevemente les diré un poco de que se trata, es un libro que contiene lo escrito por Alicia una joven de quince años, buena estudiante, nada popular en su colegio e inconforme con su cuerpo y algunos aspectos de su vida. papeles sueltos y bolsas desechables. Las fechas no todas están cronologicamente ordenadas y algunas entradas son de dos o poco más de cinco líneas,en otras sin embargo se extiende.
Alicia es hija de un prominente y respetado profesor universitario, su madre es una dama de principios y buena educación; aparte de ellos tiene dos hermanos, Tim y Alexandria. Ambos menores que ella. Todo marcha bien en su vida, excepto por los aspectos que les comenté anteriormente, es en una fiesta que sin ella saberlo su mundo cambia para siempre, allí ingiere una bebida con LSD, y la experiencia es para ella tan notable que poco despues lo intenta de nuevo y así continúa, hasta perder su virginidad en uno de sus "viajes". Pero no todo acaba allí, diversas circunstancias y el continuo hundimiento de su personalidad la sumergen en una depresión constante, que solo descara en las hojas de su dirario allí lo cuenta todo y tambien como lo oculta todo a su familia, en especial sus padres. Poco despues huye de casa y la decadencia en su vida empeora, prueba una nueva vida trabajando e intentando nuevas experiencias madurando exteriormente, pero en el fondo Alicia sigue siendo una chica inocente e ilusa, aún cree que podrá escapar de las garras del vicio y la droga, al contrario se hunde cada vez un poco más. Nuevamente regresa a casa y huye otro par de veces más. Se convierte, en un estropajo humano, una indigente y un ser destrozado. Cada vez más decadente no distingue ni siquiera cual es su orientación sexual, pierde el respeto por su cuerpo vendiendolo para conseguir algo de "pasta" o una inyección. La paranoia se apodera de ella en su último regreso a casa, en donde se muestra recuperada, regenerada y feliz, realmente se aleja de ese sordido mundo. Al menos lo ine}tenta por un tiempo. Pero todo es inutil, ese mundo la encuentra de la manera más horrenda y Alicia no sabe que hacer esta vez. ¿Huir? ¿Quedarse? ¿Que hacer?. Sus padres resultan admirables, sus hermanos y abuelos tambien.
Es pues, un libro triste, lleno de realidad, degradación, vicios, torcida sexualidad y de una chiquilla que perdió el rumbo, sencillamente por querer encajar y no estar informada de las consecuencias. Probablemente muchos de ustedes al igual que yo lo han leído, otros quizá no. No aseguro que lo disfrutarás pero de lo que si estoy segura, es que Alicia te sorprenderá con alguna frase, circunstancia o simplemente con leer el sufrimiento que solo su diario y ella saben que padece. Les dejo un video de la cantante Avril Lavigne, que nos habla precisamente de inseguridades y problemas juveniles y que de alguna manera nos da un mensaje de ser fuertes.(less)

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Oct 08, 2012 Charity rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I first read this book when I was in 8th grade and I had really enjoyed because I thought it was a girl's actual journal. Even though the book ended very sadly, it was still interesting for me to read about what "Alice" went through. I read the book again, in my senior year of high school, and I picked up on things that I hadn't in 8th grade. For instance, I didn't realize that "Alice" had been anorexic and bulimic in the beginning of the book.

Even though I still find the book extremely interes...more

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Jul 17, 2010 Loretta Kelly rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Go Ask alice is a tragic story written in diary format by an anonymous author revealing her personal journey of using drugs. The author is a teenager who is initially victimized by being drugged without her knowing. I'm not an expert, but I've heard that an addiction can happen after one time, which is what happens to the girl in this book. It is a true story and documents the (almost) daily accounts of this drug addicted teenage girl's life for one year.

Throughout the diary, she reveals the bac...more

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Jan 26, 2008 Debbie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-to-read-before-you-die, banned

Though purported to be the real diary of a 15-year-old girl who became addicted to drugs during the 1960's, Go Ask Alice is actually a work of fiction.

The narrator unknowingly takes LSD (acid) at a party and has a great trip. She is instantly addicted and a few weeks later, she is willingly sucking down any and every drug she can get. Come on!

While I am certainly not an advocate of drug use, there is no scientific evidence that LSD is addictive--or marijuana, another key ingredient the narrator...more

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Jan 13, 2008 David Bauckham rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have very mixed feelings on this book. Initially, I was very impacted by the narrator's ups and downs, and found myself very moved by the emotional, often horrific storyline. It also captured an era for me, that of the late-60's when drugs were the hip thing, and there was less knowledge about how detrimental their effects could be. While I found some of the narrator's voice a little odd, I dismissed it at the time as being of another time-period. If it ever seemed moralizing, I told myself th...more

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May 21, 2008 Tortla rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, ya-like

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Weird. Maybe it was because I went into reading this book with the background of it maybe not being a real diary, but it seemed inconceivable to me that this would have been written by a fifteen-year-old as a diary. It was too much like a novel. I guess it's possible that it could have been a real diary, given that the girl said she liked to read and that she was pretty much a good student and that there were incosistencies (which make it more believable as an ongoing work as opposed to an epist...more Weird. Maybe it was because I went into reading this book with the background of it maybe not being a real diary, but it seemed inconceivable to me that this would have been written by a fifteen-year-old as a diary. It was too much like a novel. I guess it's possible that it could have been a real diary, given that the girl said she liked to read and that she was pretty much a good student and that there were incosistencies (which make it more believable as an ongoing work as opposed to an epistolary-style novel). But even if this book is non-fiction, it's still to cheesy for my taste. I mean, she's a pretty melodramatic person what with her "life is awesome" to "I wish I were dead" mood swings. I guess that's how teenagerhood works, especially in diaries, but I found it kind of irksome to have to keep reading about her hopes and dreams when I knew everything was going to end badly. (Speaking of ending badly, wasn't that ending the most contrived thing ever? I mean, maybe it's just me being skeptical again, but that's pretty much the exact same ending every single elementary-school-to-high-school-aged student ever gave to a diary when assigned to write one for a school project: things are going awesome, the protagonist decides not to write again, then the editor/friend of the protagonist/some stranger who finds the diary writes an epilogue saying that the protagonist died and the diary/confessional-style letters are going to be sent on to a friend/published so that the story can get out there. I know I've done that ending at least twice...)
So, overall, I found the book mildly...offensive, since it was based on the assumption that this girl was real and I found it hard to suspend my disbelief. And all that possible fabrication/liberties taken in editing aside, I was also annoyed by her religious whinings/prayer and her copious usage of (now) outdated slang. And the assertion that doing drugs makes people go "the homo route," which she referenced not only in telling somebody else's horrible drug-descent story but also in telling her own, when she started talking about how she wanted to kiss girls and how she thought she was turning gay. It sure seemed like someone was trying to put the "drugs are bad" message out there in as many ways as she could. I'm just not sure if it was "Alice" or if it was her "editors," trying to play up the anti-drug message (which comes along later, anyway, when she decides she wants to be a social worker and tell people not to be as stupid as her...which, by the way, makes her whole death seem very out of place, especially given the fact that the end of the diary comes three weeks prior to her death and you'd think if she were relapsing into drug use she wouldn't be staying consistently diary-free, since that was her drug-time crutch. Whatever.) It was an interesting book, whether the story was true or not.(less)

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Dec 22, 2012 Lynley rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Wow, I don't know what to say. The details of her drug trips annoyed me (skimmed them) but I finished it last night and can't stop thinking about it today (and stayed up WAY late to finish). I think it's almost a must read for teens. This girl was from a stable family and while she was insecure and felt she couldn't measure up (as most teens do) her family truly loved her and supported her. She was given drugs for the first time unknowingly. SCARY. It's made me think a lot about my own teen year...more

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Oct 10, 2007 Sarah rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone interested in propaganda pieces

Shelves: children-s

This was a title I had to read for my Childhood's books class.

If you haven't read it, it is set up as the diary of a young girl as she experiences the drug culture of the 1970s.

Here's the thing: It could have been really powerful. It wasn't. The first page claims that the diary is authentic and that the names have been changed to protect the others. And I believed this pretense for a while. But it becomes fairly obvious that this is a lie and instead, this "diary" is fabricated by a psychologis...more

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Oct 26, 2007 Anne-Marie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: back-in-the-day, abuse-recovery

I read this on a weekend church retreat with kids from the youth group I was not a part of or familiar with but forced to join by my parents. I was shy and awkward and those little fuckers kept giving me a hard time about the title of what I was reading. It was such a horrible two days that I still recall the entire experience pretty vividly. I loved this book and, despite the ridicule I put up with, I was grateful for an escape. Go Ask Alice totally scared the shit out of me though and I vowed...more

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Jul 18, 2007 Chassidy Andrew rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I loved this book. I read it, like everyone else in my early teen years and couldn't put it down. It definately sparked my interest in drugs and running away from home to pretend I was grown up. I think every teen goes through that time when no one understands them, you don't know where you are going and wish everyone could just leave you alone. It's funny how different reading a book at such a young age, and then reading it several years later when your grown- can change, especially because you...more

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Mar 08, 2011 Kristi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this book in one sitting. Couldn't put it down. It was such a small, rivoting book and the diary format made it a breeze to sail through. If only I could beleive it was from the diary of an actual teenager. It just didn't ring true. The writing seemed too high-functioning and too advanced for a 15-year-old strung out girl. It read as if an adult was pretending to be this person, and the evidence over the past forty years leans toward that. Even so, this was a horrific look at drug addicti...more

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About Beatrice Sparks

Beatrice Sparks was an American therapist and Mormon youth counselor who was known for producing books purporting to be the 'real diaries' of troubled teenagers. The books deal with topical issues such as drug abuse, Satanism, teenage pregnancy or AIDS, and are presented as cautionary tales. Although Sparks always presented herself as merely the discoverer and editor of the diaries, records at the...more

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Books by Beatrice Sparks

It Happened to Nancy: By an Anonymous Teenager, A True Story from Her Diary

Annie's Baby: The Diary of Anonymous, A Pregnant Teenager

Treacherous Love: The Diary of an Anonymous Teenager

Kim: Empty Inside: The Diary of an Anonymous Teenager

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“I'm not really sure which parts of myself are real and which parts are things I've gotten from books.” — 287 people liked it

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