Book Review: Go Ask Alice
Go Ask Alice was a captivating book that you just did not want to put down. Through her personal trials and tribulations you felt as though you knew this teenager and though you were witnessing her life unfold before your very eyes. I did not want to put it down and found myself totally immersed in her short life story. I would recommend that all teenagers and parents of teenagers read this book; it is definitely an eye-opening experience. It shows the reader how someone can completely change in a very short period of time and will help parents look for warning signs.
The beginning of the book accurately portrays the life of the day to day struggles of a teenage girl and many of the issues we have covered in class such as being popular, body image, friends, love, relationships, sexuality and tragedy. At the beginning her biggest problems were simple things such as a boy she liked and her weight. Once her family moved away she found it to be very difficult to fit in and communicate with anyone including her parents. She was a quite girl with what seemed like strong religious beliefs throughout the book even in times of absolute self destruction and chaos. In one night a normal fifteen year old girl’s life drastically changed when she played a game called “Button, Button, Whose Got the Button?” She was visiting her grandparents when an old high school acquaintance invited her to her house for a party. Unknown to the author there was LSD in the sodas they were drinking, and that is when she has her first experience with drugs. She even referred to herself as being “one of the lucky ones” (34) since she received a soda with the LSD in it.
Unbeknown to her that night would eventually led to a tragic end. For her I think it was love at first sight in many ways. She loved the idea of being accepted, because she had struggled to fit in, she also enjoyed the inhibited state of mind she was able to transform into. Within a matter of days she began down a dangerous path trying torpedoes and speed. She describes her speed experience as feeling great “free, abandoned, a different, improved, perfected specimen of a different, improved, perfected species” even calling the experience “beautiful”(37). Unfortunately she ended up losing her virginity to Bill, the boy who introduced her to speed. After losing her virginity she became plagued with regrets and became mentally worried and exhausted wondering if she was pregnant. This led her to take some of her grandpa’s sleeping pills because her mind and body needed to rest.
From this point to the very end of the book she desires to have someone to talk to, someone who understands, maybe if she truly could have ever opened up and had someone than her life would not have spiraled out of control like it did. Throughout the book she surrounded herself with people who brought her down and introduced her to new drugs, or to dealing drugs. I was almost in disbelief by the end of the book what this 15 year old endured. Within a time span of a little over a year she went from being shy and introverted to a heavy, heavy drug user, she sold drugs, had sex with countless boys, ran away several times even moving to San Francisco at one time and opening up a little boutique with her friend, was set up by her old so called friends, mentally and even at times physically abused by the old group of friends she used to do drugs with, lost both of her grandparents, was drugged to the point she literally torn herself up and had to be and the hospital, and put into a institution for Juveniles. She so desperately wanted to belong somewhere.
One thing that I picked up on and felt ironic was how often she talked about dying and death. It became especially troublesome when she would constantly think of her grandparents bodies be eaten up by worms, especially during her time in the hospital, her thoughts were so gruesome, it almost seemed to me like God was trying to send her a message to be cautious of what she was doing to herself. I had such sadness for this poor confused teenager who wanted so desperately to fit in, to so desperately be loved, and to be listened to. It was so refreshing to see her change her life around towards the end and push through all the opposition and stay clean. But, Jill would just not allow her to catch a break, sabotaging her in the end, which ultimately led to her death. I truly believe that the author wanted to help others out and I felt like her compassion was evident throughout the book.
The ending left me filled with questions of what if? Did she return to school and once again the pressures and mean heartedness of children more than she could handle? What if she had decided to continue writing in her diary would she still be here? For her the diary was her best friend, through her writings she was able to find comfort, relief, joy; she had a friend that was always there, always listened and never judgmental. And it is through her writings that I believe thousands if not millions of teenagers lives will be changed and countless ones will be saved. Yet, my heart is filled with sadness for this teenager who never had a chance; she was robbed of her innocence and ultimately her life. Our goal needs to be to raise girls up that they don’t even desire to be pressured to try drugs. As the author puts it “after you’ve has it, there isn’t even life without drugs(24)”. The addictive nature of drugs is an extremely difficult habit to break, the success rate of people who stay clean is very, very, very small and the odds are stacked even higher for teenagers who are not even mentally capable of handling little obstacles in life. This book has left me with an even greater desire to be a positive influence on girls. Girls today are growing up with immense pressure from so many angles and more than anything they need guidance, love, and someone to talk to.
Word Count:1,073
Source: Anonymous. Go Ask Alice. New York: Simon Pulse, 2005. Print
The beginning of the book accurately portrays the life of the day to day struggles of a teenage girl and many of the issues we have covered in class such as being popular, body image, friends, love, relationships, sexuality and tragedy. At the beginning her biggest problems were simple things such as a boy she liked and her weight. Once her family moved away she found it to be very difficult to fit in and communicate with anyone including her parents. She was a quite girl with what seemed like strong religious beliefs throughout the book even in times of absolute self destruction and chaos. In one night a normal fifteen year old girl’s life drastically changed when she played a game called “Button, Button, Whose Got the Button?” She was visiting her grandparents when an old high school acquaintance invited her to her house for a party. Unknown to the author there was LSD in the sodas they were drinking, and that is when she has her first experience with drugs. She even referred to herself as being “one of the lucky ones” (34) since she received a soda with the LSD in it.
Unbeknown to her that night would eventually led to a tragic end. For her I think it was love at first sight in many ways. She loved the idea of being accepted, because she had struggled to fit in, she also enjoyed the inhibited state of mind she was able to transform into. Within a matter of days she began down a dangerous path trying torpedoes and speed. She describes her speed experience as feeling great “free, abandoned, a different, improved, perfected specimen of a different, improved, perfected species” even calling the experience “beautiful”(37). Unfortunately she ended up losing her virginity to Bill, the boy who introduced her to speed. After losing her virginity she became plagued with regrets and became mentally worried and exhausted wondering if she was pregnant. This led her to take some of her grandpa’s sleeping pills because her mind and body needed to rest.
From this point to the very end of the book she desires to have someone to talk to, someone who understands, maybe if she truly could have ever opened up and had someone than her life would not have spiraled out of control like it did. Throughout the book she surrounded herself with people who brought her down and introduced her to new drugs, or to dealing drugs. I was almost in disbelief by the end of the book what this 15 year old endured. Within a time span of a little over a year she went from being shy and introverted to a heavy, heavy drug user, she sold drugs, had sex with countless boys, ran away several times even moving to San Francisco at one time and opening up a little boutique with her friend, was set up by her old so called friends, mentally and even at times physically abused by the old group of friends she used to do drugs with, lost both of her grandparents, was drugged to the point she literally torn herself up and had to be and the hospital, and put into a institution for Juveniles. She so desperately wanted to belong somewhere.
One thing that I picked up on and felt ironic was how often she talked about dying and death. It became especially troublesome when she would constantly think of her grandparents bodies be eaten up by worms, especially during her time in the hospital, her thoughts were so gruesome, it almost seemed to me like God was trying to send her a message to be cautious of what she was doing to herself. I had such sadness for this poor confused teenager who wanted so desperately to fit in, to so desperately be loved, and to be listened to. It was so refreshing to see her change her life around towards the end and push through all the opposition and stay clean. But, Jill would just not allow her to catch a break, sabotaging her in the end, which ultimately led to her death. I truly believe that the author wanted to help others out and I felt like her compassion was evident throughout the book.
The ending left me filled with questions of what if? Did she return to school and once again the pressures and mean heartedness of children more than she could handle? What if she had decided to continue writing in her diary would she still be here? For her the diary was her best friend, through her writings she was able to find comfort, relief, joy; she had a friend that was always there, always listened and never judgmental. And it is through her writings that I believe thousands if not millions of teenagers lives will be changed and countless ones will be saved. Yet, my heart is filled with sadness for this teenager who never had a chance; she was robbed of her innocence and ultimately her life. Our goal needs to be to raise girls up that they don’t even desire to be pressured to try drugs. As the author puts it “after you’ve has it, there isn’t even life without drugs(24)”. The addictive nature of drugs is an extremely difficult habit to break, the success rate of people who stay clean is very, very, very small and the odds are stacked even higher for teenagers who are not even mentally capable of handling little obstacles in life. This book has left me with an even greater desire to be a positive influence on girls. Girls today are growing up with immense pressure from so many angles and more than anything they need guidance, love, and someone to talk to.
Word Count:1,073
Source: Anonymous. Go Ask Alice. New York: Simon Pulse, 2005. Print
Comments
I think it's an interesting comment on drug use and how there is rarely a way out.