Short description
Alice is 15 years old and appears a perfectly normal teenager; she diets, goes out with boys, and gets good marks at school. Without her parents being properly aware, she tries drugs and falls into addiction. The difference between Alice and a lot of other kids on drugs is that Alice keeps a diary.
Long description
Alice is fifteen, white, middle-class. She diets. She dates. She gets decent grades. She thinks someday she'd like to get married and raise a family. On July 9, Alice is turned on to acid. She digs it. Acid makes the world a better place. It opens up the world of sex. It made Alice feel free. Sometimes Alice worries about taking drugs. But she figures life is more bearable with drugs than without. Alice's parents don't know what's happening. They notice changes. They think Alice might be 'associating with the wrong people'. They have no idea she's on drugs. They cannot help her. The difference betweeen Alice and a lot of other kids on drugs is that Alice kept a diary ...
Review
This is a very powerful book, based on the real experiences of a teenage girl so isolated from those around her she can only talk to her diary. When Alice finds a group of friends who accept her she also finds drugs, which become her only escape from an increasingly unbearable reality: 'Nothingness', she writes, 'is a lot better than somethingness.' This is a very mature and lucid account of her experiences, far from being just a stream of consciousness. Alice has a strong command of language. The passages where she describes the effects of drugs on her body and mind are vivid and frightening, but at the same time they show quite graphically the seductive nature of drugs. The psychiatrist's report at the end on Alice and her situation balances the more intimate, personal style. Exactly how real the story is is still in doubt - it is so well written and the horrors so graphic that it reads more like a brilliant work of fiction. But however true or imaginary, this is a harsh, disturbing account of the effects of alienation which has sold over a million copies since its first publication in 1972, and has not dated at all. Necessary reading for all teenagers and their parents. (Kirkus UK)