Common Sense Note
Only parents can decide if they want their children to read GO ASK ALICE; they know their own children best, and may wish to read the book themselves before deciding.
Teen characters are involved in drugs, prostitution, etc., but the shocking reality of this book has been credited with keeping many teenagers from trying drugs. A vivid picture of the life of a drug addict during the 1960s.
Though the writing is not literary, its truth comes through on every page. The story rivets readers to the page; reluctant readers devour this book.
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Monica Wyatt
Only parents can decide if they want their children to read GO ASK ALICE; they know their own children best, and may wish to read the book themselves before deciding.
Clearly, the book will be too intense for some. GO ASK ALICE graphically describes the waking hell into which the main character descends, her heartfelt but futile battles to return home and stay clean, her pleas to God to save her, her trust and love for her family, and her ultimate failure. It socks readers in the gut.
Many realistic young adult books use frank language, but none more so than this book. Purportedly based on the real diary of a middle-class, nice teenage girl who became a drug addict in the 1960s, this story is nothing short of harrowing.
That's why it works. Teenagers who read the book easily sense that it tells the truth. That truth shocks them away from trying drugs, according to the statements of many teenagers who have read it. "I would never, never, ever try drugs. Never," said one fourteen-year old girl after she finished the book. That reluctant reader also stated that GO ASK ALICE had become her favorite book.
The reality of the book attracts reluctant readers. No one will see it as just another reading assignment or boring, tedious chore. It unforgettably portrays the drug culture of the 1960s, and an underground life that still exists.
Those who like GO ASK ALICE may also want to read Rob Thomas's Rats Saw God, a less graphic, but still realistic, story written from a boy's point of view.
From The Book
Like here I am in Denver. When I was high I just walked out and hitch-hiked here, but now it seems crazy quiet and unreal, maybe that's because it's still early. I hope so, I've only got the twenty dollars that I took from Dad's pants, but no source.
Plot Summary:
We never learn her name. She's 15, the daughter of a college professor. She's given LSD at a party and loves it. She dives into the drug world, and soon begins selling to children to pay for her own drugs. She runs away and is again drawn into drugs. She returns home determined to stay clean, but takes drugs one night and hitchhikes to Colorado.
She drifts, sick and in a stoned fog for months, trading sex for drugs. A priest calls her parents and she returns home again, but the druggie students at her school torment her. One puts LSD into some candy and she has a horribly bad trip, ending up imprisoned in a mental hospital. Home again with no desire to return to drugs, she feels hopeful, but fears returning to school. Three weeks after ending her diary she dies of an overdose.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentFrequent references to sexual acts, but no descriptions given. |
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ViolenceThe main character is raped and assaulted. Main character hallucinates that she is being eaten by worms after taking LSD. Extremely distressing due to its honesty about the subject. |
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LanguageDrug addicts use constant, severe profanity. |
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Social BehaviorThe main character enjoys taking drugs, lies to her parents, and runs away. She makes sincere attempts to go straight, however, and loves her family. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoThe main character enjoys taking drugs, sells drugs to children, and trades sex for drugs. |
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