Go Ask Alice by Anonymous

This is the diary of an anonymous girl and her struggle with drugs and addiction. As chance would have it, I read it sometime after I watched that movie thirteen, which is supposedly also true, and that was kind of similar so I guess the book had less of an impact on me than it would have if I'd read it without any preparation. It was still a good read though. As you would expect from reading a diary, it did a a good job making the story realistic, though I suppose knowing this is based on an actual diary helped with that, though how much of this diary is fact is up for debate...

Problems I had with this book is how little it went into the drug issue. Drugs in general is a very complicated topic and I thought that this book simplified drug addiction ridiculously. This book is aimed for teen audiences and as such the issue should be fleshed out a bit more... but this book just seemed to perpetuate the boogeyman. Don't get me wrong, drugs can be scary things and can really mess up someone's life, but at the same time nothing is so childishly black and white.

Also, the heroine of this book had little to no backbone. She's dangerously ignorant and too eager to please... so basically she brought this upon herself. At some point when your life is flushing itself down the drain you would realize this, and at points in the novel you can tell she does, she just can't stop 'the outside world' from destroying her. I actually find it kind of interesting that as a society we celebrate novels like this, of complete destruction of the self. I enjoy this kind of story very much when the destruction is intentional, but in this instance the girl just float along on the current she was caught up in. This kind of thing bothers me, but at the same time... meh. Because for myself it's just slightly annoying, but for some young girl who has been sheltered from these ideas, this would be seriously disturbing... and it would be harder, I believe, for someone at that age to pick up on the fact that the girl didn't exercise her will... that drugs is a choice like everything else.

When I look at factors like these, you have to begin to wonder at the motivation of the authors, yes plural. This book was based on a real diary... based on, meaning some or even most of it is fiction. And in a book store you will find this in the fiction section. This book, and books like this, are mean to instil fear that comes from the ignorance that surrounds drugs. Perpetuates the stereotype. As I say, i do not condone drug abuse, but neither to i approve of misinformation for the purpose of perpetuating fear and ignorance.

It was a decent fiction piece though.