Go Ask Alice is a controversial 1971 novel featuring a young teen girl who, after drinking Coca-Cola laced with LSD at a party, goes down a long and dangerous path of drug addiction. The book was purported to be a diary written by a real, anonymous girl, and “edited” by youth counselor Beatrice Sparks. However, today it is widely believed that Sparks herself wrote the book, and that all her other books, also marketed as “true stories”, were fabricated as well. In addition, other aspects of Sparks’ public identity, such as her qualifications and experience, have also been called into question. 

Now, with this information, it is clear that Beatrice Sparks is not someone to financially support. However, after learning about the novel and the controversy surrounding it, I found it interesting and wanted to see what the book was like. With its dark, shadowy cover, and its (not so) “anonymous” author, the book carried an air of mystery to it even without Sparks’ shady history. It made me want to find out more. So through an online library, I read Go Ask Alice, and it was definitely an experience.

The protagonist (her name is never explicitly stated in the book, but she is called “Carla” in one scene, and the book’s marketing implies that her name is Alice) seems at first like a normal teenage girl until her inevitable descent into the world of drug use. From then on, the tone of the story completely changes - or does it? “Carla” seems to be very prone to mood swings. In one entry, she’ll be complaining and acting depressed, but in the next she’ll be talking about how lovely everything is. It’s unclear whether this can be chalked up to normal teenage mood fluctuations or if the drugs are having an effect, but personally, I found it interesting, and it helped me stay engaged as a reader. I began to feel an emotional connection to this character, so I wanted her to be happy. 

However, that was not the case for most of the novel. “Carla” runs away from home - more than once - and goes through many terrible things, including rape, death of both grandparents, homelessness, and harassment from her former friends who she bonded with through drug use. In one horrifying scene, “Carla” ends up in the hospital as a result of said harassment. While babysitting a neighbor’s child, “Carla” eats chocolate-covered peanuts, not knowing that her former friends laced them with acid. She is taken to a psychiatric hospital, which in itself is described in a frightening way, where she has hallucinations of worms and maggots eating her body. (When her grandfather died, she worried about the same thing happening to his dead body, which is likely where this fear comes from.) Needless to say, as someone who read this novel right before going to sleep, I would definitely advise fellow readers not to do the same.

By the end of the story, it seems like there’s a happy ending. “Carla” is free of drugs, makes new friends who are not involved in drugs, and starts a relationship with one of her father’s college students. She decides that she would rather talk about her feelings with others rather than writing about them. And then… on the last page, it reads “The subject of this book died three weeks after her decision not to keep another diary.” The page goes on to say that “Carla’s” parents found her dead at home after coming home from a movie, that “they called the police and the hospital but there was nothing anything could do”, that it was unknown whether her overdose was accidental or premeditated, and that “that question isn’t important. What matters is that she died, and that she was only one of thousands of drug deaths that year.”

Although the story made me cry multiple times, I didn’t cry at “Carla’s” death, despite my emotional attachment to the character. Because I know that the story isn’t real, because her last diary entry portrays her as happy and content, and because the story ends so abruptly, without any of “Carla’s” family and friends’ reactions to her death, I can just pretend that the last page doesn’t exist, and that “Carla” lived happily ever after. 

So overall, I did enjoy the book. I found some parts relatable (obviously not the parts about drugs), I thought it was interesting to read, and I felt connected to the main character. Of course, there were also things I didn’t like. I thought “Carla’s” writing style wasn’t very realistic (but maybe it was in the 1960s, I don’t know), I thought some parts were boring and dragged on, and then there’s the whole subject of Sparks’ controversies. However, I still think Go Ask Alice was a worthwhile read. It’s disappointing to see how far Sparks went just for success, when she clearly does have some writing skills to do well on her own. Overall, I would recommend the book, but the actions of Sparks definitely should teach you not to believe everything you read. And sometimes, if you keep this in mind, it can make for a better reading experience.