"Lisa-The Story of an Irish Drug Addict"

missyb

Hi, I was just wondering does anyone here remember a book called "lisa" and whether or not it was a genuine autobiography? It was about an irish drug addict in the 70s-80s Dublin.Apparantly the idea for the book came when she rang the Gay Byrne radio show to talk about being an addict. I was a kid reading it, probably shouldnt have been as it was my older sisters book and as I recall very dark. I also read a book called "Go ask Alice" which turned out to be utter fabrication and not the diary of a teenage addict at all, I remember feeling duped when I heard it was all made up as an anti drug scare tactic for the benefit of American teens. I probably should have realised that though as I was reading it! I always wondered after that if "Lisa" was the same, an Irish anti drugs book to dampen curiousities or if it was a genunine account of an irish addicts experience? Just curious as I kind of think now it might have been made up. Anyhow does anyone remember it?

Kiera

Do you mean Lyn?
Great book but hard to read at times.

missyb

Hi Thanks for your reply, the book you refer to looks very harrowing. The below link is the one I am talking about, also fairly grim but as you can see there is little information on it, this is partially the reason I think it might be like those Beatric sparks books in America that serve as "cautionary tales" of fiction that she tried to pass off as genuine first hand accounts. I was just wondering if anyone remembered it and knew if this was the case.

http://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/3738/

doctor evil

Didn't know that about 'Go Ask Alice'

missyb

Go ask Alice was fabricated, eventually Sparks admitted she wrote it and that it was an amalgamation of her experiences working with and some writings of different troubled teenagers, although rightly or wrongly even her credentials in that area have been called into question.


I was told by my American friend that the worst case was a book called Jays Journal also by Sparks written in the same vein as Go Ask Alice but very loosely based on a true story. A mother whose son has committed suicide approached Sparks, believing her to be trustworthy, to write about her sons life and suicide to inform other teenagers who may also be suffering from depression. She handed over his diaries for Sparks to use, however the family were completley shocked by the final results, she has only used 25 pages of his actual diaries out of a possible 212 and the rest was entirely fabricated. Sparks claims they were based on interviews with people close to him, this was disputed by those who knew him.She made out that he had been heavily involved in the occult including animal sacrifice and that is why he committed suicide, all of this was lies and there was no mention of this in his diaries at any stage. The family were identified locally and had to move as this was a conservative mormon area, his grave was constantly vandalised as a result of the book and his parents ended up divorcing. The teenagers real name was Alden Barret (called "Jay" in the book), a highly intelligent teenager with left wing leanings (considering where he grew up) and no involvement in satanism. There is some information on him on the internet. His brother in the 90's wrote a book to set the story straight but it wasnt widely published and there are still people, particuarly in America, who believe Jays Journal to be true. Its really sad.


Anyhow its seems no body here knows of the book "Lisa an Irish Drug Addict", which I thought might perhaps also be fabricated but the Irish version, I swear it exists!

NamelessPhil

I'm pretty sure I remember the book you're talking about. As I recall it had a grim black and green cover. I can't remember all the details of the story, other than she ended up homeless at some stage and in the midlands before moving back to Dublin. I can't remember how it ended.

I do remember that it was about the life of a girl who rang in to Gay Byrne's radio show. I borrowed the book from a girl, who later ended up as a heroin addict for a time!

dublin80

found this on Amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lisa-story-Irish-drug-addict/dp/0907085474/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335990953&sr=1-4

RhubarbCrumble

OP, have you read "Dying to survive" by Rachael Keogh? Quite harrowing at times, but a very good book. She went through a hell of a lot, but fair play to her, came out the other side.

MJOR

i read that Lisa book too. My mum bought it for me! It scared the bejaysus out of me.