Review of Clean by Amy Reed

Title: Clean
Author: Amy Reed
Published by: Simon Pulse
Pages: 288
Source: Simon and Schuster galley grab
Format: ebook
Rating: ★★★★

Summary from Goodreads: 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.


It's always a little bit hard to talk about a novel that is quite raw and emotional, and Clean is not exception.  This novel follows five teenagers on their journey through rehab.  Each of these characters are unique and have problems that go further then what drug they were addicted to.

Amy Reed did a wonderful job at engaging the readers and making them care for these five teenagers.  One minute you felt their pain and the next minute their rage.  There were moments of feeling completely lost and others that there would be hope in the future.  It was a great experience to get inside Olivia, Kelly, Christopher, Jason, and Eva's heads.  I loved that we got to hear each of their voices and how they were feeling as they discussed how their addictions arose and how it landed them where they are today.   

The one thing I wasn't completely sold on was it felt as if they were all blaming their drug abuse on their parents.  I agree that some of their parents were horrible and some of the teenagers' lives were far from perfect, I just would have liked them to own their problems a little more instead of  finding someone else to blame.  I completely understand that some of their parents influenced their actions, but they were still their own actions. 

On the other hand, there were also times while reading Clean that I wanted to arrest their parents or give them a swift smack upside the head.  I was quite conflicted on this part actually.  Part of me blamed the parents for their actions which possibly pushed their children into drug abuse and the other part of me really disliked that the kids blamed their parents.  I guess it was more of a case by case scenario.  I blamed some of the parents as being catalysts and other I did not.  In all reality, I'm still juggling this issue in my head and I'm not really sure what I think.        

What about you?  If you've read this novel or others like it, what are your opinions about the parents and their effect on their children's drug abuse habits?