I hadn't known that "Go Ask Alice" was a fraud 'til Gawker pointed me here

[swag]

http://www.snopes.com/language/literary/askalice.asp

Go Ask Alice was the product of Beatrice Sparks, an author who has come out with a number of "teens who saw their lives ruined by their bad choices" offerings, each one presented as a true story, often in the form of a diary of an anonymous teen . . .

The precise authorship of Go Ask Alice is still a bit of a mystery. Beatrice Sparks is presented as its editor rather than its author, and one tantalizing mention in a 1998 New York Times book review indicates the book might have been the work of several people:

Linda Glovach, since exposed as one of the "preparers" — let's call them forgers — of Go Ask Alice, has just written Beauty Queen, about a girl who flees her alcoholic mother, becomes a stripper and dies of heroin addiction.

Our best guess is that a number of folks work at churning out these cautionary tales, which are then presented to an overly accepting public as real diaries of anonymous teens. Yet on the question of authorship, one thing is startlingly clear: whoever wrote the Go Ask Alice "diary" was not a 15-year-old girl.

Damn. Read it when I was 11 or so. Anyway, snaps to whoever came up with the line "Another day, another blowjob."

[flamingyouth]

1. I reread that last summer

For some reason I felt like picking it up again (I think it was after watching a bunch of Something Weird '60s anti-drug short films).

As a kid I didn't notice it, but as an adult, the writing definitely came across as somewhat contrived.

[idgiehkt]

2. wow.

I never knew that. I remember something about her being in the closet and clawing her way out until she didn't have any fingertips left because she wore them down. I much preferred "Lisa Bright and Dark" about the girl with BPD who ran through the sliding glass door and got killed. When I was younger I thought that would have been a really cool way to die. I was twisted.

[NMMNG]

3. Mmmm mmmm mmmm

I enjoyed that when I was a kid and never even suspected.

What next--they're going to tell us "The Diary of Anne Frank" is a forgery? :-(

[swag]

5. Nah,

they're gonna tell us Snoopy died.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

7. Snoopy died?

:cry:

[Heidi]

4. My mother told me it was a scare tactic when I read it at about 12.

Mom didn't much believe in trying to scare the hell out of kids to get them to "do right," and I appreciate that. :thumbsup:

[zonkers]

6. So she never was 10 feet tall and no one chased any rabbits?

http://photo.sing365.com/music/picture.nsf/Jefferson-Airplane-photo/48256C71003578A248256BF4000DB334/$file/ja.jpg

[MnFats]

8. the men on the chessboard got up and told her where to go...

or

she couldn't remember what the door mouse said...

[swimboy]

9. I read it in sixth grade.

Opened a crack in my knowledge box that served me well later.

Did you see the 1973 TV movie? Andy Griffith, Mackenzie Phillips and . . . wait for it . . . William Shatner.

[swag]

10. Yeah, I did see that movie.

Loved it at the time, of course, but I was 12.

I need to see that again. That and "Born Innocent."

[mdmc]

11. i remember that line

:kick:

[calico1]

12. I remember when I was a freshman in HS

we were told to watch the movie. I never did. Nor did I read the book. There are plenty of true stories that are compelling. Too bad this one was made up and that so many of us were fooled into thinking it was a true story.