Summary of 'Go Ask Alice' by Anonymous

Beatrice Sparks is supposedly the author of this book, though, some claim that she is just the editor of this book. She was a therapist, and a Mormon youth counselor. She has written books on subjects like drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, AIDS, etc.

Communication is an essential part in any relationship, right? We all should have at least that one person whom we can talk freely to, share our innermost thoughts, no matter how ridiculous, unreal, and disgusting they may sound! But it was not the same for this young 15-year-old girl.

She started writing a diary when she couldn't pour her heart out to her parents, siblings, or any of her friends.

Her life takes a turn for the worse, when she, accidentally, falls prey to the vicious world of drugs. From there on, there is no turning back in this little girl's life. Some people claim that Go Ask Alice is purely a fictional book, edited by Beatrice Sparks. 

Nobody knows who the real author is because Beatrice Sparks claimed that she only edited the diary.

Whether a fictional diary or a real one, the book still remains shrouded in mystery! The diary talks about the drug world and its dark aura that existed in the late 1960s. Let's take a deeper look into the story to comprehend it.

▣ An anonymous 15-year-old girl starts writing a diary; the novel's title refers to her as Alice. Her diary carries a record of each and every event that takes place in her life. She treats the diary like her best friend sharing with it the most intimate details.

Like what her crush, Roger, thinks about her, the communication gap between her and her parents, the pangs of loneliness she feels in her school, her weight gain.

The story starts from the time her father accepts a teaching position at a new college, in different city and state altogether. Alice seems to be really happy about it, thinking she would meet new people at her new school and in her new neighborhood, and also that life would be beautiful in that new city.

▣ The move, though, seems really exciting at first, it becomes difficult for Alice to adjust to the new surrounding and is not as easy as it is for the rest of her family. She feels like an outcast at school, sitting alone and doing her work. 

But soon she meets Beth, her Jewish neighbor, and they start spending time together, which develops into a very strong bond as time goes by. Beth has to leave for summer camp, and Alice has no option but to go live with her grandparents. Bored to death, she ends up bumping into an old friend of hers, Jill. She invites Alice for a party at her place. 

Alice gladly agrees to go, thinking she has nothing better to do at home. At the party, unknowingly, she has a drink that is mixed with drugs. Alice experiences an amazing drift from the boring world, but suddenly realizes it is not right and swears to keep it a one time experience.

▣ However, trouble follows her when the people who she hung out with, in the party, start calling her. Then starts the daily ritual of taking drugs together. Slowly, she gets hooked to the substance, and happily experiments every type of drug. Things get worse, when she loses her virginity while she is high on acid. 

She decides to go back, but her grandfather has a minor heart attack, which makes her stay back to assist her grandmother. Her childhood crush, Roger, visits Alice's grandparents with his parents. She is excited to see him, but at the same time, nervous and guilty because of her drug abuse and loss of virginity. 

She decides not to tell him about her guilty pleasure, and ignores him for the rest of his stay. She is worried that she may be pregnant and really feels lonely. She yearns to talk to somebody about it. She finally goes back home, and is happy to be back but tensed about everything in her life. 

She starts taking sleeping pills and relies heavily on tranquilizers. In the meantime, Beth is back from her camp, but Alice notices she is not the same old Beth. Alice meets a young, hip girl, slightly older than her, named, Chris. They start hanging out together, but her parents disapprove of Chris.

▣ Chris and Alice, both are disappointed with their lives, and can relate to each other, like how they are unhappy with their parents. Chris works in a boutique, and helps Alice secure a job at her workplace. They both hang out in school together, and start doing drugs again, Chris's friend, Richie, a college student introduces Alice to marijuana. 

Alice and Chris start befriending kids in their school who sell drugs so that they can support their respective boyfriends Richie and Ted. However, life takes a u-turn for both the girls, when they find Richie and Ted in bed together. They feel used, and pathetic and decide to cut ties from both the guys, and turn them over to the cops.

The girls decide to run away to San Francisco to start a new life. They both move into a cramped apartment, and struggle to find a stable job. Chris joins a glamorous boutique; her boss, Sheila, seems to be a very sweet person, and invites Alice and Chris to her apartment for a party.

▣ At Sheila's party, the girls get hooked to drugs again, until, one night, they discover that Sheila and her boyfriend have been raping and assaulting them in their drugged state. They decide to move to Berkeley and open a jewelry shop, which becomes a hangout place for the neighborhood kids.

At this time, Alice starts missing her family; she longs to go back to her plain and simple life. The girls decide to go back home for Christmas. The holiday season lifts Alice's mood and spirit. Alice vows never to touch drugs again. She rejoins school, and avoids her drug buddies. However, they seem to become pretty aggressive.

As the saying goes, Old Habits Don't Die Easily, she starts doing drugs again. One day, while they are smoking pot, the cops raid Chris's house. The girls are put on probation, and Alice begins visiting a shrink.

▣ Alice returns to her habit of doing drugs without her parents knowledge. She even flees to different cities with many of her drug buddies. She even prostitutes herself so that she can purchase drugs. On one such escapade, she meets a priest and talks to him about teen runaways.

The priest informs her parents, and like always, they come to take her home. She decides to put her life in order and take up psychology to help kids to get over their addiction.

▣ Everything comes back to normal in Alice's life. She works hard to combat her drug addiction problem. The relationship with her family gradually matures. Her social life is next to zero as she avoids her druggie friends, and the nice kids don't want to hang out with her.

In the same year, her grandfather passes away. Alice becomes really depressed, her father grants her permission to study at the university library.

▣ She meets a college freshman called, Joey, at the university library. They start spending time together, and both take a liking towards each other. Her family also starts liking this sweet guy. Meanwhile, the story of being a substance abuser starts circulating in school and pressure mounts on her as the kids in school start troubling her and her family.

Alice's grandmother also passes away. At this time, Joey stands by her and consoles her. Alice starts opening up little bit to him about her past as Joey seems supportive.

▣ One day, Alice finds herself in hospital and is unsure how she got there. Her father explains that somebody dosed her with LSD by spiking her chocolate-covered peanuts. Her condition is really bad. She realizes her fingernails have been chewed to the bone, there are injuries to her skull, and, claw marks on her body and face.

She learns that her case was brought up in Juvenile court because Jan and another girl testify against her for which she is registered into a mental hospital.

▣ Alice meets different kinds of people in the asylum, each with their own horrible story. She longs to go back home to Joey and her family. Her father, somehow, convinces the girls, who testified against Alice, to change their statements.

Alice is finally released from the hospital. Alice and her family take a long vacation to erase the memories of the episode.

Upon returning home, Alice is befriended by Fawn, a decent kid. Alice is happy but scared that her new friends may come to know about her past. Joey also gives her a surprise visit and a friendship ring, which she swears to never to take off from her finger, her whole life.

She is apprehensive about starting school again, but does so with her family's and Joel's support. This, however, is the last entry in her diary because she states she no longer needs a diary to communicate her thoughts. Her family and new friends have made her stronger and that she has people around to talk to.

The story ends in a suspense because, in the epilogue, we are informed that Alice dies three weeks after her last entry in the diary. Her parents find her dead in their home of drug overdose. It still remains a mystery as nobody knows whether it was accidental or premeditated.

Alice is the anonymous girl whose entries in a diary forms the story of the book Go Ask Alice. She is portrayed to be an intelligent, lively, and, emotional girl who experiments with drugs to escape her low self-esteem and loneliness.

However, in the end, she is shown to be a very mature girl who was comes to terms with her imperfect life, and desires to live an upright and clean life.

He is a working-class freshman at her father's university. He loses his father when he is seven, and has high aims in life. His mother works as a janitor in a factory to pay for his tuition fees. He is shown to be very supportive, even when, he learns about Alice's past. He is compassionate, yet wise and mature having gone through many trials in his life.

Alice's father is a college professor, and her mother a housewife. They are an upper-middle-class family. They love her to death, but like every other parent, have a hard time communicating and understanding their teenagers.

Alice has two younger siblings Tim and Alexandria. They are better adjusted and accustomed to life than she is, which used to make her jealous at times. Tim was later shown as a mature young man.

Alice's grandparents are the sweetest members of the family, Alice loved spending time with them, and they keep visiting the children during their holidays, until their death.

Roger is a sweet and square guy on whom Alice has a crush. He has plans to attend military school.

Alice's first close friend in the new town, Beth is a Jew, though she changes after her return from camp. Both have a strong emotional bond and she is good for Alice till the time she goes to camp. Beth's change in attitude towards Alice, makes Alice lonely and depresses and in the process she gets into drugs.

She is Alice's drug buddy, and they both run away to San Francisco together to start a new life.

Richie is introduced to Alice by Chris. He is Alice's first boyfriend, until she leaves the city. She sells drugs to help him collect money for medical school.

Sheila is an older, hip woman, Chris works in her boutique. Sheila is into hardcore drugs and kinky sex, She has both Alice and Chris molested and raped by her boyfriend.

He gives Alice a job in his jewelry shop in San Francisco. He has a large robust Italian family.

Richie's college roommate, gets a sexually involved with Chris.

The other characters in the story are: Babbie, Doris, Lane, Dr. Miller, Jan, Fawn, and Greta.

The location of the story is set in unknown places except when she flees to San Francisco, and Oregon, and also, when she visits New York city with her family. Some of the dates mentioned in the diary are from the years 1968 till 1970.

Alice, just like every other teenager, wanted to be loved and understood. The teenage years for any child is tough. They long to be accepted by their friends and family. This is the age when most kids go astray to escape from their loneliness, and be accepted by their peers.

Hope this summary of Go Ask Alice teaches you to say no to drugs. if you face any issues in your life turn to your parents because, no matter what, they are the ones who will protect and stand by you, against all odds in your life.

Be strong and do not take the easy way out for Life is far too precious. Remember you are valued by your parents and if you still feel you are not, God always loves and values you the most.