Some reviewers suggest that the book is too moralistic, perhaps, parroting the typical warnings that parents and drug counselors typically use to scare kids away from drugs. For this reason, Go Ask Alice has received mixed reactions. Many teens that read the book loved it, considering it both frightening and realistic. Others commented that it was propaganda, obviously written by an older person outside the world of drugs who made it sound frightening on purpose. Many were outraged to discover that Sparks wrote the book and not the girl they came to refer to as "Alice." Some teenagers simply refused to believe it.

Readers must to ask themselves if it really matters who wrote this book. Is the message powerful enough that the book is effective whether it is true or not? Or it so unrealistic that it refutes the author's intentions? Is it realistic that...