Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Go Ask Alice by Beatrice Sparks

30 reviews

gavinneedham's review

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

Don’t read this book, it is not good. This is 200 pages of conservative puritanical backlash to the hippies. How they ever got away with marketing this as nonfiction I don’t know. The plot is so badly devised and unrealistic. The narrator is one of the most annoying in fiction.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Ableism, Homophobia, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, and Injury/Injury detail

Read at your own risk. Problematic in every sense of the word.

elisweets's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

This was one of my favorite books when I was in middle school. I used to read this book over and over again, but I haven’t read it in ages. 
Boy was I surprised to find out how much I disliked the book now.
1) I have one of the older copies that state that this is an actual diary of an actual 15 year old girl who got involved with drugs. As I was reading the book I started to realize how completely unrealistic the events of the “diary” seemed. I did some googling and found out that this who story was invented by Some life named Beatrice Sparks who was an American therapist and Mormon youth counselor as a cautionary tale for drug use. (Though people began to question her credentials and there is no proof of the PHD that she claims to have.) So this story was literally invented by religious fanatic who wanted to tell kids drugs were bad. That explains the bizarre amount of homophobia in this book as well.
2) I wish Beatrice worked harder to make this more realistic because omg. You’re telling me two 15-17 year olds ran away and started an entire business by themselves in the matter of weeks??? She couldn’t even properly explain what it felt like to be high on said drugs she was using. Smoking weed doesn’t make you trip out the way this book describes it. 
3) A lot of homophobic undertones and gay shaming. The main character experiences attraction to characters of the same sex but then in the same sentence talks about how sinful and gross that is.

I was severely disappointed while reading this. :( I can’t believe THIS used to be one of my comfort books

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

caties_books's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

2.0

It took me soooo long to get through this book because I just kept cringing. Every single heavy-handed remark made me close the book. How on earth did people think this was anything other than a Christian trying to convince people that sex, drugs, and gay people are the worst things to ever happen to humanity? The only reason I gave it an extra star is that occasionally, when viewed strictly as fiction, it kept my attention in short bursts. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

bennybooks's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Not a plot or character spoiler, but I would like to say that i personally don’t believe this book was taken directly from a real teen’s diary. Because I think this was written mostly by an adult, I know view the book as trying to get across a message. The book itself was a rollercoaster which I did enjoy reading. It’s bleak, in a way.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, and Rape

kerstin444's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy

jademolenaar's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I think this book has been great to read, especially since the 'book' was written by a 15-year-old. It gave me an insight in her life, the good and the bad. It is, however, highly unlikely I will reread this book. This girl is not a writer, so if you want to read a beautiful written, dark story I would advice to skip this one.

TW: problems with food, drugs (ofcourse), rape, death.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Grief

bristena's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Bullying, Eating disorder, Homophobia, and Mental illness

Minor: Rape and Suicidal thoughts

orangezest's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

hannbann1's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, and Trafficking

lobstertelephone's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

I was never forced to read this book in school. So I picked it up at a thrift store wanting to see if the anti-drug message was as educational as many teachers thought… it wasn’t. It was very hard to finish this book due to the dated writing and slang. It was hard to root for a character who didn’t seem real. I know this book. Holds a special place in a lot of people hearts, but for me this book was quite forgettable. Cheesy. Dated. Uninspiring. I think teaching about the effects of drugs on teenagers is important and reading a book about someone who is around the same age as the reader is very effective, but Go Ask Alice is not the right book to teach these lessons.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Rape