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A review by iread2dream
Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World's Most Notorious Diaries by Rick Emerson
5.0
I originally got the eARC of this book through NetGalley (thanks NetGalley and BenBella Books, I guess?) in May-ish 2022. I think it was a Read Now. I had just made an account and wanted to start (obviously) getting my feedback ratio going. As life would have it... honestly I don't remember why I never got around to reading the book. Because life sucks and shit like that (at least, that's what I remember feeling at the time). When I finally decided to read the book, it had been archived and was no longer available for download. Darn. My feedback ratio would never recover.
A few months later, while moping about my shitty feedback ratio on NetGalley, I decided to actually read the freaking book, so I borrowed it from the library. I borrowed it a bunch of times (thank goodness for Libby, so I won't get fined for hoarding books) and finally started reading it in March 2023 (according to my StoryGraph). I think I tried reading it twice and only made it a few pages in. I'm a mood reader and I just wasn't in the mood to read this book. I mean, who wants to read nonfiction when you can read about faeries and dragons and unlikely romances! Let's not forget that alien smut I've been obsessed with. Well, I finally picked it up again a few days ago. Believe it or not, sometimes I need a break from the faeries. Once I actually started reading the book and got past the pages I had already read, I couldn't put it down.
Emerson (oooh, I feel so fancy using last names) writes with conviction and in an almost melodic prose. From the outset, he delivers an important piece of information and then delves into details about it without overwhelming the reader too much. I admit I had a hard time keeping track of the dates because they kept jumping around: "Wait, weren't we just in 1970? How are we back in 1965?" After I figured out the chaos of this back and forth, I thought it actually worked for the flow of the book.
I thought splitting the book into different parts was really helpful, and even though it seemed like the topics were unrelated, I thought the segues worked. Once everything started coming together in terms of how it was all connected, it all actually made sense and it was helpful to have read all the background and how different pieces converged and ultimately fit together.
Fuck all if I know whether this was well researched. As Emerson states at the very beginning, "blind faith–in anything–is a bad idea" but I kept thinking, as he then also states at the end of the book, that if I didn’t believe the shit he wrote, I could always look it up. (Side note: I don't know if this guy is atheist, but he definitely plucks at my atheist heart strings or whatever with some of his comments. Perhaps he took a page from Beatrice Sparks? Can't blame him–or B for that matter–for that stroke of genius. It definitely scored him some trust brownie points.) Some of the stuff he wrote about is absolutely nuts. Candles made of baby fat? Seriously!?!?!?! The fact that people believed this shit totally blows my mind. However, I do remember, as a 90s kid, hearing the "play the song backwards and you'll hear a message from el diablo" bullshit–shout out to Primer Impacto for their yellow journalism and fear mongering!–and believing it myself. Can you blame me? The news said it was so! And I was like 8 or theres about. It's hard to believe that people believed this nonsense, but I'm guilty of it, so it must be true (ha!). Maybe I'll look it up one day to confirm.
I appreciate Emerson bringing up how a lot of this panic was derived from people being worried about the white kids. It makes me curious how the LSD and Satanic panics played out in communities of color. I won't say they didn't play out at all. I don't know about LSD but I have first-hand experience with the satanic panic crap. It was definitely a thing, though I can't recall how much of a thing since I grew up in a Catholic household and every day felt like we were living in a satanic panic.
I loved the witty remarks throughout the book. They were funny without being obnoxious and they definitely went well with the writing style.
I've heard the name Go Ask Alice, and mostly thought it was a song. I don't remember knowing that it was a book, and if I did know, I probably thought it was related to the song. Long way of saying, I knew nothing of the book. What baffles me is that Beatrice Sparks was able to write so many of these "diary" books. Did no one catch on after the third or fourth of these books? Did no one really question her? I mean, for fuck's sake!
Anyway, this is getting ranty. I recommend this book. At least borrow it from the library and tell your friends about it. Or better yet buy two copies, one for you and one for your friend 😉. I'll definitely be buying this book myself, though I'm too greedy to buy books for other people, especially if I don't know whether they'll enjoy it.
A few months later, while moping about my shitty feedback ratio on NetGalley, I decided to actually read the freaking book, so I borrowed it from the library. I borrowed it a bunch of times (thank goodness for Libby, so I won't get fined for hoarding books) and finally started reading it in March 2023 (according to my StoryGraph). I think I tried reading it twice and only made it a few pages in. I'm a mood reader and I just wasn't in the mood to read this book. I mean, who wants to read nonfiction when you can read about faeries and dragons and unlikely romances! Let's not forget that alien smut I've been obsessed with. Well, I finally picked it up again a few days ago. Believe it or not, sometimes I need a break from the faeries. Once I actually started reading the book and got past the pages I had already read, I couldn't put it down.
Emerson (oooh, I feel so fancy using last names) writes with conviction and in an almost melodic prose. From the outset, he delivers an important piece of information and then delves into details about it without overwhelming the reader too much. I admit I had a hard time keeping track of the dates because they kept jumping around: "Wait, weren't we just in 1970? How are we back in 1965?" After I figured out the chaos of this back and forth, I thought it actually worked for the flow of the book.
I thought splitting the book into different parts was really helpful, and even though it seemed like the topics were unrelated, I thought the segues worked. Once everything started coming together in terms of how it was all connected, it all actually made sense and it was helpful to have read all the background and how different pieces converged and ultimately fit together.
Fuck all if I know whether this was well researched. As Emerson states at the very beginning, "blind faith–in anything–is a bad idea" but I kept thinking, as he then also states at the end of the book, that if I didn’t believe the shit he wrote, I could always look it up. (Side note: I don't know if this guy is atheist, but he definitely plucks at my atheist heart strings or whatever with some of his comments. Perhaps he took a page from Beatrice Sparks? Can't blame him–or B for that matter–for that stroke of genius. It definitely scored him some trust brownie points.) Some of the stuff he wrote about is absolutely nuts. Candles made of baby fat? Seriously!?!?!?! The fact that people believed this shit totally blows my mind. However, I do remember, as a 90s kid, hearing the "play the song backwards and you'll hear a message from el diablo" bullshit–shout out to Primer Impacto for their yellow journalism and fear mongering!–and believing it myself. Can you blame me? The news said it was so! And I was like 8 or theres about. It's hard to believe that people believed this nonsense, but I'm guilty of it, so it must be true (ha!). Maybe I'll look it up one day to confirm.
I appreciate Emerson bringing up how a lot of this panic was derived from people being worried about the white kids. It makes me curious how the LSD and Satanic panics played out in communities of color. I won't say they didn't play out at all. I don't know about LSD but I have first-hand experience with the satanic panic crap. It was definitely a thing, though I can't recall how much of a thing since I grew up in a Catholic household and every day felt like we were living in a satanic panic.
I loved the witty remarks throughout the book. They were funny without being obnoxious and they definitely went well with the writing style.
I've heard the name Go Ask Alice, and mostly thought it was a song. I don't remember knowing that it was a book, and if I did know, I probably thought it was related to the song. Long way of saying, I knew nothing of the book. What baffles me is that Beatrice Sparks was able to write so many of these "diary" books. Did no one catch on after the third or fourth of these books? Did no one really question her? I mean, for fuck's sake!
Anyway, this is getting ranty. I recommend this book. At least borrow it from the library and tell your friends about it. Or better yet buy two copies, one for you and one for your friend 😉. I'll definitely be buying this book myself, though I'm too greedy to buy books for other people, especially if I don't know whether they'll enjoy it.