Anonymous - Go Ask Alice - 9 {unrated}

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Spike72988
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Anonymous - Go Ask Alice - 9 {unrated}

Post by Spike72988 »

Go Ask Alice



Go Ask Alice

Author Anonymous

Non-Fiction: Teen Drama, Diary




Main Theme

This book is based on the actual diary of a 15-year-old drug user. It’s a highly person and specific series of events and emotions. It show how fast drugs can suck you into a world you never knew existed, and how it can spit you back into the world of sobriety, and then suck you right back in just as fast. “Names, dates, places, and certain events have been changed in accordance with the wishes of those concerned.â€
Darb
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Post by Darb »

A well done review. :thumb:

I felt pretty much the same way when I read it back in high school, c.1980 ... although in my case I was fortunate to escape by merely skirting the edges of the drug scene, without dipping into it too deeply or often. I had the twin advantages of enjoying my studies (i.e., I was a geek), as well as having parents whom I loved and respected, and who cared enough about me to keep a close eye on me and to set limits (which I resented at the time, but am grateful for in hindsight) ... in order to help keep me on the road to health, happiness, independance, and academic/professional success. Those things aren't requisites to success, but they certainly help.

In any case, some of my HS friends at the time were not so fortunate, and some of them are dead now ... and I remember others who drifted along like wastrels while their easiest, best, and most precious opportunities to succeed (i.e., studying & acquiring skills and experience) slowly slipped out of reach. Such a waste. You want to avoid that, trust me. The longer you wait, the harder and harder it gets to escape the relentless pull of mediocrity, sloth, failure, and (eventually) death. The pull never really goes away ... but it lessens with altitude, constant daily exertion, and the presence of friends who are struggling happily against the same relentless same pull. :)

Oh, I apologize for waxing maudlin and getting preechy. Back to the book ...

Although the inventory of drugs available today is slightly broader, the essential experience teen angst, drug abuse, and all the mental, physical and emotional hurdles that go along with it, haven't really changed much ... and for that reason, the book (IMO) has a certain timeless quality about it.

I agree ... for me, it was a 9 at the time I read it.

p.s. Dont forget to click on the "rate this book" link, in the detailed book view. :)
Last edited by Darb on Thu Mar 24, 2005 6:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
nzilla
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Post by nzilla »

Spoiler: show
*poke*

Sorry to burst the bubble.
[MOD: spoiler tags added. -- Brad]
Ever since I started equating correlation with causality, violent crime has fallen 58%.
Darb
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Post by Darb »

For those of you who have not read the book, but plan to, try to resist the urge to click on the spoilers above or below.
Spoiler: show
NZILLA: When it comes right down to it, it doesn't really matter whether or not the book is an actual autobiography, or a fictional anti-drug parable by a ghostwriter. People's response to it is the same either way.

The simple fact is this - the author created something that covers a real issue, and which some people resonate to in real life. As with all books, you get out of it what you read into it, against the backdrop of your own personal experiences, and of those you know and care about.

Count yourself fortunate if you have the luxury of flippantly dismissing it as an urban legend. Most people are not so fortunate, because although the book itself may be fictional, the issues it chronicles are not.

I'll give you just one example, from my own personal life. If reading it helps even one person, I'll consider the effort well worth my time.

I have a sibling (name and gender witheld) who's very intelligent, sensitive, and caring, and who had the skills and disposition to have become, say, a teacher, a writer, and/or a successful musician. However, early on in his/her teens he/she began hanging with the wrong kinda friends, began using drugs heavily, lost interest in school & the motivation to achieve, and as time went most of on his/her best opportunities passed on by, and then vanished altogether. He/she left home, ran away for a while, came back empty handed and in need of parental fiscal support, dealt drugs, picked up a criminal record, and twice tried to commit suicide (very nearly succeeding on both occasions ... the latter of which generated hospital bills that nearly bankrupted my parents). His/her best friend ran with the same crowd too, got mixed up with columbians, stole from and eventually bankrupted their father's business, spent several years in the slammer, and has been slowly trying to pick up the pieces ever since. Ok, back to my sibling ... who recent discovered lumps in his/her breast, and is waiting, as we speak, for the biopsy results on whether or not it's cancer - if it turns out to be cancer, it was probably caused by years of regular pot smoking, which is one of it's chief long term side effects. I'll stop there.

So, go right ahead and brush the matter of teen drug abuse off, if you have the luxury of doing so. I genuinely envy your ability to do so, and I offer my sincere hopes that you never have to experience what I've gone through in the relatively small confines of my own immediate friends, acquaintances and family.
p.s. No offense intended ... I'm just sharing from personal experience, in the hopes it might help somebody.
Last edited by Darb on Thu Mar 24, 2005 7:46 pm, edited 4 times in total.
nzilla
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Post by nzilla »

I have no opinion on the book itself, having not read it, but I just wanted to point out ...
Spoiler: show
the Snopes article on the source
[MOD: Spoiler tags added. -- Brad]
Ever since I started equating correlation with causality, violent crime has fallen 58%.
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