How long is it since you were a teenager? Two years? Two decades? And, do you have any children? Are they at the 'terrible twos' or 'turbulent teens' stage? Do you intend to have children in the future? Do you have younger brothers and sisters? Do you work with young people - a teacher or a social worker perhaps? If you can answer yes to any of the above questions, then "Go Ask Alice" is a book that you should be reading. You won't enjoy it.But you might just learn something from it and what you learn could even save a life.
Think back to your teenage years. I bet you were as confused as I was. Half of you probably wanted to rebel - to stand out from the crowd and be different, while the other half desperately wanted to conform and to be accepted by your friends. This book is the true story of 15 year old Alice's attempts to fit in. To belong. To be in with the right crowd. And the only way that she believed that she would ever accomplish this was by taking drugs.
Sadly, as the notes on the book cover say, "You can't ask Alice anything anymore". Yet perhaps we don't need to actually ask Alice, since she kept a detailed diary...
This book, then, is Alice's Diary, a personal chronical of her transformation from a happy, bright 'All American' girl to her eventual death from a drug overdose. (It is not known whether this was deliberate or accidental.) It is a moving, highly personal tale of teenage angst and insecurities, of desperation, guilt, shame and defiance. Throughout the book, Alice oscillates between being 'Mummy and Daddy's little girl' and the original teenager from hell. Every feeling is documented. The highs, the lows, and the often unpleasant realities and pressures of simply being a teenager.
The book was first published in 1972, so it may seem a little 'dated' to the reader(some of the 'fashion items which Alice yearns for - such as plaid trousers - are thankfully long forgotten) However, it was reprinted every single year until 1981, when my copy is dated, and a quick check at amazon this morning showed that it is not only still in print, but is about to be reprinted yet again.
It is also very much an American book, filled with the American slang expressions which would have been used by a teenager of the 1970's. But you'll just have to get over that, because, believe me, this book is just as relevant today as it was almost thirty years ago.
Even though 'Alice' is only 15 years old, she writes with both maturity and insight - and she is ideally suited to look at the drug problem from that most important of view points - that of an impressionable and lonely teenager who wants to be accepted - whatever the cost.
It is not a long book - only 142 pages - which includes a short comment by a psychologist into the pressures which teenagers faced then ...and today. It is a powerful social document, one which deserves to be read. For (as is asked in a review of the book which is printed on the cover) "Can it be that love is not enough?" (Sunday Mirror)
I make no apologies for reviewing this book, although I can promise you that you won't enjoy reading it. You will cry, rather than laugh, shake your head in puzzlement many times and close the book with a feeling of deep regret for a young life wasted - for what could have been.
You won't enjoy it - but, please - read it anyway.
Publisher: Corgi
ISBN: 0 552 09332
Price: £5.99
Date Reviewed: June 2002
My Rating: 3/5
