Loss Of Innocence: A Daughter's Journey into the Underworld of Meth Addiction and a Father's Fight to Bring Her Back

by Ron Clem, Carren Clem

Told both from Carren's perspective as a former meth addict and from her father's perspective, Loss of Innocence is  one family's opportunity to prove that there is life after drug addiction. The Clems were a perfectly normal, middle-class American family when 15-year-old Carren became addicted to meth. Her habit shattered the family's world. Within two months of first taking the highly addictive drug, Carren's life had spiraled out of control. She had moved out of her home; spent her entire savings; and had resorted to stealing, dealing, and prostitution to fund her addiction. Frantic with worry, her father Ron returned to his old job as a police officer in a desperate effort to rescue his daughter and almost died in the process. Told with compelling candor and dignity, this brutally honest account is poignant proof of a father's love and the possibility of a life after drugs.

Genres: Nonfiction

212 pages, Hardcover

First published March 8, 2007

Reviews

[Liz Nonnemacher · Rating 5 out of 5]

great great book about a growing problem in this country. I found a lot of interesting online reading to go with this one.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not realize that this book took place in my hometown. I graduated with Angi and knew many of the people and places referred to. I have been a fool, I didn't realize how bad things are in the valley!

[Shanna Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book raises important awareness. Good read, but heart wrenching

[Amanda Nanni · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my best friend in high school's sister. Her story is inspiring.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loss of Innocence is the story of the Clem family, told from the viewpoints of Ron Clem and his daughter Carren. Carren became addicted to meth at fifteen years old, and this is the story of how her parents managed to save her, as well as the costs of that reclamation.

This was an incredibly difficult book to read. As a parent, I was in tears at points as Ron Clem recounts his fears for his daughter, and the lengths he and his wife went to in order to reclaim her from meth addiction. Their struggles to understand what went wrong in their relationship with their daughter, the spillover into their relationships with their other two children, the difficulties in their marriage as the stress and strain of coping with their daughters meth addition -- all these things are told so plainly, and are so heartbreaking.

I've always liked the saying that being a parent is having your heart walking around outside your body. You love your child immensely, but you can't keep them in an insulated bubble -- they need the freedom to meet the world, and sometimes all you can do is hope you've given enough love, enough support, enough sense of right and wrong, to get them through the difficult choices they'll someday face.

Another strength of the book, however, is that the story is also told through Carren's eyes, and we see more clearly how her parents failed her at critical moments. We hear the warnings and see the missteps on both sides of that relationship, and it's devastating.

Carren's story has ended relatively happily. She's been clean and sober for several years, and her parents founded an organization to reach out to other families and teens in crisis, to help connect them to resources to get their kids off meth and into treatment. Challenges remain, but theirs is a story of hope.

If this was so traumatic a story, why did I read it? Why do I recommend it? Because I am a parent, and I want to know the dangers that are out there. I can't turn away and pretend that we're a perfect family, that nothing like this could ever touch us. I make mistakes, Rick makes mistakes, my kids make mistakes. Understanding the risks, remembering that mistakes are possible, gives me renewed determination to be an involved parent, to send the message that we care enough to check up on what our kids are doing, that they are the number one priority in our lives. That's the best advice I can offer after reading this book -- love, love, and then love some more.

[Haley who wants to know?]

My favorite character from this book is is Carren's father, Ron Clem. He cares so much for his daughter and it shows by him constantly putting his life at risk for Carren. He'll do anything to save Carren's life,even if it means putting her in jail. My least favorite character would have to be Lisa, Carren's sister. Although, she doesn't get much attention at all from her parents, since they are so pre-occupied with Carren, she wants to disown her family. She is selfish and learns to hate Carren, rather than accept her and love her and help her. She hates her parents for giving all their time to her "crack headed sister". The part in the book which really caught my attention was when Ron was spying on Carren selling herself for drugs. It really had such descriptive and true words that really touched me. Even though I'm not in the father position, and won't ever be, it still hurts no matter what because its my family that I'd see getting hurt and doing those terrible things. I kept reading this because it was so touching and real i wanted to know the results. This book made me feel sad and frustrated. I didn't understand how drugs could be so much more important than her own flesh and blood-especially knowing that it's killing her. It made me so sad when I would read the things her father would say about how hurt his heart was. How drugs can brainwash people and take over their lives is such a terrible thing. It's so scary, too. I believe the author's intention was letting family's know to never give up on eachother and let them be your first priority. You never know how much a person means to you until you lose them. I recommend this book to any hurting teens out there. I couldn't predict the ending to this book. It's so life-like and anything can happen in the world. If i had to choose actors and actresses to play certain parts, i'd pick Torie for Carren, Brickey for Ron, and Myself for the mother!

[Sixx · Rating 2 out of 5]

I heard about this after I sat next to Carren for my first semester of college. She ended up talking to our class about it so I picked up the book with a fairly open mind when I started to read it. The majority of the text doesn't really cover Carren's story, which I found the most intriguing, but mostly Ron's (her father) testimony. Neither Ron nor Carren are -great- writers, but the book does provide an interesting look into the world of meth that can destory families and the road of recovery.

[Lenee · Rating 2 out of 5]

once I realized this girl had only been on drugs for 5 months I lost some intrest. I agree she took it pretty far in a short amount of time but 5 months is nothing! And if you have to spend $80,000 to cure a 5 month addiction...well the rest of families will feel hopeless after reading this book. This is not one of my favorite addiction memoirs.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Considering this book wasn't written by professional authors, but instead, is a very real retelling of what happened, it was very intriguing. Before long, you want to jump in the book and help save Carren's life yourself.

[OneTimeDeal]

[With Butterflies · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I could give this two and a half stars instead of three. The book was interesting enough to get me wanting to read more about meth addiction, but not written well enough to really keep me interested.

[Jeneah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story took place where I grew up in Montana. It is an amazing story of the loss and recovery of a daughter. It is written from both the father and daughter who was using Meth.

[Elena]

I really really want to read this book the speekers came to my school and i feel so bad for that person

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I finished this book in about half a day; I just couldn't put it down!! Devastating account of a teen daughter addicted to crystal meth... So sad, but unputdownable!

[Reema · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read the review from here...

http://rimsquest.blogspot.com/2008/07...