Clean, Michele Kirsch
Clean, Michele Kirsch
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Clean
A remarkable walk along the cliff edge of life *2020 winner of the Christopher Bland Prize*

Author: Michele Kirsch

Narrator: Laurence Bouvard

Unabridged: 8 hr 17 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Short Books

Published: 08/13/2020


Synopsis

***2020 winner of the Christopher Bland Prize***

"Beautifully crafted and written, filled with darkness and light, compelling... She fights addiction with honesty and humour. And, like her, [we] come away changed forever." Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, RSL Christopher Bland Prize

When Michele Kirsch's father is killed in a train crash, her mother gets the vapours and Michele gets extremely nervous. By her mid-teens, she has found salvation in valium. Her favourite words on the prescription sheet are "Take As Needed", which she interprets as Take All The Time.

Later, as a wife and mother, she adds alcohol into the mix, and before long her life is spinning out of control. Leaving home "for the sake of the family", she takes the scenic route to rehab, redemption and reinvention.

But this is no misery memoir. Clean is a darkly comic tale about the difficult choices we have to make as we navigate our lives. While working as a domestic cleaner in her 50s, Michele finds herself living vicariously through other people's messes, tidying her way through early sobriety. As the Duster of Large Things, she taps into her natural nosiness to reveal the absurdities of a seemingly banal job.

About Michele Kirsch

Michele Kirsch is a writer and cook living in East London. She has worked as a teacher, a press officer, a journalist, a glass washer, a house cleaner and a cook - in that order. Her first book, Clean, was winner of the RSL Christopher Bland Prize 2020, Book of the Week in the Daily Mail and The Lady, and Book of The Month in Psychologies.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Tracy

Excellent hard-lived tale of a woman’s descent into drug and alcohol dependency and coming out the other side. Some really good writing here, including some sentences I just had to read over a few times because they were so delicious. I feel a bit more like I understand the addictive mentality now t......more

Goodreads review by Suzanne

Love, loved this book! Insightful, harrowing and hilarious. Compulsively readable and engaging. Meditation and autobiography on getting clean - by cleaning houses and getting sober. Moving insights into motherhood, work and emotional chaos of addiction. Highly recommend.......more

Goodreads review by Emma

Very good. Thoroughly enjoyed. So much truth in her musings of addiction. The experience of our younger selves can damage us so much until we recognise we need help and that we are a soul worth saving......more

Goodreads review by Nick

Brilliant heartbreaking but heart rendering read This amazing autobiography made me realise that my life really hadn’t been that bad. It’s also proof positive that drugs (and the booze) don’t work. Thank heaven’s she’s come out the other side.......more