Go Ask Alice



(picture from morguefile.com)



Bibliography

Anonymous. (2005). Go ask Alice. New York: Simon and Schuster.  ISBN:  9781416914631, pp. 224.

Summary

This book is written in a diary format. A teenage girl goes to visit her grandparents during the summer. While there, she is given LSD in a soft drink without her knowledge. After the initial high and the acceptance she feels from the “cool kids”, she begins to use drugs more heavily. She loses her virginity to a boy she barely knows, her grades begin to drop, and she runs away from home only to return broken and defeated. She slowly begins to put back together the pieces with a new promise of better grades at school, a straight laced boyfriend, and supportive parents. Will it be too late to undo the damage she has created?

Critical Analysis

Go Ask Alice is a classic cautionary tale of the dangers of drug abuse. As the narrator’s life spirals out of control, the reader is desperate to help her reclaim her old life and see the good things that are waiting for her like patient parents and the prospective of a new relationship with a boy that cares more about getting to know her than what she can offer him. The story line moves quickly as she wrestles with the life she wants and the life that she can’t get away from. The book has been challenged throughout the years for the use of drugs, sex, and foul language; however, these elements help illustrate the dark times the main character faces when she is deep in the trenches of drug use. Although it is told from a teenager’s perspective, it takes place in the late 60s to early 70s, so many of the cultural ideas will be lost on today’s teenage generation. Also, some of the situations are a bit far-fetched and hard to believe. However, it still remains a relevant tale of the entrapment of addiction and the adolescent struggle to find your true identity. This book would be a great companion to the modern novel Crank by Ellen Hopkins.