Beatrice SparksRecensioni

About the Book:
In this book you follow the life of a young teen who struggles with drug abuse. You get to read her diary and watch as she goes on this adventure to recover from this dangerous lifestyle. You get to experience her ups and downs and eventually her end.

Review:
I really enjoyed reading this book. I will say the book was extremely heavy and included topics of suicide, SA, and drug abuse. I enjoyed being able to read her story and see everything from their eyes. Overall if you are okay with reading about those topics, I would definitely recommend.

Even though it turns out that the book is fraudulent I really enjoyed reading this book when I was young, although it didn’t put me off trying recreational drugs. Now that I’m old, I still enjoy reading it from time to time.

The Book, Go Ask Alice, by and anonymous author is a horrifying true story of a teenager who gets introduced to a world of sex and drugs. Alice doesn't even realize it but, she's not only hurting herself but her family too. The details in this book about her obsession with drugs and the trouble she gets into will keep you second guessing about what else could go wrong. Alice is a normal teenager with a decent life until one day she ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time. After she realizes the "good" feeling that drugs give her, her life could never go back to how it used to be. Although this book contains a highly detailed description of drugs and the emotions that are felt when used, it informs the readers of the negative effects that follow after the use of these harmful drugs. Once I started reading this book it was nearly impossible to put it down. On a scale from one to ten I would rate this book a nine. I would recommend this book to teens who are going through hard times in their life and they think drugs are the only way out. This book includes social values such as allowing the public to view today's problems that exist throughout the world involving teens. We have all heard our elders say those words," don't do drugs," some choose to listen when many other end up ruining their life by getting involved.

I was appalled when I found out that all of the books written by anonymous teenagers and edited by Beatrice Sparks were actually works of fiction. I started with Go Ask Alice and read a few more after that. It just irks me when an author says a book is non-fiction when in actuality it is fiction.

I read Go Ask Alice for the first time yesterday and had what was for me a profound reaction. I was shaken, I was stunned, I was moved in a way that few books have moved me. I believed the story completely, though the unnamed main character seemed surprisingly literate, intelligent, and self-aware. Perhaps not the typical American or West Coast fifteen year old girl, but, hey, Anne Frank was several cuts above typical too. Maybe "Alice" was special. I liked her, she had zest in her hopes and reactions to the wide emotional swings teenagers have. She was perhaps a kind of teen-age Madame Bovary, whose lust for life tragically spilled over into uncontrollable excess.

Fast forward twenty-four hours and now I find out the whole thing may well be a hoax. The Anne Frank / Bovary qualities I admired now appear to reflect no more than faulty execution by the Mormon social worker who penned it anonymously but then sometime later decided to come forward to collect fame and royalties. Ouch.

First reaction: What a fool I am to have been so totally taken in! And what an out-of-it fool never to have read the book before or registered the chatter about its authenticity. What kind of head-in-the-sand clown am I? (Maybe that's all a little harsh).

But wait. To be honest, Go Ask Alice continues to have deep effect on me. I'm still shaking from it. What's with that, I wonder.

Then I notice that this book has been reviewed over 11,500 times on Goodreads, and many if not most of the reviews seem to dismiss it totally as hoax and/or propaganda. But then I check out where the book ends up on the lists: #9 on Best Teen Books on Real Problems, #86 on Best Young Adult Books. Is the better performance on lists because anti-drug propagandists somehow prefer list voting to review writing? Could there be something therapeutic or even curative in this book that review writers are loath to come out and admit?

For me there's a great deal in it that's worth my while. It's about important stuff. It's about how, for adolescents who are passionate about life, the pieces don't fit. It's about how their peers are as confused as they are and how the grown-ups are witless and clueless, having apparently mostly forgotten what it was like being young, passionate, vulnerable, and transitional, instead regarding it all as a "normal" rite of passage. And yet the pain of this normalcy can be so intense, too intense for us adults to condone having largely damped or mislaid it. For me, "Alice's" intense pain was real, even if she wasn't.

Adolescence is a life or death matter, I conclude, and all adolescents die, perhaps not literally but surely in terms of the painful changes they go through and the hopes, ideals, and personae that are lost and betrayed. We could say they die sacrificially so the grown-up world they eventually join can go on with its deadly norms and, as we see today, more stupid wars.

At the risk of ranting like a graybeard Holden Caulfield, my takeaway is that adolescence is indeed sacrificial, that it has tragic elements, that the pain is real, searing and sometimes appalling; and that the sacrifices are not recognized as they should be. Maybe it's my own pained adolescence crying out to me right now; if so, I'll memorialize that too.

So, hoax or no, five stars for the hurt it delivered that I needed to relive.

This book has been on my TBR forever, and before I completely swore off YA, I thought I should get it in. Also, I needed a 50th book to finish my mediocre reading year, and this one was short.

I imagine that when people thought this was a real diary from a real teenager, this book would have been a wow. Unfortunately, the actual author is now known which detracts from it in the same way [b:A Million Little Pieces|1241|A Million Little Pieces|James Frey|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1483206985l/1241._SY75_.jpg|3140930] seemed amazing until it turned out to be fiction.

The story follows a 15 year old teenager who gets hooked on drugs. In the 70's this concept was probably fresher and more easily believed. Now that most of our generation has actually tried drugs, the descriptions of drug use seem a little far fetched. Also, the teen's parents seem pretty wonderful, forgiving, and supportive in every way. I don't want to spoil the book, but at least two of the incidents of drug use seemed quite out of the protagonist's hands and yet had serious repercussions.

At any rate, I liked the fact that the author didn't shy away from the dark side in the least, and I thought the protagonist truly seemed to think like a teenager might. It had its moments of surprise. I think I would have thought this book was terrific and edgy as a young teen. Sadly I didn't read it then.

Publicado por primera vez con gran éxito en 1973, es el diario real de una adolescente de 15 años que se introduce en el mundo de las drogas. Sin culpables ni moralinas hipócritas, nos narra el abismo de degradación al que llega la protagonista. Una historia auténtica y conmovedora, que sigue siendo actual.

I cannot believe my 8th grade English teacher said this was a good book for understanding addiction .

A novel that was originally proclaimed to be the actual diary of a teenager, but later debunked as fiction, in which said teen stumbles into the world of heavy drug use, runaways, and all the awful things that go along with that work.

Yeah, not my jam. Too grim. Also, the main character - the diarist - was, despite going through an incredibly rough journey, completely unsympathetic and genuinely annoying. And I find it ridiculous that the author could ever pass this off as not fictional; it seems clear from the beginning to me that the diary entries are not how or what a high school girl would write.

a nightmarish cocktail of anti-drug propaganda and lies.

Bunny is a rider
Satellite can't find her
No sympathy, hmm
Ain't nothing for free
Bunny is a rider
Satellite can't find her
No sympathy, hmm
Ain't nothing for free
Bunny is a rider
No sympathy, hmm
Ain't nothing
Bunny is a-Bunny is a, a rider
Satellite can't find her
No sympathy, hmm

But I'm so non-physical
I do, I do, feel like the lady
I do, I do, fireworks blazing
I do, I do, heart is unbreaking
I do, I do, but don't drop my name

Bunny is a rider (Bunny is a r...)
Satellite can't find her
No sympathy, hmm
Ain't nothing for free
Bunny is a rider
Giddy up, can't find her
No sympathy, hmm
Ain't nothing for free

Dirty like it's earth day
Tryna wet that palette
Can you cut that check
Crush that wreck
Run out empty on 'em
AWOL on a Thursday
Tryna go ask Alice
Tryna catch that rabbit

But I'm so non-physical
I do, I do, feel like the lady
I do, I do, fireworks blazing
I do, I do, heart is unbreaking
I do, I do, but don't drop my name

Bunny is a-Bunny is a, a rider
Can't find her, eeh
(Ain't nothing)
Bunny is a-Bunny is a, a rider
Can't find her, eeh

Yeah, I'm so non-physical
I do, I do, feel like the lady
I do, I do, fireworks blazing
I do, I do, heart is unbreaking
I do, I do, but don't drop my name

Bunny is a-Bunny is a, a rider
Can't find her, eeh
(Ain't nothing)
Bunny is a-Bunny is a, a rider
Can't find her, eeh
(Ain't nothing)
Bunny is a-Bunny is a, a rider
Can't find her, eeh
(Ain't nothing)
Bunny is a-Bunny is a
Bunny is a rider

“It's a good thing most people bleed on the inside or this would be a gory, blood-smeared earth.”
― Beatrice Sparks, Go Ask Alice

Man. This book.

Somehow, I have never gotten around to reading Go Ask Alice before. I knew of it but all I really knew is that it is considered a classic , was anonymous and was about a teenage girl's descent into addiction. That's it.

I did not anticipate liking it all that much. I was wrong. I have had a tough time concentrating on reading lately, with the corona virus. I picked this up last night, intending to read a few pages and wound up finishing the whole thing. It is not very long either.

It was nowhere close to what I expected. I guess I thought I'd open up the book and Anonymous would already be deep into addiction. I imagined a real gritty read that wouldn't be easy to follow. I was wrong.

When we meet Alice, she is a young and wistful girl, popping with vitality, brimming with innocence with a somewhat child like and earnest world view. I adored her by the second or third page.

Her transition into darkness is so real. I mean I know many have said, in their reviews, that it feels to fast and that makes it feel unreal. But I felt it read very authentically. I have never struggled with drug addiction but have known so many..many of whom are still in my life..who have. I have lost people to it, either to mental illness or to death or just to oblivion. I know of nobody..absolutely nobody..who has not had someone in their life with these struggles.

So it all felt natural to me and heart breaking. I cannot say this book was "enjoyable" but it was deeply moving and now I wish I had read it year s ago.

There were two things I did not know. One: I did not know about the controversy. I did not know this true story might be fake. I frankly do not think it READS as fake at all. If the person many speak of having wrote it, did in fact write it, wouldn't there be more about the evils of rock music? Look at the time period it came out in. I am not convinced this is not authentic and even if it turned out it isn't, there are many an Alice across the planet, that I would have been moved and rated it the same anyway.

END SPOILER:

The second thing I did not now. I did not expect to end the book, with a smile on my face thinking Alice was on her way to recovery, only to read the epilogue and find out she died three weeks after her sunny "see ya" to her diary. That was a crushing moment. I cried. It lent the book so much power and I have to say it hit me like a ton of bricks. Excellent book.

I think the older one is the more they will like the book as having more life experience, absolutely causes you to think more in regards to this type of book.

In closing..a powerful cautionary tale and one that wound up being way more powerful and better than I ever thought. 4.5 stars. Read it if you haven't.

One of the worst books I have ever read

Historia anónima de Alicia, una joven que se ve envuelta en problemas adolescentes que no sabe gestionar. De esta forma, se ve envuelta en un mundo de drogas del que no puede salir. Es un relato trágico que salió en el año 1972 y que no deja indiferente a nadie.

A faked memoir, poorly written.

These diaries are phenomenal. The stories they tell are incredibly powerful. It's very hard to believe they were written by actual teenagers.

I read this when I was about 15 or so and remember loving it. I was in no way gonna take drugs not just because of this, but man did it shock me. Afterwards I found out that it apparently is not a real girls diary as I thought while reading it. That really disappointed me. Mostly I felt lied to. I would have liked it probably just the same if I had known going in that it was fiction. Either way, its a good story, interesting and makes you think. If I ever have kids, I would give it to them to read.

LOVED this book when I was a weird little hippie in high school--read it a few times then. It didn't quite have the effect on me that I think it intends...like the DARE program, it only increased my desire to do drugs. Ohhhh, those were the days. If it was 10 years ago, I might have given it 5 stars, but something tells me I wouldn't be as enthused with it in another go around, so it gets 4.

I bought this when I was in high school, it set on my shelf for years. I've outgrown this type of stuff, as a twenty-three year old woman. This book just sounded like a whiny teenager and that's not my cup of tea.

I bought this when I was in high school, it set on my shelf for years. I've outgrown this type of stuff, as a twenty-three year old woman. This book just sounded like a whiny teenager and that's not my cup of tea.

I like it for the reason that it's very easy to read and follow through.
I don't think I'll want to recommend this to anyone unless they want to include it to 2021 PopSugar Reading Challenge: published anonymously.
It's also one of "NPR's Top 100 YA Books", which is my ultimate goal right now.
Is it persuasive enough? Not to me.
Some people tried to use illegal drugs--out of spite--after reading this.
Oh, and its category--realistic diary--is misleading because this is actually a work of fiction. We already know it by now, but it was initially considered Non-Fiction in some schools.

Boring at best.

I’ve been wanting to read this book for a while, mostly because it frequently makes the banned book lists. It’s written diary style from the point of view of the 15-year-old narrator. As an adult, I found the book to be sort of one-dimensional and the narrator’s voice a tad whiny. I was also frustrated for several reasons: her poor choices, the constant bullying she faced without redress, and the abrupt ending. While I’m glad I finally read it, I can’t say that I’ll ever reread it.

I have a - possibly - irrational anger over this book pretending to be real and toward the people who think it is real. And that's all I'll bother saying about it.½

Seemed exactly like something a teenager would write, which of course made it kind of frustrating at times. There were things I wanted to know more about and things I wanted less of. It was a snapshot of a life.