Clean

by Amy Reed

You’re probably wondering how I ended up here. I’m still wondering the same thing.

Olivia, Kelly, Christopher, Jason, and Eva have one thing in common: They're addicts. Addicts who have hit rock bottom and been stuck together in rehab to face their problems, face sobriety, and face themselves. None of them wants to be there. None of them wants to confront the truths about their pasts. And they certainly don’t want to share their darkest secrets and most desperate fears with a room of strangers. But they'll all have to deal with themselves and one another if they want to learn how to live. Because when you get that high, there's nowhere to go but down, down, down.

• ISBN10: 1442413441
• ISBN13: 9781442413443
• Publish Date: 19 July 2011
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Imprint: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 288
• Language: English

Reviews

[Joséphine]

Actual rating: 4.5 stars
Initial thoughts: Clean is a very solid book. It explores life at a youth rehab from the perspective of five teenagers committed to it. They each battle with different addictions and have to face up to their problems. The writing varies from first-person prose to script-style to essays and to the more experimental. The various writing styles meshed together convey the dissonance that each of the characters feel as well as their jumbled thoughts. I think that this approach worked exceedingly well for this book.

The only thing that made Clean fall short of a perfect 5-star rating was the plot. It did progress and there were twists here and there but the final resolution didn't convince me. As expected, the story ended when the five of them were done at rehab. However, the lead up to "today is my last day here" and "tomorrow I'm going home" was very abrupt. It's like it just happened in order to wrap up the book. Nonetheless, Clean felt complete at the point it ended and made me feel for each one of the five.

[Joni Reads]

I have read a lot of books about addiction and rehab facilities and this has to be one of my favorites. I really liked the structure of it, how you got the perspective of all of the characters, not just the main one. The book revolves around five teens in a drug and alcohol rehab center located near Seattle. There is Kelly the coke addict and alcoholic, Christopher the meth addict, Eva the painkiller and weed addict, Jason who is strictly an alcoholic, and then Olivia, the new girl, who is addicted to diet pills but also has some very serious other problems that brings all the characters together to try to help her.
I loved seeing the characters transform and having their stories laid out in the form of chapters separated as either Group sessions, Personal Essays and a Drug and Alcohol History Questionnaire. Kelly and Christopher also have their own chapters told in their points of view as well. So there is a chance to get to know each of the characters. As you read the chapters, especially the personal essays the reasons behind their addictions become clearer. It was almost like being a detective, trying to find what they were trying to run from in their lives that made them turn to the substances that landed them in this place.
I think this book will open the eyes of teens who may have problems with drugs. It really goes into what the difference is between being a “Normie” who can drink one drink and take one hit and be done and an addict who needs their substance of choice daily. It can help people who know or are friends with addicts to understand what they are going through. A true to life look at teen addiction. A great read.