Title: Go Ask Alice
Author: Anonymous
192 pages, published by Simon Pulse
Buy The Book:Amazon
Summary:
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 disturbing — and even more poignant today — Go Ask Alice is page-turning and provocative reading. (Summary provided by Simon Pulse.)
My Thoughts:
Today I am taking part in Banned Books Week being hosted by Sheila over at Book Journey. Keep reading after the discussion for info about how you can win a Banned Books Week prize package.
The following review contains major spoilers regarding the book Go Ask Alice. Read at your own risk!
I chose to re-read Go Ask Alice by Anonymous for Banned Books Week. I first read Go Ask Alice as a seventh grader attending a Catholic junior-senior high school. The book was located in the school library, and I remember being blown away by the young girl’s story of sex, drugs, and rebellion. I know now how truly remarkable it was that the school I attended happened to have Go Ask Alice among its library shelves, and I am thankful that it was there.
I remember being captivated by Alice’s diary, and at the time I truly believed I was reading the real diary of a troubled, young girl. (Now it is widely believed to have been written by Beatrice Sparks. Click here for more information regarding controversy surrounding the authorship of Go Ask Alice.) Alice’s frank discussion of drug usage and sex both fascinated and scared me. Go Ask Alice is the cautionary tale to end all cautionary tales: The author is reported to have died three weeks after the last diary entry. This totally freaked twelve-year-old me out! I did not want to be like Alice who, by the end of the diary, was doing her best to stay off drugs and she still died!
I re-read Go Ask Alice this week in preparation for this post. The last time I read the book I was an impressionable teen. Reading the book as an adult (with the added knowledge that a teen more than likely did not actually write the “diary”) was a completely different experience. I viewed it more as a glimpse into the late 60s, early 70s. Little things like Alice using orange juice concentrate containers to curl her hair and the “groovy” slang she used throughout the book made me feel nostalgic. I didn’t find the drug usage and sex nearly as shocking as I did when I was twelve. Instead, I paid attention to the structure of the diary.
Alice goes on and on at length after each drug relapse about the dangers of drugs. Alice describes briefly opening a boutique with one of her friends when she runs away from home to California. (I feel terrible admitting I laughed out loud when I read this part the other night. Maybe it was a simpler time in the late 60s and super easy to open a boutique? Maybe it is a teen exaggerating her misadventures? Who knows?) Alice also wants to become a counselor and counsel kids about the evils of drugs. She discusses statistics. She describes in detail the way the drug crowd at school terrorizes her when she decides to get off drugs. While I think all of this could certainly happen, something seemed off. I definitely think an adult wrote it as a sort of warning to teens to stay away from drugs. I am also lead to wonder if modern teens with Google at their fingertips will be as likely as I was at age twelve to believe Alice really existed. I hope they are…
When I began re-reading Go Ask Alice it never occurred to me that I wouldn’t view the book with the same awe and wonder that I did when I was twelve. However, I remember this book having a huge impact on me when I read it in junior high. I remember crying for Alice at the end of the book. I definitely had her story in the back of my mind when I encountered similar situations to those that Alice faced in the book, and I proceeded with caution. This is clearly a book that can make a difference with young people. Teens are the ones who need to read Go Ask Alice. Obviously, I understand some parents may not want their teens to read books with lots of drug usage and casual sex. In turn, those same parents need to understand that if they don’t want their child to read such books it is their job to preview their child’s reading material not the schools’ job.
Giveaway: Leave a comment on this post to enter to win a Banned Books Week prize pack. One lucky commenter will be chosen at random to win a Banned Books Week t-shirt (men’s size large) and Banned Books Week book marks (pictured below)! Entries for the contest will be accepted until midnight CST on Tuesday, October 9th and I’ll announce the winner within this post sometime Tuesday afternoon. Congrats to commenter number 14, Aurora! Aurora won the Banned Books Week prize pack.:)
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{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
FANTASTIC review! I have heard of this one but really did not know what it was about. This one goes into my TBR for sure. Thanks for being a part of banned book week…
Oh and I really love that banned book shirt!!!!!
Great review. It’s so interesting how differently we respond to books at different ages, and sad to think that where books are being pulled out of school libraries it may be denying children to have those same reactions we had when we first read things. I’m adding this to my TBR now (as if it wasn’t long enough already!) And the T shirt would be awesome, as I’m currently pregnant and massive and they’re so comfortable!
I’m listening to White Rabbit as I read this. Boy, do I remember this book and the controversy surrounding it. I read it as a young teen and was completely blown away by it because I thought it was true. Now I wonder how it would hold up to a re-read.
Go Ask Alice is a book that I have never read before. Reading the blogs this week during BBW, I have realized how many classics, and banned books I have not yet read. Thanks so much for the chance to win!
Great review! I first read this when I was teaching middle school special education. I didn’t know it was such a controversial book until one of my para’s mentioned it to me. I really enjoyed your perspectives from the YA as well as an adult – I think I need to read it again as well!
I loved your review! Go Ask Alice was one of the first books my book club read when we formed. I had not read the book as a teen but was captivated by the diary-style writing. The fact that we are still reading it and discussing it, is a good indicator that the message of the book is much stronger than any banning. Thanks for sharing!
Rebecca @ The Key to the Gate
I’ll never forget this book. I wish I could remember exactly when I read it but I know I was scandalized in the best way
I was young and sheltered and this book blew my mind.
I’ve never read Go Ask Alice… But now I want to! I’m digging the Banned Books Week swag, consider me entered
.
I haven’t read this one, but your review raises some interesting questions.
I’d love to enter the giveaway: my contact is chezraine(at)gmail(dot)com
Here’s MY BANNED BOOK REVIEW & GIVEAWAY
This is a book that’s best discussed with teens when they’re reading it. It can have some very valuable messages, if people will only used them!
Great review. I never read it. I just don’t understand banning books. It seems ridiculous.
Thanks for all of this information on Go Ask Alice. I have indeed heard of the book and encountered numerous references to it in newspaper and magazine articles and on some posts on the net, but I was never really sure what it was about and what it covered. Now I understand why it is so popular among teens and why some narrow-minded individuals seek to ban it.
I haven’t read this book but I’ve always wanted to. Great review. Your comment about the possibility that an adult wrote the book as a warning to stay off drugs reminds me of Scared Straight.
Our changed perspective when we read the same book at different times in our life is, perhaps, inevitable. The 2nd time, we bring more life experience, knowledge, attitudes to the table.
Banning books is counter-productive. I think those in favor of such censorship are naive if they think that by taking away the object of censorship they will stop the action(drugs, sex, homosexuality,…)
Thanks for the great giveaway
Great review I enjoyed very much. It always cracks me up what books land on this list from year to year. I would be proud to wear the shirt. I READ BANNED BOOKS! Thanks for the great giveaway.
Go Ask Alice and I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, two books that touched me deeply as a teen. I have the second one. think it’s time for a re-read.
I remember when that book came out. I have been reading since a very early age and do not believe books should be banned. Readers should be able to make the choice and if you do not want your child to read a certain book that is your choice for your child, not mine!
Very nice review. I haven’t read this book. It sounds like something that might give me a POV for a story I have in progress. It’s on the back burner right now because of other commitments, but I still plan to go back to it. The main character is a young boy who is supposed to be visiting relatives for the summer and goes to New York instead.
I reread Go Ask Alice as an adult too, when I was in library school. Like you, I had read it as a teenager and believed it to be a true story, and it made a huge impression on me. I was surprised at how well it stood up to reading it again over twenty years later! I guess like The Outsiders, it is dated in some ways but timeless in others, so it still gets read by teens today.
Here via Jenny, the Bloggess.
I remember reading a tattered copy of this book in 5th or 6th grade in the late 80s. I truly can’t remember if it was a classmate’s because I doubt it was in the elementary school library. It was definitely influential to a 12 year old, but I did later read the Wiki about it being propaganda. Doesn’t surprise me at all and I would def like to read it again to compare what I remember and if I notice a different tone now that I’m in my 30s.
Thank you for a brilliant post and a facinating review! Go Ask Alice is a book that many i feel should read and learn from, for it conveys such important messages. One should be aware of things such as Drug addiction, for if not then impressionable nieve youngsters and adults can all fall prey to the trap. Reading a book like this is a way of understanding meanings without enduring a ‘lecture’; as reading is enjoyable for whatever genre and subject.
Email: lfountain1(at)hotmail(dot)co(dot)uk
Thanks so much for the review and giveaway! Although I do have to admit that I skipped much of the review, since I didn’t want to get spoiled…I’ve had this book on my TBR list for ages, I really need to get to it!
I have a very tattered copy of Go Ask Alice from my teenage years more than 20 years ago. Though it was later proved not to be a true story it deeply affected my thoughts about drugs and I still think teenagers today should read it.
Thanks for sharing your Banned Book review
Shelleyrae @ Book’d Out
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I read this book as a teen and remember being scared to death by Alice’s tale. I made my niece read it when she was a teen and my 13 year-old son is finishing it today. He has asked me a lot of questions and got into a discussion with his Language Arts Teacher about it yesterday. It is not carried in the school library. I bought it at Books a Million. I would recommend if for all teens. It presents a very real perspective about drug use and peer pressure. It shows the decline in spirit, health, family that comes with drug use. This is one book that I wish I could buy 30 or 40 copies and add to the required reading list for middle/junior high school students. It is a great junior book club book.
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