genre: young adult
This book is the supposed "real" diary of a teenage girl who falls into a life of depravity because she gets hooked on drugs. I distinctly remember reading it when I was a young teen myself, so clearly there is some draw for teens and my memories are mostly that it did scare me away from doing drugs, to a certain extent. I needed to read a book by "anonymous" for a book challenge so I tried this one.
However, reading it as an adult is a totally different story. I read online that there is some controversy over whether or not it was actually written by an anonymous teen or by an adult, a youth counselor no less. This would actually not surprise me because, while I know I myself wasn't a teenager in the late sixites/early seventies, the author does NOT sound like a teen. The language is obviously a bit dated but I just had a really hard time believing some of the more existential thoughts of this drug-addicted girl. Also, I couldn't get myself to believe that she really kept her diary on old trash bags that somehow managed to make it back to her home after all she's gone through. See how I didn't give any spoilers there? But her journey is just too much for me to believe. It IS sad, though, to watch someone's life train wreck and maybe it did some good, I don't know. I mean, drugs CAN lead to a really messed up life, this just feels like creepy didactic playacting instead of a truly personal journey.
Yep, there is strong language and adult content in here and for me, just not enough worth reading to ever want to try it again.
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