This was really difficult to get through. It started out ok but the attempt at wry humor got to me after a while ... Traig had serious problems yet this tried to present the humorous side to it. Unfortunately it didn't really work. ( )

Some mixed feelings about this one. For someone who's been diagnosed with OCD, I would've expected this memoir to maybe have been a little more fluid than it was. My main problem with this book for me was the way it jumped around in time -- at one point Traig would be talking about an incident in her teenage years, and then she'd be talking about something that happened when she was 4 or 5, and I had trouble getting a grip on how this disease really evolved for her. True -- I laughed out loud at some particular scenes, trying to picture them in my head, and at other times I was just shaking my head back & forth at the seemingly ridiculousness of the whole OCD thing. I recognize that it's a real disease and I feel for those who suffer from it, and it was truly enlightening to read about it from the point of view from someone living it. Traig obviously has writing talent & a great sense of humor (as does her mother, who has some great lines in here), but I really didn't care for the way it was all put together -- too disjointed. The first half of the book was pretty refreshing, but the second half mostly dragged on because the sequencing (or lack of) was getting to me. ( )

I did not enjoy this book AT ALL; I felt compelled to finish it just so I could say I did.

When I started "Devil in the Details," it was with the expectation that it would be about Jennifer Traig's struggle with OCD, maybe with a funny lean to it since she is known in the McSweeney's circuit. I was NOT expecting to learn alllll about Jewish law. Traig's OCD tendencies lean toward scrupulosity (which, for her, involves keeping Jewish laws, including some very obscure ones), which was new to me, so I enjoyed reading about it, at first. But it got tedious fast.

Don't get me wrong, there are some funny parts, and Traig manages to get the feeling of helplessness (for lack of a better term) -- against OCD and especially against the religious compulsions -- across. I felt for her. I felt for her parents, I felt for her sister, I felt for everyone who has read this book and felt like they HAD to finish it even though it becomes a chore about halfway through the book.

In addition, the whole book felt disjointed, as Traig bounced back and forth in time and topic. Maybe this was her intent and I should have read it as a book of essays instead of a whole-piece memoir.

I can't really recommend this one; although I'm sure a few people WOULD enjoy it, I can't think of any of them offhand. The cover is pretty, though! ( )

In this bittersweet memoir, Jennifer Traig laughs about her puzzling problems growing up with obsessive compulsive disorder in an era before OCD was a recognized disorder. With a witty humor, she describes trials that would have permanently scarred a less resilient youth. In a world where OCD is stereotyped in pop culture, TV shows, and movies it is a relief to find someone willing to provide a more realistic, though upbeat, view of this very debilitating disorder. I imagine many people will be able to find a little of themselves in Jennifer Traig, and teens now facing such issues will find the upbeat happy ending comforting. ( )

Funny and poignant, this honest book about obsession, family and overdoing religious ritual made me both laugh and think. ( )