👶👶 Go Ask Alice, by Beatrice Sparks

OK, well this was an interesting adventure in my reading journey. I had never read a book written by an "anonymous" author before. I read it after being told it was a true story and an immensely important read. Hmmm... where to go with that. First off, it is NOT a true story. When I downloaded it on my Kindle (which unlike Good Reads, still lists it as an anonymous writer), it did not have the copyright page that supposedly states that it is a work of fiction. Therefore, having already been under the assumption that it was indeed true, I read the first half under that guise. About midway through, the story became so grotesquely implausible, and the "teenager" had such a command of the English language, that I googled it to find out the truth. I learned that it was actually written by Beatrice Sparks (and perhaps some unknown co-authors), along with a series of books about teenagers following the wrong path and ultimately suffering unimaginable consequences. The book is intensely graphic, and unquestionably disturbing. It terrified me and disgusted me, and perhaps I'm naive enough to believe that the shock value alone may be enough to keep some teenagers from going down that road. I'm certain it would've horrified me in high school, though I may have been one of the few among my peers in the 90's that such propaganda was effective with. Read 10/12