Reviews with content warning for Eating disorder - Clean

i really loved this book - more than i expected.

although some of the characters seemed stuck in stereotypes of race and class, i thought the characters were really well portrayed when it came to their experiences with mental illness and addiction.

i loved the ill kids do crime aspect and the found family vibes although i don’t normally like the latter trope

they all seemed real and had heart and dynamic personalities - all the characters had layers which i loved to read about.

i thought Kendall’s anorexia was portrayed really well as i can unfortunately relate to her in that sense. her late night runs were heart wrenching to read but were described and written so well

i loved Juno’s writing and now want to read more Dawson books.

obviously, BIG TRIGGER WARNINGS for anorexia, binge eating, ocd, addiction, drug abuse, self harm and make sure to check these before reading!

i’d 100% recommend clean, especially to ppl who have gone through mental illnesses and struggled with addiction WHO ARE NOW RECOVERED!

Content Warnings

zafiras_bestie's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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maevehandy's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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enmcurrie's review against another edition

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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.

Content Warnings

seanbutler's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

5.0

Content Warnings

thenovelbookshelf's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The story of Lexi and friends, both in the real world and in rehab, Clarity, is a story most of us have been a part of one way or another.
Clean is an easy read, which seems fast but is more medium paced, and may discomfort the reader or at least make the reader question what's really important in your life.
I don't know if it was the writing, the characters or the story that got me hooked, no pun intended, but I breezed through this book in a day, all the while alternating between yelling a Lexi to grow up, and to realise she can do better in friends/boyfriends.

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