(1165 words)

Title explanation:

The title Go ask Alice is well chosen because in the book Alice says several times she wants to be a social worker and help children with their drugs problems. She thinks she can do it and will be good at it and because she has been there too, she will understand them better then someone who has not been on drugs so much. You can go ask Alice, because she has been there too, she will understand you. I found another explanation too. 'Go ask Alice' is a line from the song 'White rabbit', a hit in 1967 for the group Jefferson Airplane, musicians who used drugs themselves. In the song a girl named Alice knows the solutions to many problems, because she is a drug addict.

Main characters:

Alice is the real main character. She is the writer of the diary. She is 15 years old and died when she just turned 17. Her name is not known or mentioned in the book so they gave her the name Alice. She is not very self-confident in the beginning of the story; she is not very happy with her weight and it takes a long time to find new friends when they move to another city. After she met a lot of people and does a lot of things she learned very much. She is really grew up during the story. She got a lot of life experience which gave her more self-confidence. In the end everything was going well. She finally got what she wanted and she finally turned her back on drugs. And then she dies…

Alice's family is also very important. Her mother was, according to Alice, always bugging her about everything, that is one of the reasons why Alice didn't have much self-confidence. Alice's father is a university professor who he loved her very much and was always trying to do the best he could to please Alice. He was the one who worked very hard to get Alice out of the mental hospital. Alexandria was Alice's little sister who was very sweet and Alice often wants to be like Alex because she had no problems like herself. Tim was Alice's little brother. At first she thought he was very irritating, but during the story she found out that she can speak with him about a lot of things. He was a very helpful little brother. The whole family was very nice to her each time Alice came home after she ran away. Her family suppored her very much.

Alice's grandparents where also very important. Alice loved her Gran and Gramps very much and Alice iwas, I think, the one who missed them the most when they both died. When Alice was thinking about being dead she thought about worms and maggots eating the dead people. Because of the drugs she hallucinatined about the worms and maggots and when she got the overdose she saw the worms and maggots eating her and that is why she injured herself so badly.

All the people she meets during the story where important for Alice. Roger was the boy she loved at the begin of the story. At a party of Jill Peters, a schoolmate from her old school, she got in contact with drugs for the first time. Gerta, Beth and Fawn where her new friends at her new school. Jan and Marcie where drug-users at her new school. Richie and Ted where pushers and Alice fell in love with Richie. Bill, Joe, Lane and Jacky where also drug-users at her new school, but they where not very important for the rest of the story. Chris was the girl who went to San Francisco with Alice. Mario Mellani was Alice's employer in San Francisco. Sheila was Chris's employer in San Francisco. Doris was a drug-user who Alice lived with in Coos Bay, Oregon. Joel Reems was the student that Alice hoped to marry. Babbie and Tom where young drug-users who Alice met in the mental hospital.

Theme(s):

The main theme is drugsbecause actually the whole story-the whole book is about Alice and drugs. The reader sees everything from the eyes of Alice and can learn from it. You can see what drugs can do with you as told by someone who has used them.

Genre:

The story is told in the form of a diary. The story starts on September the 16th and the last entry is on September the 21st two years later. It also could be a psychological novel because the story is about all the feelings and emotions of Alice. It even could be an autobiographic story because it is a part of the life of Alice. I think it is a very realistic story because it is written by someone who has been there herself and I think this is the most realistic way to write a story about this subject.

Time and place:

Alice is a member of a middle-class family. They live in the western part of America because Alice is went to San Francisco and Oregon and those locations are on the West Coast of America. I do not know exactly where the story takes place because the names of the towns they live in are not mentioned. The story takes place in the 1960s because the book was published two years after Alice's death in 1972.

Something about the author:

Go ask Alice is based on a real diary of a girl who died at the age of 17 and they still do not know exactly what happened and why it happened. They think it was an overdose of drugs. The name of the girl is not mentioned in the book, but she is called Alice. There is too much to tell about her because the whole book is about her.

Opinion:

I enjoyed reading this book very much. I liked the way it is written. I can imagine why she is doing all this because she is my age. I think it was very good to read a book like this because this is real. In this book you get to know the truth from somebody who has been through all of it. I have read other books about this subject but they were all written by people who have not been there and I think this is a book which surpasses all the other books on realism. I liked the book because after reading just a few lines I was back in the story and I think that is the power of a good book. I heard other people who thought it was not a good book but I think they are wrong. I was really caught by the way it was written and the story-lines. I really liked reading it.

Optional assignment:

I enjoyed reading this book very much. I liked the way it is written. I can imagine why she is doing all this because she is my age. I think it was very good to read a book like this because this is real. In this book you get to know the truth from somebody who has been through all of it. I have read other books about this subject but they were all written by people who have not been there and I think this is a book which surpasses all the other books on realism. I liked the book because after reading just a few lines I was back in the story and I think that is the power of a good book. I heard other people who thought it was not a good book but I think they are wrong. I was really caught by the way it was written and the story-lines. I really liked reading it.

Optional assignment:

I have chosen for a different ending because I think the end of the book ruins the rest of the book.
After Alice's birthday Joel had to leave again but he promised her he'd be back soon. Alice felt finally free-she is free from drugs, she finally has clean friends and Joel is the most adorable thing on earth and he is her boyfriend. Everything is going well-she even got permission to baby-sit again by the family where it went so completely wrong. The people in school are still bugging her but it does not bother her anymore. She thinks she is the happiest person in the whole world. She wants to get married as soon as possible with Joel, but her parents think they both have to finish their school before they get married and Alice and Joel agreed with it.
The years flew by and Alice has graduated from her university and Joel is working already because he has finished his university a few years before Alice did. They still want to get married and finally they do. And they live happy ever after…