MovieChat Forums > Go Ask Alice (1973) Discussion > It Happened to Nancy

It Happened to Nancy

posted 16 years ago by am_buglet_82
9 replies | jump to latest

I like the book "Go Ask Alice", but my favorite Beatrice Sparks book is "It Happened to Nancy".

I first read it around 10 years ago in high school. I liked it so much that I kept checking it out and reading it, and a few years ago I bought the book.

I have a question.
Was Nancy real?

I mean, I'm not really concerned if "Alice" is real, but on the back of "Nancy" Beatrice says something like "I loved Nancy...I love her still." like Nancy was a real girl with a real diary.

Does anyone know if "Nancy" was real?

-Amanda

"She will remember your heart when men are fairy tales in storybooks written by rabbits"

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] horrorchick5 16 years ago

i really enjoyed both books i finished go ask alice last night and it was amazing. i'm pretty sure that nancy was.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] whitespirit26 16 years ago

OP, I'm pretty positive that Nancy wasn't real. Sorry

[–] hopefin2000 15 years ago

Nancy Spungen was the REAL life girl-friend of Sex Pistol, Sid Vicious.
They actually made a great movie about their story- Sid and Nancy. Nancy was a very real troubled young girl, who eventually ended up getting murdered, supposedly by Vicious.

I put the fun in dysfunction!

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] maaaaary 15 years ago

ahahahhhah thats funny ^^^^^

[–] dragongrrrllll 14 years ago

Nancy wasn't real. Alice wasn't real. All Beatrice Sparks' books are fiction. She sometimes claimed they were loosely based on experiences of many people, but eventually it was revealed that they were all completely made up.

It's actually not uncommon for an author to feel very emotional toward their imaginary characters. In that sense, maybe Sparks did love her character Nancy; but if we're supposed to believe Nancy was a real person Sparks loved, then the quote was also fabricated as a promotional gimmick.

Clever marketing, but pure fiction. Sparks may have genuinely been concerned for teens and hoped to help them stay out of trouble, but saying it was a real girl sold a LOT of books so it's more likely she was motivated by sales.

Many years later James Frey tried the same thing with "A Million Little Pieces." He got busted, too, and Oprah reamed him on television for fooling her.