Go Ask Alice review
In a more-than-intimate showcase of desperation and addiction, the anonymous diarist of Go Ask Alice takes readers- readers forever unknown to her- on a drug trip that is at once relatable and hopeful yet terrifying and disheartening. The diarist relates to her readers a story of losing oneself before the opportunity to develop oneself ever arises.
From the ‘been there’ grin-provoking first diary entry about everlasting pubescent love to the chilling editor’s note on the final page, the author is the essential Every Girl, transcending generations. The author’s literal and honest descent into drugs (along with a good percentage of her peers) sheds light on the very real struggles teenagers- girls in particular- encounter, whether or not they have been introduced to drugs. The girls in Go Ask Alice, from the author to her friends and later, her antagonists, are shown as dangerously wild, uninhibited, confused, and selfish: “After you’ve had it, there isn’t even life without drugs,” the author wrote after being “turned on” again. Hardly the picture of American youth that was in the media during those years.
Her struggles- which manifest themselves in low self-esteem, concern over her familial duties and her family’s perception of her, her fear regarding future as a wife (or more realistically, fear of never being a wife), and the actual addiction to the drugs- are constant stressors for her, and as a girl of only fifteen, she folds. Time and time again. Every time she is straight, the reader hopes for her, and relates to her constant mantra of if only I had someone to talk to that would really understand.
The diary very poignantly draws attention to how very alone girls were in her time, due to the growing number of divorces (like her friend Chris experiences) and parents primarily concerned with superficiality and gender roles (there are often mentions of how the author’s mom likes her hair to be set, as well as comments about the author hopefully making a good wife one day). The author is trapped- she wants to be the picture of a good daughter, sister, and future wife, but to crawl out of her addiction she would need to reveal herself as the failure that she finds herself to be. There is a distinct lack of sisterhood even between the author and her closest friends. They lose each other by “going with” boys, searching for another high, and holding petty grudges.
Despite the sexual liberation of the sixties and seventies, there is among the young girls of diary an obsession with virginity. A significant amount of the guilt the author expresses is in terms of her sexuality, whether drug induced or not. She was comfortable doing what she pleased, sexually, until there was a boy she was interested- oh no, what ever would he think? The drug scene dictated the majority of her sexuality as well, as she held a partner that wouldn’t have sex with her when they were sober, a partner that bribed her with sex so she would help push drugs, and ‘friends’ that would take away her choice at all and rape her when she was high. “I bet you the pill is harder to get than drugs- which shows you how screwed up the world really is!” she lamented once, making an observation about society that was probably far more insightful than she gave herself credit for, and one that still, unfortunately, holds true in many places today.
The entire diary is not unlike a drug trip itself- full of highs and lows- and considerably addictive. When the author is up, the world is painted in bright, groovy colors and the reader hopes for a better future with her, following each teenage tangent with the understanding that she could have used when she was alive. When the author is down- which is often, and devastatingly down- the reader will cringe and feel her self-loathing and need for another high. Worth noting from this is the fact that the author was often happier when she was using than when she wasn’t. This holds true particularly towards the end of the diary (and the end of her life) when she is harassed by her former friends and ends up in an asylum. The asylum itself seems to do little except keep her and her peers locked away safely from “normal” society, and the inmates are sympathetic. The reader is gently pressured to reevaluate previous conceptions of drug use and drug users.
There is controversy over whether the book is actually, indeed, based on an anonymous diary. Whether it is or isn’t, the author makes it clear to all of us that the life of a teenage girl is anything but simple, thus there can be no simple answers, especially in the highly personal and political struggle with drugs that has continued to effect every generation since the author’s death shortly after she filled the last page of her last diary. Perhaps the only conclusion to be pulled from the diarist’s short and tragic life is that young girls need support and understanding to withstand the pressures they often must face alone.
From the ‘been there’ grin-provoking first diary entry about everlasting pubescent love to the chilling editor’s note on the final page, the author is the essential Every Girl, transcending generations. The author’s literal and honest descent into drugs (along with a good percentage of her peers) sheds light on the very real struggles teenagers- girls in particular- encounter, whether or not they have been introduced to drugs. The girls in Go Ask Alice, from the author to her friends and later, her antagonists, are shown as dangerously wild, uninhibited, confused, and selfish: “After you’ve had it, there isn’t even life without drugs,” the author wrote after being “turned on” again. Hardly the picture of American youth that was in the media during those years.
Her struggles- which manifest themselves in low self-esteem, concern over her familial duties and her family’s perception of her, her fear regarding future as a wife (or more realistically, fear of never being a wife), and the actual addiction to the drugs- are constant stressors for her, and as a girl of only fifteen, she folds. Time and time again. Every time she is straight, the reader hopes for her, and relates to her constant mantra of if only I had someone to talk to that would really understand.
The diary very poignantly draws attention to how very alone girls were in her time, due to the growing number of divorces (like her friend Chris experiences) and parents primarily concerned with superficiality and gender roles (there are often mentions of how the author’s mom likes her hair to be set, as well as comments about the author hopefully making a good wife one day). The author is trapped- she wants to be the picture of a good daughter, sister, and future wife, but to crawl out of her addiction she would need to reveal herself as the failure that she finds herself to be. There is a distinct lack of sisterhood even between the author and her closest friends. They lose each other by “going with” boys, searching for another high, and holding petty grudges.
Despite the sexual liberation of the sixties and seventies, there is among the young girls of diary an obsession with virginity. A significant amount of the guilt the author expresses is in terms of her sexuality, whether drug induced or not. She was comfortable doing what she pleased, sexually, until there was a boy she was interested- oh no, what ever would he think? The drug scene dictated the majority of her sexuality as well, as she held a partner that wouldn’t have sex with her when they were sober, a partner that bribed her with sex so she would help push drugs, and ‘friends’ that would take away her choice at all and rape her when she was high. “I bet you the pill is harder to get than drugs- which shows you how screwed up the world really is!” she lamented once, making an observation about society that was probably far more insightful than she gave herself credit for, and one that still, unfortunately, holds true in many places today.
The entire diary is not unlike a drug trip itself- full of highs and lows- and considerably addictive. When the author is up, the world is painted in bright, groovy colors and the reader hopes for a better future with her, following each teenage tangent with the understanding that she could have used when she was alive. When the author is down- which is often, and devastatingly down- the reader will cringe and feel her self-loathing and need for another high. Worth noting from this is the fact that the author was often happier when she was using than when she wasn’t. This holds true particularly towards the end of the diary (and the end of her life) when she is harassed by her former friends and ends up in an asylum. The asylum itself seems to do little except keep her and her peers locked away safely from “normal” society, and the inmates are sympathetic. The reader is gently pressured to reevaluate previous conceptions of drug use and drug users.
There is controversy over whether the book is actually, indeed, based on an anonymous diary. Whether it is or isn’t, the author makes it clear to all of us that the life of a teenage girl is anything but simple, thus there can be no simple answers, especially in the highly personal and political struggle with drugs that has continued to effect every generation since the author’s death shortly after she filled the last page of her last diary. Perhaps the only conclusion to be pulled from the diarist’s short and tragic life is that young girls need support and understanding to withstand the pressures they often must face alone.
Comments
I love that you brought up the issue of birth control: "I bet drugs are easier to get than the pill!" Isn't that so sad? The pill is legal, and not harmful, but helpful- and it is harder to access than illegal, destructive drugs.
I also really liked your analogy of the diary being like a drug trip. This painted a vivid picture of her emotions and her writing. The lack of sisterhood was also an intelligent observation: had she had more of a bond with the women in her life, she may have found an adequate outlet with which to replace drugs. A bond of sisterhood may have saved the author's life.
Overall, a great and concise review- you captured the major moments eloquently. I really enjoyed reading this, great job!
I'm glad you liked it, I'll have to go look at yours too. I'm confused, though- are you saying you wanted to see more quotes from me? I think I had at least two.