Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood

I selected this book because, from its title, I assumed it was the story of a girl with obsessive compulsive disorder. I find such books interesting as they help me understand human behavior in all of its variants. What I found, though, was a thoroughly enjoyable mix of OCD and Judaism!

Jennifer Traig, suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder as a child, found ways to use her Jewish religion to act out her behaviors. Her closest family - a devout Catholic mom, a non-observant dad, and a "could care less" Jewish sister - were throughly confused by Jennifer's behavior. They dealt with her peculiarities as long as they could until they sought therapy and medical help for her.

This book is quite funny throughout and shows that the author show more is comfortable looking back on who she was as a child. I believe there was also some pain, but that's not part of this book. I took away from Jennifer's story of her childhood a sense of her love for Judaism, her love for her family, and her delight in being who she is. I was pleasantly surprised by how engaged I was with her story and think others will find this a pleasant read as well. show less

Is it wrong to fall over laughing when reading a book about a person with severe OCD? If so, I'm in some deep cosmic trouble, because this was hilarious.

"Scenes" aptly describes the book because, as Traig herself makes clear, her battles with the disease were sporadic. Plus, the book has scattered through it various (also very funny) quizzes, proofs, sample SAT questions, and so forth that give insight into the OCD mind. Somehow, Traig helps us find humor in the horror of bloody, chapped hands, anorexia, and hair-pulling. It's almost a hat trick; I'm not sure how she did it.

Traig and her family, as presented in the book, are immensely likable and weather the bizzare with good humor. There are colorful portraits of them as well as of show more Traig; no member of her immediate family is there as a mere prop to her own story, which is a real strength in the book, something that helps make it more substantial than many of the more "me-centric" memoirs.

Religion plays a heavy part in this memoir, something that many readers may not expect, but it was the key piece of Traig's disorder. I personally found it fascinating to read about, as so many elements of Orthodox Judaism were unfamiliar to me, and, again, I thought it gave the book a good deal of substance. Some readers may be put off by this element of the unfamiliar, while others may find it intriguing (and it certainly makes this book stand out from any other OCD memoir). The book becomes not just a "book about a girl with OCD" but also a more profound look at a girl coming to terms with her identity and faith. And again-- to be able to make all of this side-splittingly funny reveals rare talent indeed!

Very highly recommended. show less

As you might be able to see from the publisher's blurb, Traig suffered from the same form of OCD that afflicted medieval saints, driving her to bizarrely excessive acts of religious devotion. It's the sort of background that drives writers either to morose depths of self-pity or to
hilarity. You can cry or you can laugh, you know? This book is so funny that I carted it around everywhere with me for two weeks, cackling like a madwoman, reading whole paragraphs out loud to coworkers (who ALSO laughed, even though that's one of the most annoying things someone can do to you in a bookstore), and laughing so hard to myself on the bus that fellow commuters edged away from me in fear. Why hasn't Traig written a million books to brighten my show more dreary existence? I don't know, but I'm glad we at least have this one. show less

I didn’t know a memoir of an obsessive-compulsive teenager could be so hysterical, but I found myself laughing at every page. Seeing the world through her eyes was both enlightening and unsettling. She had a form of OCD called ‘scrupulosity’ which is when a person feels compelled to stringently observe commandments—unfortunately Traig didn’t have much religious training so she made up her prayers and commandments. From her toddler years and the compulsion to tap the bookcases to her teen years and her inability to park a car without doing damage to light poles, kerbs and other stationary objects this is a singular memoir.

It's hard to imagine a breezy, funny memoir about OCD and eating disorders, but that seems to be what Traig has written. This slender work is mostly a series of vignettes in the author's childhood plagued by scrupulosity, a religion-tinged variant on classic OCD. If you look too long at any of it, it's hideously sad -- the author's starvation as she invents ever stricter kashrut variants, and growing alienation from everyone -- but it's basically all played for laughs, without really connecting the dots between the episodes.

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.

"Devil in the Details: Scenes From an Obsessive Girlhood" by Jennifer Traig will tickle your inner OCD child if you have one. I'm not a full blown OCD person, but I can relate to some of what Traig writes about, and she shows us with much wit what a full blown disorder is like. It is great that she has such a wonderful sense of humor about a disorder that is so crippling to her and so many millions of people like her. For those who don't understand Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, this gives a good glimpse into a life that is severely train-wrecked by it. I give this four stars instead of five, because I found the ending a bit weak compared to the rest of the book that kept me enthralled. My only unanswered question is: am I the only one show more who noticed that the candies on the cover of the book aren't COMPLETELY straight???!!! haha. show less