Reviews with content warning for Toxic friendship - Go Ask Alice

This book is wild af. After I learned that it was written as a cautionary religious tale, it made so much more sense because like. I just don't think that a few decades ago, in any random high school, students could just get truly a Target-run grocery list of drugs. Very prodigal son vibes going on. I give the author a bit of credit because she got me to keep reading, but my goodness. I won't be reading her again, but I will be reading the newish book about all of her lies and fables. I see why this was so popular when it came out though - it's literally sex, drugs, and rock and roll. And it was QUITE a maneuver to slip by critics with an anonymous pen name.

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chezler24's review against another edition

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dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

I am currently giving this book 2/5 stars although I probably would have rated it higher when I read it for the first time in middle school. I get why this book was written; however, the execution feels a bit dated and cheesy. This book was written in 1971 - or should I say "diary was found" since we're supposed to be reading this under the assumption that this is a real diary from a real teenager - but the dialogue and pacing just feel off at points even for the target audience being older kids/young adults. The book definitely goes for shock factor with all the terrible things the main character does while on drugs and while maintaining her high, yet it almost borders on unrealistic at points. I think the most egregious thing for me was the epilogue ending that completely undoes any progress that had been made without any hope for rehabilitation or even explanation. Also, the handling of sexual orientation was not great at all. It kept popping up that drugs were the sole reason for anyone to question their sexual orientation and gender identity which is just a wild claim that gets glossed over. (Maybe this was to just hint at how naive the main character was, but since the whole book is pretty much propaganda I kind of doubt that there wasn't an ulterior motive.) I did learn that there is a TV movie adaptation of this book so it will be interesting to see how that holds up in regards to the diary format we've been given.

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chemical_crash's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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nvi's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

The fact that it's not verified whether it is an actual diary or a fictional piece of work makes it a little less "shocking", compared to if it was real.

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