I first read “Go Ask Alice” a few years ago when I was a freshman in high school. I recently decided to read it again, mostly out of boredom, but, after the first few pages, I quickly became just as interested in it as I was in high school.The content of this fictional book is based on the diary of an anonymous 15 year old, who grew up in a seemingly normal household but fell into a world of drugs and prostitution, all while still experiencing the trappings of high school life.
First experiencing drugs after unknowingly sipping a soft drink laced with LSD, she began to try marijuana, heroin, speed, sleeping pills, and a number of other drugs, all before celebrating her Sweet Sixteen. After running away twice and prostituting herself for drug money and food, she returned home and finally decided to stay off any type of narcotic. But the girls at her high school with whom she used to do drugs are not willing to let her go so easily, and after lacing food with a bad dose of LSD, the girl who was doing so well with recovery lands in a mental institution.
This diary says what most girls in adolescene are going through: the pressure to fit in and the long process of finding their own voice among a crowd of many. For this young girl, her tale would have a tragic end. But hopefully, printing her words and having others read her story (over five millions copies of this book have been sold) will serve as a great, however detailed and explicit, cautionary tale.