The Obsessive Bookworm

I’m trying to remember when I first read this book and it must be, maybe 10 years ago. I was working for Victim Support at the time and the memories I had of reading it at the time were overwhelmingly of the domestic abuse/coercive control (although that wasn’t a term we used then).

However, rereading it now I am picking up so much more on the OCD side of the story. This is a really insightful portrayal of OCD – the relentlessness of it, how overwhelming it is and the resulting exhaustion.

I am also surprised that I didn’t remember the location of the early parts of the novel – where I grew up with whispers of memories coming into my head from the mention of streets and places.

It is an absorbing book that touched the scars of my experiences of domestic abuse, OCD and unhappy memories of early life. However it is powerful in terms of the portrayal of both OCD and domestic abuse in that both are often misunderstood and judged by those without direct experience. This book portrays the stark reality of both.

Aside from that it is a tense cliffhanger of a read that demands to be read to the end without a break. Definitely one that leaves echoes long after the last page has been turned.