CLEAN
Mia Kerick
Young Dudes Publishing (2015)
ISBN 9781517581046
Reviewed by Arianna Violante (age 20) for Reader Views (01/16)
“Clean” by Mia Kerick is about two high school kids, Lanny and Trevor. They are both Seniors, but they are on opposite sides of the popularity scale. Lanny was the football star athlete and Trevor was the High School bad boy, yet Lanny’s broken home gravitates him towards Trevor, who had his share of abandonment, neglect and sexual abuse in his own home front. The story will take the reader through their journey together as they try to numb their realities through alcohol, drugs, and each other. Unfortunately, the story is all too real in all American high schools currently, and as the statistics reveal, they too will have to come to terms with their actions when they arrive at a crossroads. Will Lanny and Trevor stick together, and choose the path to getting clean, or will they each go their own way: one towards graduation the other further down the path to despair?
Unfortunately, I think we all have lived through a similar story one way or another, either through our own experience, or through someone we knew in high school. So, this is not a unique and original story, but it is one that keeps repeating itself in real life. I think it should be written about as much as possible in hopes of helping lost kids out there, and applaud Kerick’s efforts on getting this topic to young adults. Her writing style is straight to the point, graphic and zero sugar coating, so there will be readers that might find it hard to read. There are sexual abuse scenes that might actually be offensive to some readers, yet in my opinion there is no other way to say it, it is what it is. I believe that Kerick did a great job presenting this topic raw, for readers to get a clear picture as to what some kids are going through.
Overall, I found “Clean” by Mia Kerick to be a raw read about a difficult topic that has been sugar coated enough. I definitely recommend it as a graphic, heart wrenching and real read!
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