Let's start with introductions, shall we? After all, there are five stories to keep track of in this one, so one must keep sharp. Behold: 
 Kelly: she's the "every girl" here. She's the one we're a hop, skip, and a blown line away from becoming. If you think it's not possible to fall down the slippery slope of drug addiction, her story of unfortunate circumstances, naive curiosity, mean men and low self-esteem might get you thinking twice. 
 Jason: the classic, sarcastic teenage, male asshole. The "I-don't-give-a-f%@$" guy who who is anything but. He is a true product of his environment, but IMO (and to hell with being humble), a shot between the eyes is too good for his father. 
 Eva: oh, my darling girl, I love your soul. You can't bear to face your own pain so badly that you have to make yourself a character in your own truth. You are my modern-day Anne of Green Gables with your lyrical words, the 'what-if' Anne who would have buried the very best parts of herself had she not found the grace-filled love of Matthew and Marilla. 
 Christopher: I love your soul, too, kid. Christopher wouldn't hurt a breath on this earth, but he doesn't know jack about protecting and loving himself. Dare I say your mother's aversion to reality and her own addiction aided yours? Seriously, dude, it gets better. Trust in it. 
 Olivia: Straight up, honey. Your mother traded her soul a long time ago. Don't let her black hole existence suck yours down, too. Olivia is the classic perfectionist who is wasting her life away in pursuit of it. 
 Here's the thing I really liked about Clean: none of the characters were overtly stereotypical. Yes, in the beginning, it felt like maybe there would be some, but it's as if their common ground as addicts leveled the traditional differences. There wasn't an obvious girly-girl or jock to me - these kids just were. And just 'being' instead of making them be 'this or that' helped make them be very believable. The five different stories are well-woven together, without suffocating each other for space. Kelly and Christopher take the lead most of the time and offer up the main narratives and introspection, but you get plenty of first-hand accounts from all through rehab-assigned essays and group therapy sessions. I actually think the the latter two were my favorite parts of the book as you learned more about all of them through these. 
 Here's the thing I didn't care for as much: with there being five characters, I got emotional at times, but I never fully became emotionally attached to any one character. Well, maybe Olivia and Jason a little bit, but that's only because I want to bury their respective mother and father. Alive. Let the bastards suffocate in their own evil, I say, but hey, that's just me. 
 I digress. Forgive me. Involuntary reaction towards negligent and abusive parents. You understand, I'm sure. 
 Anyway, my point is that I would have liked the book to get a bit deeper. I can't quite explain it, but since I was worried about everyone, I had difficulty allowing the book to really sink its hooks into me. Some of the stores are truly harrowing, and you really do mourn for them given some of the homes they came from, but since the revelations came in quick paragraphs and then moved onto the next character, I never felt fully immersed in any one character's personal story. You get involved in Clean, but you don't get owned. 
 In the end, Clean is a good book about the different stories behind and reasons that can lead to addiction. It's so easy to find your path slipping down that slope, and this is a tale of not only clawing your way back to sobriety, but also of facing who the real you as someone worthy of love and life. 
 "But it's one missed step / One slip before you know it / And there doesn't seem a way to be redeemed" 
 -Sarah McLachlan, "Fallen"