Book: Clean by Juno Dawson
Read From: 18th June - 24th June 2021
Rating: 2/5 stars
Summary: Lexi Volkov is sent to an exclusive rehab facility by her brother following a near overdose on drugs. As Lexi faces her demons, she realises love is the most powerful drug of all.
Before I get into this review I do want to give a couple of disclaimers. Firstly, this book comes with a plethora of trigger warnings - obviously for drug use/misuse and overdose but also for eating disorders, death, suicide and self harm. Whilst these are the main themes, there are potentially other triggers within the text so please do approach this book with caution. If you feel the subject matter could be triggering to you then I would definitely encourage you to avoid this one, particularly as the content is extremely heavy. Secondly, I am aware that addiction (in every sense) is an extremely sensitive topic and for this reason, I won’t be touching upon this element in my review. Not only am I unqualified to speak on how well these were represented in the novel, it also has no sway in why I rated this book 2 stars. I don’t want anybody to get the wrong idea in thinking that my low rating was due to an inadequate portrayal of mental illness/addiction because, in my opinion, Dawson handled them with a great level of sensitivity.
Just because I didn’t personally get on with this book, doesn’t mean that it had no redeemable features. In fact, I want to start this review with the things I did like - the last thing I would want is for anyone to be put off reading this because I didn’t like it. It’s by no means a bad book, just not my cup of tea. This is an extremely well written novel - as already touched upon, the issues are handled with extreme care but even so, Dawson does not shy away from or gloss over the harsh and gritty reality of addiction. For this reason, I think this story will leave a lasting impact on you whether you liked it or not and I know that I, for one, will definitely remember this book.
Despite this, there were some issues I personally had with Clean that I can't overlook when giving a star rating. Firstly there was use of the R slur, which was completely unnecessary given the context in which it was used. I absolutely loathe the use of this word, and I've even DNF'ed books that use it before just because in the majority of instances, there is no need for it. Had the slur been used in a context where a character was being ableist, followed by undertones in the text that using the word is never okay, I would have appreciated and accepted why it was included. But in this instance, it would have been so much more beneficial to use another word or not at all. I feel like when this novel tackles such important topics, they should not be placed alongside the use of ableist slurs that have no need to be there - particularly as it wasn't used to educate readers and/or characters.
Another issue that I had with this book, albeit a relatively minor one, is the arcs of the sided characters. I recognise and appreciate that Dawson tried to cover as many bases as possible with this novel - including a trans character who struggles with an eating disorder and a fat character for example. I think it was important that a diverse cast was represented, particularly in terms of recovery as it's a different experience for everybody and it's definitely not linear. However, I do feel that some of these side characters did get pushed to the side at the end. Understandable, given that they are not the sole focus of the book - our protagonist Lexi is. Despite that, it did seem as though they were treated as loose ends that were very briefly touched upon at the end which appeared to me as an attempt to round off the story succinctly. I don't want to give too much away as I want to keep this review spoiler free but if you've read this, I particularly felt this way about Guy, Sasha and Ruby.
All in all, I can fully appreciate why so many people like this book; I'm sad that I didn't personally vibe with it. If this sounds like something you'd be interested in reading, and feel that you wouldn't be affected by the potential triggers, I would definitely encourage you to give this one a go (especially as I think I'm in the minority with my thoughts on this one)!