Laura's Reviews > Go Ask Alice
Go Ask Alice
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This book is crap on its own. But those of you old enough to remember the latter portion of the 70s might remember that Beatrice Sparks, the "editor" of Go Ask Alice, also "edited" a bunch of other alarmist books aimed at teens, all supposedly taken from teenagers' diaries. One was called "Jay's Journal," and was purportedly about a teen who gets involved with Satanism and eventually commits suicide to escape the horror of it all.
Even as a 12-year-old, however, it was obvious to me that every single one of these books was written by the same person (Ms. Sparks, presumably). It's not as though you had to perform a sophisticated rhetorical analysis to see that the authors were the same; there were all these stupid little tics in the writing common to all the books. The one I happen to remember is that the author would repeat things three times and then put an exclamation point after them, as in, "This evening was great great great!" I suppose it was her attempt to imitate unbridled teenage exuberance, or something. Anyway, apart from the fact that this book is a fraud, it's also stupid. Don't bother.
(I will say that after reading the scene where our heroine drinks a Coke that someone has laced with LSD, whereupon she immediately starts on the road to JUNKIEDOM and DEATH, I was terrified to drink anything at a party.)
Even as a 12-year-old, however, it was obvious to me that every single one of these books was written by the same person (Ms. Sparks, presumably). It's not as though you had to perform a sophisticated rhetorical analysis to see that the authors were the same; there were all these stupid little tics in the writing common to all the books. The one I happen to remember is that the author would repeat things three times and then put an exclamation point after them, as in, "This evening was great great great!" I suppose it was her attempt to imitate unbridled teenage exuberance, or something. Anyway, apart from the fact that this book is a fraud, it's also stupid. Don't bother.
(I will say that after reading the scene where our heroine drinks a Coke that someone has laced with LSD, whereupon she immediately starts on the road to JUNKIEDOM and DEATH, I was terrified to drink anything at a party.)
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Jessica
(last edited 25 août 2016 21:03)
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18 août 2007 16:22
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I have to admit that I actually enjoyed this book, even with it's questionable accuracy. I got interested in the characters...there's still something raw about the book that I like.
(from Wikipedia)
"Beatrice Sparks is a psychologist and Mormon youth counselor who is known for producing books purporting to be the 'real diaries' of troubled teenagers.... Although Sparks always presents herself as merely the discoverer and editor of the diaries, records at the U.S. Copyright Office show that in fact she is listed as the sole author for all but two of them."
I can certainly see being interested in the narrative in the book. Same reason I watch Lifetime TV movies.
Though I wasn't aware of Sparks's other books when I was young, it was obvious from the writing style that GAA wasn't a real diary. Unlike elita, I didn't find the narrator/narrative appealing. Perhaps it was because I was aware that I was being lied to for purposes of youth-control propaganda. While I was never particularly interested in alcohol or other drugs, I have a strong, negative reaction to being lied to by people in authority. One effect of GAA and other materials like it is that as a university professor I teach students what drugs actually do and how they actually work. I would hate to contribute to the creation of another generation of adults who make inaccurate assertions about drugs, calling all of their statements about drugs (including those that are actually addictive or dangerous) into question.
It is quite a coincidence that Ms. Sparks just happened to come across all these diaries of teens who supposedly descended into madness and died tragically young.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Ask_A...
and the one on snopes.com:
http://www.snopes.com/language/litera...
If you find it compelling, that's fine -- it's not easy to write a compelling book. But it's not "reality," any more than "This is Spinal Tap" was reality because it was made in documentary form.
ETA: The post to which this comment was responding has since been deleted. Vanished in a poof of embarrassment at not having any idea what the fuck she was talking about, I shouldn't wonder.
This book is teaching me that drugs are a big NO but of course I already knew that but when I read this book I learned that illegally taken drugs have all sorts of ways to ruin your life. For anyone how wants to read a book about real life/drama/drugs I strongly strongly suggest this book to you!