Bibliographic
Data:
Anonymous.
(1971). Go ask alice. New York: Avon.
0380005239. P 189.
Summary:
Go Ask Alice is the edited diary of a young
girl with a good life who gets mixed up in drugs. Though she strives to make things better, she
will take you through situations sure to make you cringe.
Analysis:
Covering topics such as drugs, sex, and runaways, Go Ask Alice has been challenged just as much as it has been praised since it was published in 1971. So the question is what is it about this book that has made it a classic? Though there is no set answer, certain distinctions may tell why. The time period, author, action, authenticity, and curiosity are strengths within this work. The narrator’s destructive behavior may be its downfall.
Set in
the late 1960s, a time period of the fear of illegal drug use, pushers, and LSD
(Robison, 2002), teenagers of the ‘70s across the country were having their
eyes opened to the world of drugs.
Readers were able to quench their curiosity by reading the diary. The author, or narrator, of the diary is a
fifteen-year-old girl living in an educated, suburbia-like family that all
readers can understand and envision. She
sheds light on drugs including LSD but also marijuana, acid, heroin, meth and
terms like dope, smack, bread, barbs, and Dexies.
The
story moves quickly and the reader holds on as the narrator drowns in her own
drug addiction, gets involved in distressing situations, and partakes in a
tug-o-war with her own self to finally get drug free. The fast-moving action makes it easy to read
and stay involved. Another strength of
this book is its authenticity. The front
cover reads, “A Real Diary” and the preface reads, “an actual diary of a
fifteen-year-old drug user.” Readers believe the diary is real and that the
writer went through every emotion and every situation written. This authentic portrayal allows the reader to
feel the story and to know it could happen to them since it happened to someone
else.
This
leads right in to the final strength of this book. Readers could also relate to the feelings and
emotions of the young girl. She was the
new girl at school, she wanted the attention of boys, and she appreciated the
escape that drugs gave her from reality.
Even 40 years later, teens can still relate to her as many suffer
through difficult home situations and other tragedies, looking for an
escape.
I mentioned
this book has its share of controversy.
According to the American Library Association’s list of most frequently
challenged books (2011), even in 2003, over 30 years after the book’s
publication, it was still number six. Nilsen and Donelson (2009) states that young
adult books of value are positive and show growth in the main character, which
is where I believe this book exposes a weakness (p. 34). Though deeply personal, this story is
heartbreaking, scary, sad, lonely, and at times downright frightening. And through it all, the reader expects the
character to finally grasp the straight and narrow she longs for, only to find
death from drugs awaiting at the end.
The end is a letdown; a depressed, sagging feeling left to devour the
hopes we all have that there really are good people and second chances.
So the
issue facing readers, parents, and librarians today is the decision to read
this book or censor. Parents and readers
must decide for themselves but the story is thought-provoking. Even in my 20s, it scared me for myself and
my daughter. It might just be the book
that a young adult needs to read in order to look for a safer escape from
reality than drugs.
Reference
List
American Library Association.
(2011). Frequently challenged books of the 21st century. Retrieved
from http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/21stcenturychallenged#2011
Nilsen, A. P. & Donelson,
K.L. (2009). Literature for today’s young
adults (8th ed.). Boston: Pearson.
Robison, Jennifer. (2002).
Decades of drug use: Data from the ‘60s and ‘70s. Retrieved from http://www.gallup.com/poll/6331/decades-drug-use-data-from-60s-70s.aspx
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