Book Review: Obsessed

                                                                                   BOOK INFORMATION:                                                                  

A brave teen recounts her debilitating struggle with obsessive-compulsive disorder—and brings readers through every painful step as she finds her way to the other side—in this powerful and inspiring memoir.

Until sophomore year of high school, fifteen-year-old Allison Britz lived a comfortable life in an idyllic town. She was a dedicated student with tons of extracurricular activities, friends, and loving parents at home.

But after awakening from a vivid nightmare in which she was diagnosed with brain cancer, she was convinced the dream had been a warning. Allison believed that she must do something to stop the cancer in her dream from becoming a reality.

It started with avoiding sidewalk cracks and quickly grew to counting steps as loudly as possible. Over the following weeks, her brain listed more dangers and fixes. She had to avoid hair dryers, calculators, cell phones, computers, anything green, bananas, oatmeal, and most of her own clothing.

Unable to act “normal,” the once-popular Allison became an outcast. Her parents questioned her behavior, leading to explosive fights. When notebook paper, pencils, and most schoolbooks were declared dangerous to her health, her GPA imploded, along with her plans for the future.

Finally, she allowed herself to ask for help and was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder. This brave memoir tracks Allison’s descent and ultimately hopeful climb out of the depths.

                                                                        MY THOUGHTS ON THE BOOK                                                              

I really enjoyed this book. I don't know anyone in my real life that deals with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Which means that Obsessed: A Memoir of My Life with OCD was such a cool read and it was extremely eye-opening. I always associated the disorder with just excessive cleaning and organization. Unfortunately, that is pretty wrong and often not the case. This isn't the case with Allison's experience.

While this is a memoir, it is kinda more like a novel, the author Britz is actually writing about her experiences with OCD in high school. Her going from a so-called normal straight A student, who is also a cross-country runner. To a girl that can't step on cracks because she believes it will cause cancer to her or someone she loves. She then begins to almost instantly obsessively avoid cracks in the pavement, tile, flooring, or anything her feet touch. In the end, if she steps on a crack then she needs to do something to cancel it out like not eat the next meal or only use a certain number of steps to get somewhere. The self-punishments get more severe as her symptoms progress. As her symptoms get more severe she believes that various objects will cause cancer; the color green, the toothbrush, certain clothing, and so on. 

Of course, this begins to really cause havoc in her life. The consequences of these behaviors are devastating to her personal, social, home, and academic life. She begins to isolate and really push away people that she loves dearly. What was really hard to watch was that she was doing this because she loved these people, yet she was left alone. I was really happy to see that her parents saw these changes and that Allison herself-sought out help. It was a really powerful part of the story. 

The only thing I really disliked about this book was the pacing. It was sort of rapid, then slow, then rapid, then fast, then slow, and then fast again. It wasn't a seamless transition from the first half of the book which describes Allison's changing behaviors, to the last half when the family took her in to see if there was help for what she was struggling with. 

All in All, I have to say that I really enjoyed this novel. It had its downsides but they were far and few. I did get hooked right away. I learned a lot about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and it was nice to read it from an own voices perspective. I am really glad I picked this book up from the library.