Go Ask Alice

Title: Go Ask Alice
Author: Beatrice Sparks (writing as "Anonymous")
ISBN: 1416914633

Plot Summary: The anonymous narrator, a teenage girl, comes from a good home, but feels out of place at home and in school. At first, she deals with typical teenage concerns: dieting and weight loss, boys, meeting new friends when her father moves. Then, she is introduced to drugs at a party, where she is unwittingly slipped a dose of LSD in her soda as part of a drinking/drug game. In short order, her life spirals downwards into a morass of meaningless sex, shady companions, and ever more dangerous drugs. Her diary entries disintegrate along with her life, degenerating into angry, almost meaningless stream of consciousness written on whatever she can find. She eventually gets cleaned up and moves back in with her parents, but finds the "good" kids will no longer associate with her, and her drug-using acquaintances threaten her for being a snitch. After being slipped yet another dose of LSD against her will, she winds up in a mental hospital. Eventually her condition improves, and she again returns home, determined to rebuild her life - but it is too late.



Critical Evaluation: There has been great debate over whether or not this book was actually the diary of an anonymous teenager. It is now generally accepted that the book's "editor," Beatrice Sparks, was actually its author. Many commentators have objected to the book's style, claiming that a teenage girl would not use such sophisticated language, especially in a private journal. My main objection,  however, was more to the book's overall format. Although it is not impossible that someone who had been committed to an asylum would be allowed to keep a diary, I found it highly unlikely that a teenager living on the streets who was strung out on drugs would bother to write down her feelings at all, much less that either she would bother saving them or that someone else would find them. Although the book's afterword indicates that the narrator had decided to stop keeping a diary three weeks prior to her death - on the grounds that, as she now had people to talk to, she no longer needed it -  there is little to no indication given of what changed in those three weeks that made her decide to take her own life. Moreover, little attempt is made to examine what might have prompted this change of heart, other than to remind the reader that this girl was only one of thousands of drug-related deaths that happened each year. Ultimately, whether or not an actual teenager wrote this "diary" is beside the point; as a cautionary tale about the dangers of drug use, it is reasonably effective, but as a portrait of an actual teenage girl dealing with life issues other than drugs, it falls short.
Reader's Annotation: She's a normal teenage girl from a normal family, with normal enough problems, until she is introduced to drugs. The road back to recovery is a difficult one, but one she is determined to make - but will she be able to make it for good?

About the Author: Beatrice Sparks was born in Goldburg, Idaho in 1918. After attending UCLA and Brigham Young University, she began working  as a music therapist and Mormon youth counselor. Her work with troubled teenagers made her want to provide them with cautionary tales against the various dangers awaiting them in the world, including sex, drugs, Satanism, gangs, eating disorders, and suicide. Go Ask Alice, her first such cautionary tale, was based partially on the diary of one of her patients and partially on her own fictionalized version of a teenager's drug experiences. Jay's Journal, the story of a teenage boy who is drawn into the occult, was partially based on the diary of a boy who committed suicide at age 16; his mother brought the diary to Sparks's attention, but the family has since claimed that Sparks only took several entries from the journal and fictionalized the rest. She has published a number of other such journals, all listing "Anonymous" as the author, although she is often listed as the editor. She lives in Provo, Utah.

Genre: Fiction: Drug use


Curriculum Ties: Health and Wellness, Sex Education

Booktalking Ideas:

Hook: The "Who's Got the Button?" party that first introduces the narrator to drugs.
Approach: Scene-based.
Ideas for Booktalk: The narrator was aware that there might be a chance she would ingest drugs that night, but had no idea what to expect as a result. She appears to like the effects at first; how does this change later on? Compare and contrast this to the second time someone slips her drugs against her will, which is not only not enjoyable but which lands her in a mental hospital. The narrator later cautions the reader that people claim marijuana and acid are not habit forming, but that they are wrong. Is this true, and to what extent? Psychological versus physical addiction. Extent to which the first drugs she tries are a gateway to harder substance abuse, and whether or not this is the case for addicts in real life. This book was written in 1971; many new drugs now, and the ones they had then are often stronger now. Possible comparison to more recent fiction about teen drug abuse, such as Crank, Glass, or Smack.

Hook: The narrator seems to have her life back on track near the end of the book, but she eventually dies of an overdose, possibly an intentional one.
Approach: Plot and character-based.
Ideas for Booktalk: Things that could have happened between "now" and "then": failed romance, rejection by friends, recurrence of desire to use drugs, reappearance of drug companions (e.g. the ones who slipped her acid). Brainstorm if necessary. Discussion of real-life cases of addiction: family, friends, celebrities, etc. Disease model of addiction. What point was the editor/author trying to make regarding the nature of drug abuse by showing a narrator who seems to improve, and then abruptly relapses and dies?

Reading Level/Interest Age: High school

Challenge Issues: Offensive language, drug use, sexual content, suicide.
If one leaves aside the issue of this book's authorship, its content is still highly controversial. It shows what could be described as a worst-case scenario for a book about drug use: addiction, meaningless sex, degeneration of values, and ultimately the choice to take one's own life. To those who object to the book on these grounds, I would suggest that rather than romanticizing any of these choices on the narrator's part, it presents them as examples of exactly what not to do, and does not present the reader with a happy ending that implies she was able to come back from any of her bad choices. Even as a work of fiction, this book's focus on the dangers of using drugs is still an important one for young adults to hear, and for that reason alone I would want it to remain on the shelves.

Why I Chose This Book: When I first read this book at age 18, it was recommended to me as a realistic portrayal of drug addiction, and the book's packaging and presentation indicated the primary narrative was factual. Although I found the writing style a bit overwrought and melodramatic at the time, I chalked this up to the narrator's youth. Upon rereading the book as a work of fiction, it occurs to me that the book can serve a dual purpose: firstly, for its intended purpose, as a warning to avoid drug use; and secondly, as an example of the gray area that can sometimes exist between fact and fiction.