Book Review: Clean by Amy Reed

Title: Clean
Author: Amy Reed
288 pages, Published by Simon Pulse
Release Date: 8/9/11
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Buy The Book:Amazon

Summary:
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. 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.(Summary provided by Goodreads.)

My Thoughts: I came across the novel Clean by Amy Reed in this month's Simon & Schuster Galley Grab. I originally downloaded it because I thought it had a pretty cover. Last night I uploaded it to my Nook and thought I'd just check out the first couple of chapters. Three hours later I was still reading. This book is so much more than a pretty cover. Clean follows the lives of five teens as they complete a rehab program for substance abuse. Each teen's story is told in a first person narrative and the point of view (POV) changes rapidly throughout the book. Reed has a gift for writing from the adolescent perspective. While each of the characters had compelling back stories that were revealed as the book progressed. I was most drawn to Kelly. Her story of turning to drugs and alcohol because of a life lived in the shadow of her younger siblings was especially heartbreaking. Amy Reed paints a startling portrait of how our teens cope when the adults in their lives aren't paying attention. By the time I finished reading Clean I was in tears.However, Reed ends her novel on a hopeful note.I think this is a great book for teens and parents to read and discuss together.

Note To Parents: This book deals with many issues that could be disturbing for readers on the younger end of the young adult spectrum.Drug usage, frank discussion of sex and sex acts, eating disorders, and foul language are included in this book. I always recommend parents read books with material their child might have questions about along with the child.It provides a great opportunity for discussion.

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