[description from B&N]
Alice COULD BE ANYONE. Alice COULD BE SOMEONE YOU KNOW. Alice USES DRUGS. With over a million copies in print, Go Ask Alice has become a classic of our time.
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A fifteen-year-old drug user chronicles her daily struggle to escape the pull of the drug world.
Review:
This book is a "modern classic"? Really? Seriously? Because I think this book is bad. I don't often read books I think are bad- I read average, slightly below average, above average, and the occasional amazing one, but never really ones I find bad. But this book is just ugh.
The thing that bothered me most is that the narrator sounds like a 10 year old, even before she's on drugs. She sounds so immature and obnoxious. She kept saying things like "I really want to stop! I do! I do!" and all I could think of was "I do believe in fairies! I do! I do!"
Here are some more quotes to show how annoying she is:
"It's still holiday time and I'm elated all the livelong day and night!" (89).
"This is a really great place! It really is!" (104).
"My dear precious friend,
I am so grateful that they would let Mom bring you to me in your battered, padlocked little case" (163).
I wanted to throw the book at the wall after a while, I was so annoyed.
Another thing that I hated was that on one page the narrator would be like "I love drugs! I am as high as a kite! La la la la la," on the next she'd be like "I have to get out of here! AND I NEED DRUGS!", on the next she'd be like "I miss my family! I feel awful! I LOVE GOD!" and I would be like "MAKE UP YOUR MIND, WOMAN!" She was just so frustrating, and her constant change made the plot change as well, and not in a good way. First she'd be at home, all boring and fine, and then she'd be on drugs, all boring and not fine. Not very fun to read about.
The narrator also described all the drugs she was taking and how they made her feel a lot. She went on and on about the effects and later the dangers. It's way too preachy and it made the narrator even more flat of a character than she already was. All the drug talk time could have been spent developing her character, but of course that didn't happen.
Honestly, I do not see why Go Ask Alice is so loved by so many. Anyone care to explain?
4/10
Simon Pulse/Paperback/$9.99/Amazon/B&N/Borders/IndieBound
Its been a while since I read it, but I liked it. I can see why she gets frustrating and annoying. I guess that's why its anon. jk idk
ReplyDeleteI've not read this book since I was twelve, eight years ago, but I really really liked it. Perhaps I shall go back and see if I still do. If I do, I will let you know why.
ReplyDeleteMajor props for being honest :)
I read this book many years ago - maybe 10 years ago (ick! That makes me feel old!) I really liked it at the time, maybe it fit in more with my generation or something, I don't really remember. I'm curious how I would feel about it now!
ReplyDeleteI haven't read this, but the writing does seem bad. The book probably appealed to earlier generations more because YA books about drugs were less common then. I just checked, and this book was first published in 1971. Wow!
ReplyDeleteI would never read it in the first place but good to see what I might expect from it.
ReplyDeleteI still have my copy from 30 years ago - yes, that long ago - and I remember really liking it in Junior High. But there really wasn't anything else out there at the time. For the most part, there wasn't even YA! Guess I would have to re-read it again...
ReplyDeleteL. Diane Wolfe
www.circleoffriendsbooks.blogspot.com
www.spunkonastick.net
www.thecircleoffriends.net
This was one of my favorite books when I was a teenager. I think mostly due to the fact that it was the only gritty novel I had ever read.
ReplyDeleteI think one thing to remember about the writing (especially the indecisive thinking) is that the way a person on drugs feels and acts is not always going to seem logical to those of us who abstain from drug use. Every person on drugs who chooses to write is not going to be a genius like Jim Carroll.
I bought this book b/c of the hype. It's still sitting on my shelf, waiting to be read. Every time I pick it up and flip to a random page, I get annoyed by the narrator's speech. And dear Lord, could she use any more exclamation points!!!
ReplyDeleteI think it may appeal more to junior high kids, maybe as a book they make you read in drug awareness class to hammer home the whole "don't do drugs" motto.
For well-developed characters with grit, read Ellen Hopkins. That woman knows her stuff.
That is hilarious. I might just read it to make fun of it :)
ReplyDeleteyeah, this rang so false for me when i first read it 762 years ago. (the author (a psychologist, i think) has done a bunch of these "diary" type books.)
ReplyDeleteI never got a chance to read this one but I heard a lot of conflicting ideas. Some think this sucks because it's just fictional, not a real diary.
ReplyDeleteI read this my freshman year of High School mainly because my teacher was talking about controversy around it. While I didn't like the book personally I do think it was a crucial book for YA novels. My teacher talked about how lots of books before Alice were just fluff. Fluff is good sometimes but I am glad Alice paved the way for more raw novels for teens. I am rarely a fan of "classics" and I don't like the way they are written, but I know that without them we wouldn't be where we are today.Oh, and aren't you proud of me commenting up like a crazy today?!
ReplyDeletehaha I remember when I read this book years ago... I was so with you... like WHAT's all the hype about??
ReplyDeleteI remember reading this book in the 7th or 8th grade...which would have been over 10 years ago and I did like it because not many books were about drugs and all that good stuff. Well, I shouldn't say good stuff, but you get the drift. So I can see the hype about it then, but with how YA is now...yea, I can see why this book would no longer impress anyone.
ReplyDeleteAmber
I just finished this book and can't see how you don't love it. Even thought she was confusing, and she couldn't make up her mind, SHE WAS ON DRUGS.
ReplyDeleteI clearly said why I do not like it anon: the main character is insanely flat and the book is preachy and lacks a real plot. I know she was on drugs, but I have known people on drugs and they do not change their minds about taking drugs every other day, unlike the narrator in this book.
ReplyDelete