Review: "Obsessed; A Memoir of My Life with OCD," by Allison Britz

Fifteen-year-old Allison is a rock star at her school. She has made a name for herself on the cross country team, she is an honor student, and she's got a great group of friends. But one night she has a terrible nightmare that she has a brain tumor and she envisions watching her friends and family mourn her because it's inoperable. The nightmare sticks with her the next day and the next as she starts to have some strange new habits. She believes if she steps on a crack her nightmare will come true. She believes if she takes more steps than whatever number appears in her head before she moves from one place to another, that she will get cancer and die. Her obsessive tendencies grow and grow and soon she's not eating, not participating in sports, not hanging out with her friends, and not getting straight As. Her "monster" as she calls it is calling all the shots and she believes if she seeks help, her parents will die in a fiery crash. This memoir is difficult to swallow. I can't imagine what poor Allison went through but I'm so glad that as an adult she was able to so vividly put it into words. It reads like fiction rather than non-fiction in its vivid details and narrative style.

Mrs. Denney's Rating: ***1/2

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