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

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