Reading Reflection #1

Go Ask Alice
Anonymous
Pages 1-55

As I began to read Go Ask Alice by Anonymous, I felt that it was going quickly and easy. This book doesn't seem to be challenging enough for grade 12. I like how the book is written from one person's perspective in the form of journal entries. From reading the first fifty-five pages, I found that I had a lot of comments and a few questions and predictions.

The comments that I had about this book were mostly to relate to how the character felt. Since it is written as a journal/diary, many feelings are explained, and many relations are found when a teenager is writing the entries. The first entry explains how the character, Alice, is so happy at one moment and then something or someone always has to come and ruin that for her. I think that's a typical teenage though, and I can relate to that same type of thinking. Another feeling Alice has is frustration towards her parents for asking her to do things when she's not at her best or just not having a great day. Everyone feels like that sometimes, but you can't work up frustration or hate because of it. On the next day she says, "I wouldn't intentionally hurt anyone in this whole world. I wouldn't hurt them physically or emotionally, how then can people so consistently do this to me?" This feeling of everyone around you being for the bad is super common and can also happen on a bad day/time so I can relate to this. A month later, Alice seems to be trying hard to be something she's not. She wishes to be strong, fit, healthy, positive,and thin. I want to know Alice and tell he that while every girl wishes to be these things, no one is perfect and you should learn to accept that as early on as possible. Another month later, on November 10, Alice talks about how she's moving to a different house in another state. I also moved at a younger age in my life and can look back on how I felt compared to how she is feeling. She explains how she has shared so much of her life in that house including laughing, crying, moaning and muttering. I had the same sad feeling that I'm leaving behind a part of me and maybe the new place won't be the same. One funny thing I found that probably everyone going to school has felt over the summer is when you're in school and you really wish for the summer to come so you can stay in bed, read, watch television, and all the other things you long to do, but then once summer comes, you soon run out of things to do. This is what Alice feels at the beginning of her summer and I think that it is a totally realistic feeling that we can all relate to.

Besides all the comments I had throughout the first 55 pages, there were also some questions and quotes. Early on in the book it mentions a guy named Roger and it never really explains who he is or what the relationship is between him and Alice. I wanted to know who he was and maybe more about him because Alice liked him, and if the reader knew about Roger maybe we'd find out more about the main character as well. Another question I have is 'When is this book set in?'. Alice mentions that she could put her hair up in orange cans to curl it so I'm wondering if this is in older times or a different part of the world due to the technology to do your hair here and now. Also, thinking that this is based in older times, and since it's on the topic of drugs, when did all of it start being more popular in daily lives? There was one quote that caught my attention in the beginning of the book. The quote is,"Isn't it funny, but it seems that when something is going good, everything else goes good too." I think this is extremely relevant for everyone, no matter what age however it might not be entirely true. I think the positive outweighs the negative so it may seem as though everything else has been good. Or maybe it is true that when something goes good your attitude/outlook drives everything else to be good in your life at the time. Another relevant quote I found in the text is, "Sometimes I think we're all trying to be shadows of each other, trying to buy the same records and everything even if we don't like them. Kids are like robots, off an assembly line, and I don't want to be a robot."

By reading the first part of this book I've made some predictions based on the text and also learned some lessons. Early on in Alice's journal, she wanted to lose weight and she did. Somewhere in between moving and summer events, she put back on a lot of weight. Now in the book, Alice has been drugged and keeps doing drugs but wants to stop. Just like her weight goal, I predict that she won't be able to stop completely due to her lack of self-discipline. Alice was drugged and as she kept using drugs such as LSD, speed, acid, etc., she made terrible mistakes. Someone big came back into her life after these mistakes and now she kind of regrets doing them. I think this is a lesson because you need to think not only about yourself but how your actions will affect other people or come across to other people. You have to live with what you do so it's wise to analyze things before you pursue them.

There were a couple new words for me. One of these words was 'repent' which means 'to feel sorry for' or 'regret for'. Another one was 'wan' which means 'to be sickly pale' or weak. The last word I discovered was 'bungling' which means 'to do something clumsily' or 'mess something up'.

Overall the first bit of Go Ask Alice is going very well, and I can't wait to read on!