"I don't feel great, but I don't feel terrible either, and I guess that's how normal people feel most of the time. They live in the space between black and white, and their ups and downs are various shades of gray, not the extremes highs and lows I've always thought of as normal. I think that's one of the major differences between us and them, between addicts and normies..." "There was always something not quite right, like this anxiety under every good feeling, a yearning for something else, a tight ache that would keep me on edge..." "We're all a lot more complicated than any of us probably think we are..." "I think that's what finally makes us adults. It's when we stop blaming our parents for everything and realize we're making our own choices..." So say Olivia, Kelly, Chris, Jase, and Eva, teens who are in a drug rehabilitation center. We learn their heartbreaking stories through first person alternating narratives. Clean certainly enlightens one's understanding of the disease called addiction. Although I would recommend this book, be advised that it contains bad language, sexual promiscuity, homosexuality, eating disorders, and Down syndroM.
Gateway Award Preliminary Nominee 2013-14
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