Go Ask Alice

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Celia Cyanide

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Now that we know that Beatrice Sparks and all the books she "edited" are all fakes, what do you think about the one that started it all?

I have read only Go Ask Alice, and my biggest problem with it is that it isn't well written or well researched. I can live with the fact that it's not actually the diary of a dead teenager. But not only is it fake, it's silly.

The book made no mention of any drugs other than marijuana and LSD, neither of which is addictive, and neither of which can cause a person to OD. And yet Alice became so addicted to them they she ran away from home to become a prostitute and ODed.

The book describes the drug use in great detail, and only casually mentions the things that teenagers care the most about. It doesn't read like a real diary.

Anyway, these are my thoughts. What do you think?
 
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I tried reading that book years ago, it was free with a magazine, and I couldn't even finish it.

There was a relationship with a boy as I recall, or she fancied someone who didn't like her back...the way she talked about it seemed unrealistic and I put it down to maybe American girls interacted with boys in a different way to Scottish girls.

I just didn't like the book, although can't remember why as I haven't seen a copy for years.
 

alleycat

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Shadow_Ferret said:
We know... what?

Did I miss some news?
You must have.

Time to return to the thrilling days of the 60s.

I just happened to think (it's pretty unusual, I know); what if Oprah had been around when the book came out? I can just see her doing a "very special Oprah show" on the tragic death of the author.
 
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Unique

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I read it so long ago I can't remember much but the title.
Other titles I remember from the same time are:

Lisa Bright and Dark
Maybe I'll Be Home in the Spring
Blowfish Live in the Sea
Reds

Are they fake, too?
 

WildScribe

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Sad and silly, both.
 

alleycat

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Shadow_Ferret said:
Wow! It's a 1973 movie starring The Shat! I must netflix that.
The Shat? What are you, a glutton for punishment?

I remember the movie vaguely. I think it was a made-for-tv movie and wasn't too bad for that type of thing.
 

MidnightMuse

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Wow - I, too, vaguely remember that movie (or at least that title) so I popped over to IMDB, and I really don't remember any of those actors in what I thought I was remembering as that movie.

I must have been too young then, and too old now!
 

janetbellinger

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Well, I give it some leeway because it was written a at least a few decades ago and was one of the first novels to deal with real teenage problems. Like teenage pregnancy was not discussed then. Are we discussing the same book? The one I am referring to is about a pregnant teenager and was written in the 70s or something.
 

Tiger

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My English class was fed this book in ninth or tenth grade... Come to think of it, so was "The Amityville Horror." The second title had more of an effect.

Later, a story called, "Diary of a Drug Addict" came out in our student magazine--which was a short story, obviously inspired by "Alice." It was written by a chess club-type who didn't know much about drugs beyond the names of some and that they were bad for you.

In retrospect, the two works were not all that different.

At least nobody showed us "Reefer Madness."
 

PattiTheWicked

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I remember reading Go Ask Alice when I was about ten, whic would be around 1978. Even at that point, I remember thinking, "This is lame. There's no way this is a real diary". I just kind of assumed it was a 1960's Don't Do Drugs story written by someone who had probably never been high.
 

KTC

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Wow! It's been around since the 60s! I have been living under a rock.
 
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A good point, KTC. I would say one could get addicted to the good feelings resulting from the drug, so you're emotionally dependent on it, though you don't physically need it to function.

Go Ask Alice was still crapulosity in book form, though. And where's your avatar?
 

Celia Cyanide

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KTC said:
Celia, in regards to your first post here? I'm thinking that things which are not addictive can become addictive in the hands of an addictive personality?

Yes, that's very true, KTC. They can, just as anything else. I've known several people like this. However, I don't really believe that addiction to pot can turn you into a homeless hooker. It isn't even expensive enough. And how can this be a cautionary tale when it only applies to a certain personality type?

Janet, I'm not sure what book you're talking about, but Go Ask Alice does not deal with pregnancy. Only drugs.

The most shameful of all her books is this:

http://www.slweekly.com/editorial/2004/feat_2004-06-03.cfm
 

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Celia Cyanide said:
The book made no mention of any drugs other than marijuana and LSD, neither of which is addictive, and neither of which can cause a person to OD. And yet Alice became so addicted to them they she ran away from home to become a prostitute and ODed.

People become psychologically addicted to anything, even cough medicine. And LSD can do much damage. I don't know where this idea that it's harmless came from. It's pertty nasty.
 

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Isn't this just a novelized version of the urban legends about kids who took off in their parents car to make out in the woods and one or both of them die doing it? i.e. parents see some mundane thing (car) and view it as dangerous (because their kid might have sex in it) so all sorts of urban legends and what not pop up around kids who take the parent's car, get frisky, and die.

The fact that this author wrote about someone getting addicted to a nonaddictive drug to the point qualifies as them viewing some mundane thing as dangerous, and then they create some urban legend around it about how some kid did this drug and got so addicted to it that she whored herself until she died.

Don't the slutty/mean girls usually die in horror movies, but the chaste/nice girl is usually the only one to survive?

ETA: and maybe her boyfriend. though he sometimes sacrifices himself to save her.
 

WriterInChains

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Regardless of the addictive nature of pot or LSD, Go Ask Alice was ridiculous. I read it in my early teens & I thought it was going to be gritty and sad but it turned out to be Reefer Madness in novel form. Worlds away from real life.

Thanks for the link, Celia, what a flashback! I remember those so-called "Health Classes" where we basically just memorized the names & effects of various illegal drugs, and were told never to use any of them by teachers who drank and smoked like there was no tomorrow. No wonder the classes worked so well. :D
 

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KTC said:
Celia, in regards to your first post here? I'm thinking that things which are not addictive can become addictive in the hands of an addictive personality? Does that make sense? I don't even know what the books are about that you mention. I haven't heard of any of this stuff...since I have my head buried under rocks most of the time. I do know, though, that an addictive personality CAN make drugs like pot and LSD addictive. It's their personalities that cause the addiction. I remember the early eighties well. I lived for LSD. Not having it destroyed my day.

Eek, I can't imagine anyone addicted to acid (at least, not on this planet).
 

Celia Cyanide

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greglondon said:
Isn't this just a novelized version of the urban legends about kids who took off in their parents car to make out in the woods and one or both of them die doing it?

(emphasis mine) Not novelized. Not when it's still labeled as non-fiction today. People were all upset about the JT Leroy books, and those were always labeled fiction.

Caren, I felt the same way. I went into it knowing it wasn't reall, but with all the hype surrounding it, I was at least expecting a good read! Not so.
 

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Celia Cyanide said:
The book made no mention of any drugs other than marijuana and LSD, neither of which is addictive, and neither of which can cause a person to OD. And yet Alice became so addicted to them they she ran away from home to become a prostitute and ODed.

I completely missed this. You can't OD from LSD, acid? I think you can and I think people have. Not sure if you can physically OD like you can inadvertently from say heroin (Still it IS a drug), but you can MENTALLY OD. Many people in the 60s went insane. Syd Barrett comes to mind.
 
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greglondon

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Celia Cyanide said:
(emphasis mine) Not novelized. Not when it's still labeled as non-fiction today.

er, well, I was refering more to length rather than genre or fiction/nonfiction distinctions. The urban legends about kids taking cars to make out and getting killed are usually fairly short. Short enough to be passed around verbally. Those too are usually presented as nonfiction stories of kids gone wrong and coming to a bad end.

It's just that they're shorter than "Ask Alice".
 
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