Scan barcode
A review by enmcurrie
Clean by Juno Dawson
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
The book follows 17-year-old socialite Lexi Volkov moments after overdosing on heroin, who gets transported to a luxury rehab clinic. It follows her recovery journey and how her elite status and family wealth has played a part in her addiction. It also talks about the recovery of other patients Lexi spends her time with. I thought it was a great book.
What I love about this book is just how raw and real it feels. It doesn’t cut corners it doesn’t try to belittle anything, it’s straight to the point in its handling of addiction and recovery and was really eye-opening to me. It’s so easy to be judgemental of addicts but they have so many more layers to them, and that’s conveyed clearly in this book. The plot is dark, but Dawson gives Lexi such a great dry sense of humour to counteract just how dark and heavy the storyline is, which I appreciated. The characters weren’t meant to be perfect, they say and do offensive things. They’re heavily flawed. But they don’t feel curated. The characters feel real, like you’re reading about the lives of random people you pass by on the street.
Lexi’s recovery felt real too, it wasn’t one dimensional and simple. It wasn’t cliche. The same goes for the other characters in rehab recovering.
The only issue I could comment about with the book would be the way it dealt with anorexia and overeating. I didn’t really like the favour and better treatment there was towards anorexia, but there was good representation there. Also, the ending felt a bit out of place and didn’t make all too much sense to me:
She spent the whole book saying she was a London girl but then just moved to a ranch in America all for a boy? I mean I kinda get it, but a little weird.
The ending was satisfying though and overall I really enjoyed this book. It tackled a lot of issues and it did it well. The pace was good. I would definitely recommend.
What I love about this book is just how raw and real it feels. It doesn’t cut corners it doesn’t try to belittle anything, it’s straight to the point in its handling of addiction and recovery and was really eye-opening to me. It’s so easy to be judgemental of addicts but they have so many more layers to them, and that’s conveyed clearly in this book. The plot is dark, but Dawson gives Lexi such a great dry sense of humour to counteract just how dark and heavy the storyline is, which I appreciated. The characters weren’t meant to be perfect, they say and do offensive things. They’re heavily flawed. But they don’t feel curated. The characters feel real, like you’re reading about the lives of random people you pass by on the street.
Lexi’s recovery felt real too, it wasn’t one dimensional and simple. It wasn’t cliche. The same goes for the other characters in rehab recovering.
The only issue I could comment about with the book would be the way it dealt with anorexia and overeating. I didn’t really like the favour and better treatment there was towards anorexia, but there was good representation there. Also, the ending felt a bit out of place and didn’t make all too much sense to me:
The ending was satisfying though and overall I really enjoyed this book. It tackled a lot of issues and it did it well. The pace was good. I would definitely recommend.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Alcohol, Vomit, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, and Eating disorder
Minor: Fatphobia, Body shaming, and Suicidal thoughts