Review #283: Clean- Amy Reed

Title: Clean
Author: Amy Reed
Pages: 304
Rating: 4.5/5 Stars
Summary: 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.
Review: I have had this book sitting on my shelf for awhile, actually ever since I read Beautiful because I loved it as well. I really love the cover of this book. I also love Amy Reed's writing and in Clean she takes it up a notch writing from five different points of view, two of which are male. Books about addiction are some of my favourites; whether fiction or not, they are so gritty and raw and this one was also full of angst. I only put this book down to sleep. It was fast, easy and interesting read.
I fell in love with all five of these characters and also some of the secondary characters as well. I liked that you could feel the characters growth. I just want more. I need to know more about their stories and where they are now. Each character touched my heart.
This was quite the ride to be on. There were ups and downs, happiness and sorrow. I loved it all. I would recommend this book to those who love to read about addictions.

About this author

Amy Reed was born and raised in and around Seattle, where she attended a total of eight schools by the time she was eighteen. Constant moving taught her to be restless and being an only child made her imagination do funny things. After a brief stint at Reed College (no relation), she moved to San Francisco and spent the next several years serving coffee and getting into trouble. She eventually graduated from film school, promptly decided she wanted nothing to do with filmmaking, returned to her original and impractical love of writing, and earned her MFA from New College of California. Her short work has been published in journals such as Kitchen Sink, Contrary, and Fiction. Amy currently lives in Oakland with her husband and two cats, and has accepted that Northern California has replaced the Pacific Northwest as her home. She is no longer restless. Find out more at amyreedfiction.com.

BEAUTIFUL is her first novel.