The Quick Cut: A high school girl struggles to hide her OCD from her circle of friends. She discovers a place where she feels she fits in and hiding her truth becomes even more difficult.
A Real Review:
Have you ever felt like your thoughts were chasing you down? No matter how much you want to focus on something else, you cannot get your mind to move on to other topics? For some, this may seem like someone who is just stuck on a thought. For those with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, this is a constant struggle that occurs within themselves. For Samantha, OCD is a daily struggle that she is struggling to keep from those who say they care about her the most.
Samantha is one of the elite few who are a part of the popular crowd at high school. Everything about her seems to indicate that she is succeeding in life. Unfortunately, the image is far from the truth as she is hiding her OCD from her tight group of friends. While she sees a psychiatrist every week named Sue, they spend time together unaware of what she is struggling with. Plus, her tight group of friends are nothing more than a toxic group of frenemies who are more than happy to cut one another down the second they do anything against the grain. It all becomes difficult to maintain when she meets someone new who invites her to a small spot called Poet's Corner. Will she find that her life is what's holding her back? Or that she's not managing as well as she thought.
I can tell that the author meant well when writing this book. When I got to the end of this one though, I couldn't help but cringe at the inaccurate attempt to display what living with OCD could be like. While I may not have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, I have friends in my immediate circle who do and based on the conversations we've had - this story does not align with the reality. While the first batch of pages give a very visceral idea of what invading thoughts can look like, it feels very cartoon-ish and it's as close to a true portrayal of OCD that we get to. It's an issue because if this is the only brush with OCD some people get, they may get the wrong impression of what living with this condition is like and that's not okay.
The other big issue I have is with the lead character Sam. I wanted to like her and root for her to find an easier way to live with herself, but it became clear pretty fast that's not what she wants. She knows her friends are toxic and at the start of the book refuses to walk away from them. She hides what she loves to do from her family and friends and when she lets them see a glimpse of her true self - she's shocked when they're not supportive. Sam's problem isn't her OCD. It's her need to control everything about her image to others rather than be happy with who she is and let people see that. Beyond that, the romantic angle made me uncomfortable. The way it's written makes it sound like having a boyfriend solves issues with mental conditions. That's not the type of story we want to tell teens OR adults.
A highly problematic portrayal of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
My rating: 2 out of 5