Cleaning Up


Cleaning Up by Leanne Lieberman
Publisher: Groundwood Books
Special thanks to Groundwood Books for sending a copy for review.

Summary:
Jess finds a secret diary and imagines what it would be like to be a girl who has everything. Will she become so wrapped up in someone else’s life that she misses a chance to create her own?

Jess cleans houses to save money for college, because her dad — unemployed and off the wagon yet again — has moved the two of them out of the city into a decrepit borrowed tent and trailer. Jess wavers between anger at her father and fear that poverty and addiction may be her fate, too, and she decides she will do whatever it takes to avoid it.

She gets a gig cleaning a gorgeous country home and discovers the trashed bedroom of the teenaged daughter, Quinn. Jess wonders how a girl with a perfect life – private school, horseback riding – could have wrecked such a beautiful room. As she cleans, she finds troubling clues – including, tucked behind the bed, a diary.

Gradually Jess learns that Quinn’s life is not what it’s supposed to be. Jess begins to imagine becoming friends with Quinn, and when she begins to write down a new story for Quinn, she risks turning her back on the opportunities that are right in front of her – new friends, new interests, a fresh beginning (Goodreads).

Thoughts:

Leanne Lieberman’s Cleaning Up is an emotional and inspiring novel that explores overcoming your dreams and healing. Through the resilient protagonist, Lieberman crafts a compelling narrative about poverty and family struggles.

The story revolves around Jess who is a neglected teenager struggling to live in a trailer with her unemployed and alcoholic father. Determined to save money for college and have a fresh start, she gets a job cleaning a country home for the Guptas. There, she discovers the abandoned bedroom of their teenage daughter, Quinn. As she digs into their past, she finds Quinn’s diary and learns that being wealthy doesn’t solve all of life’s problems. She realizes she’s not the only one with secrets, and her reality and fantasy merge into one. Will her life be consumed by someone else’s that she misses the chance to live her own life?

Jess stumbles in her reinvention, which makes her character feel authentic. I appreciated that Jess trusted people who called her out on her mistakes. Additionally, she displays remarkable self-control and maturity as she adamantly avoids her father who could influence her addiction. Teenagers forget things, are young, and can make decisions for themselves, but through Jess’s story, readers learn not to force choice on others. While Jess is a closed book, Matt, the Guptas’ nephew, sees her as lovable and describes her as someone who is “easy to be with.” The more Matt expresses his fondness, the more Jess pulls back and is terrified of him discovering her undesirable lifestyle. With dreams of studying landscape design to build her own home, little did she know home could be a person too. Jess ends up letting him into her empty heart while finally realizing that she needs a person and not someone’s diary. 

Cleaning Up was a bittersweet ride. Despite this novel being written from a third-person perspective, which I typically do not enjoy reading, it held my interest. Lieberman’s delivery of Jess’s self-motivation reminds everyone that everyone has a different path and journey in life. As for Jess, she finds healing in tidying up and freedom in places where she is unknown.

Reviewed by Lyndsay E.

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