GO ASK ALICE

Go Ask Alice by Anonymous.

Published: Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1971.

Described as the “definitive book on the horrors of addiction”, Go Ask Alice tells the story of Alice, a 15-year-old girl from a secure middle class family who is given an LSD-lace drink at a party and begins a downward decent into heroin addiction and prostitution. It is written in a diary format.
In the beginning Alice -- a lonely, awkward adolescent -- writes in her diary faithfully every day. Her tone is optimistic and despairing, as she desperately tries to deal with the pressure she feels from her “perfect parents”. Once she’s in the grips of her drug addiction and a life on the streets, Alice writes less frequently and in a hazy and confused manner which serves to illustrate loss of innocence. The book itself, attributed to ‘Anonymous’ is now widely accepted to be the work of Beatrice Sparks, an American therapist and Mormon youth counselor.

Sources

Cover image: Goodreads

Citation: Novelist

Annotation: Goodreads and Amazon

LOVE AND CONSEQUENCES

Love And Consequences: A Memoir Of Hope And Survival by Margaret B Jones. 

Published: New York: Riverhead Books, 2008.

Described as ‘Urban Fiction’, Love and Consequences is the memoir of a mixed-race young girl as she struggles to survive the brutality of life in South Central Los Angeles. The story is one of strength and hope, with the protagonist overcoming urban poverty, crime, drug abuse and violence, eventually breaking free to graduate from high school and then college. Written in the slang of the city’s most prominent street gangs -- the Bloods and Crips -- Jones explains that she chose to “write as we chose to speak in the world of my childhood." The book was later recalled by its publisher, Riverhead books and retailers after it was revealed the author was in fact, Margaret Seltzer, a white, affluent American writer who went so far as to speak in an African-American dialect during radio interviews in order to promote the book.

Sources

Cover image: Novelist

Citation: Novelist

Annotation: Literature Resource Center and Novelist

THE HEART IS DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS

The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things by J. T. Leroy

Published: New York: Bloomsbury, 2000.

Heartbreaking and grim, The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things is a collection of autobiographical short stories told from the perspective of Jeremiah, an abused young boy on the run from small town America who ends up on the streets of San Francisco. Following on from his debut novel, Sarah, the author J. T. Leroy reprises two characters, the narrator Jeremiah and his drug addicted prostitute mother, Sarah. This time, the plot focuses on Sarah’s relentless torture of her son and his desperate yearnings for her love and attention in spite of her repeated abuse and abandonment.

Sources

Cover image: Goodreads

Citation: Novelist

Annotation: Novelist, Literature Resource Center and Goodreads

SARAH

Sarah by J. T. Leroy.

Published: New York: Bloomsbury, 2000.

Sarah is an intensely emotional and grim novel written by J. T. Leroy (real name Laura Albert). The story is narrated by Cherry Vanilla, a twelve-year-old boy who adopts his prostitute mother’s name – Sarah – as he hitchhikes through the truck stops of West Virginia, all the while disguised as a girl. Along his journey, he meets an evil pimp, Le Loup and a cast of bizarre underworld characters. The book caused a sensation after it was revealed that J. T. Leroy was a fictional character made-up by journalist Laura Albert, who had recruited a stand-in to pose as Leroy for public appearances.

Sources

Cover image: Novelist

Citation: Amazon

Annotation: Novelist and Amazon

FAMOUS ALL OVER TOWN

Famous All Over Town by Danny Santiago

Published: New York: Plume, 1984.

Dealing with a central theme of family and social issues, Famous All Over Town tells the story of Rodolfo M. Medina, Jr., a.k.a. "Chato," a  streetwise 14 year-old Mexican-American boy growing up in the rough neighbourhoods of East Los Angeles. The book is a coming of age story told in a series of episodes full of local colour, with a sassy and sometimes broken English dialogue. Santiago, while trying to pass this novel as autobiographical, was later revealed to be Daniel James -- the author of several Broadway plays during the 1930’s and 1940’s. In his defence, he claimed to have been simply writing from the viewpoint of a young Latino American boy.

Sources

Cover image: Goodreads

Citation: Novelist

Annotation: Magillon Literature Plus, Goodreads and Novelist