Confessions of a Literary Addict

I’ve read this book twice now, and both times I’ve read it I had two very different reactions from one another over it. It’s a very dark, very scary scenario this main character is going through, and the fact it’s in a diary-style format just makes it all the more unsettling.

Go Ask Alice by Beatrice Sparks (Anonymous)
Series: No
Genres: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Drama
Release Date: January 1st 2006 by Simon Pulse
Format: Paperback, 213 pages.
Rating: 2/5 Crabapples
Find it here: Goodreads || Book Depository

A teen plunges into a downward spiral of addiction in this classic cautionary tale.

January 24th

After you’ve had it, there isn’t even life without drugs….

It started when she was served a soft drink laced with LSD in a dangerous party game. Within months, she was hooked, trapped in a downward spiral that took her from her comfortable home and loving family to the mean streets of an unforgiving city. It was a journey that would rob her of her innocence, her youth — and ultimately her life.

Read her diary.

Enter her world.

You will never forget her.

The first time I read this book, I thought it was a true story. It horrified me. I couldn’t believe something like this could happen, and end the way it did. But, then, I read that this particular book may have been a work of fiction (I’ve never actually seen anything to prove it to be non-fiction, and vice-versa), and decided to reread it knowing that it might have possibly been a fabrication. Even if this particular girl’s story wasn’t real, it certainly didn’t mean that stuff like this didn’t happen–I’m sure it did. Rereading it while knowing it might all be a fabrication, though, threw it into a very different light.

I’m not saying I didn’t like the book, but I was a little more skeptical about a lot of the things I read. Again, I’m beyond sure plenty of these things happen in real life every day, but for someone to keep a journal in this way? Less than likely, I would think. It was interesting to be able to see the way everything worked from the point of view of the diary author, but I don’t agree with the fact it’s marketed as a nonfiction work considering details may not be portrayed correctly and justice might not have been given to people who have actually gone through the horrible things that the girl of this book went through. That’s just my opinion, though.

The story itself, like I had said, was very interesting. The girl starts off her drug addiction in a setting that is pretty common, from what I’m aware of, getting slipped some LSD at a party, and from there her whole life just spirals down the rabbit hole (wait, did I just suddenly understand the reference attached to her name? holy shit), continuing on in a way that is far less than favorable for anyone, much less a girl her age. I didn’t find it quite as thrilling as, say, Crank by Ellen Hopkins, but it was worth the read. I almost want to read the other Anonymous books, but I’m not sure how I’d feel about them. Maybe one day!

Thanks for reading!

xoxo Nova