Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Ocdaniel

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Ocdaniel by Wesley King

11 reviews

sprucewillow's review against another edition

adventurous funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Funny and entertaining book, even listening to it as an adult (this book is labeled as middle-grade).

I was expecting more of a focus on Daniel's OCD but the way everything panned out felt very natural and accurate. I don't have OCD but I do have an anxiety disorder and the way Daniel narrates his issues ("the great space", "zaps", not wanting to seem crazy and unlovable to his family, etc.) hit hard for me. I described myself and some of my Things in a similar manner, ha.

The plot with Sarah was really confusing. I believed it was a sub-plot until it became the main focus. I felt that took away from what the story was being set up to be... what exactly, I'm not sure, it never came to fruition! Exposition could have been set up to better support Sarah's arc and her purpose in the story without feeling like she was shoved in 1/4 of the way in and taking over the spotlight.

And I will say... this is one of the only books I've read recently with a teen male protagonist that addresses romantic attraction in a non cringey or overly sexual way. Very refreshing.

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greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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missrosymaplemoth's review against another edition

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4.0

The first book I’ve read that explicitly deals with OCD. I found Daniel’s symptoms and rituals relatable and would have loved this at a younger age. Daniel’s characterization and inner voice were clunky at times, as was the writing in general, but nothing that would keep me from rereading or recommending. I found the Sara storyline interesting and comparable to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.

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the_true_monroe's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Oh my gosh, I had no idea what to expect from this. Honestly, I avoided it for a bit since when I put books on my to read list that I know focus on something very personal to me that is often misunderstood, I fear they will be cliche and cheesy. Even like in this case, when the author writes from lived experience I still kind of expect it- as a defense mechanism I guess.

But the book provided amazing depictions of OCD and other mental illnesses, and it did not sugar-code anything. This would be impressive for any book, let alone a middle-grade novel.

I listened to the audiobook in one day and it had me feeling so many emotions. It was funny, mysterious, adventurous, heartwarming, fun, informative, but also was dark and sad.

I was amazed how the book had so much going on beyond Daniel’s OCD- including a full on, epic, criminal investigation?!

I have experienced OCD for as long as I could remember and I got chills realizing that there is a book with a kid as a main character whose variety of symptoms were so much like mine as a child/ early teenager.

Added it straight to my favorites list.

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elizabethbooks's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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tays_books's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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bujo_bellel's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I liked how we got to learn more about OCD through the lens of someone experiencing it and how it wouild switch to the book that he is writing. The struggles of Daniel taught me how OCD is really like, and not how it is portrayed online.

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musicthatis's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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stacy837's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful informative inspiring mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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lleer's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book, is really interesting. I would definitely recommend it to anyone.
If you are hesitant to whether read it or not, then read it, pick it up, even if you are someone who prefers more complicated prose!
It was a quick read, I really really enjoyed it. The plot was consistent, fast/medium paste, there weren't any moments when I felt bored. It was really fun to read, with a little mystery in between the pages.
The prose was good, not bad and at the same time easy to understand, even for someone with a not very good English level.
Why didn't I rate it 5 stars? Altho everything about the story was amazing and consistent, there are a few things the author could have added or disregarded that would have made this books tons better and more impactful. I'm stating these things here (This review has major spoilers):

Daniel and Football: The first I had done when I read the reason Daniel plays football is shout: "No! If you don't like football, then don't play it! Just cuz your dad and Max love it doesn't mean you have to. If they love you, then it's because of who you are, not because you like what they like!" I was very disappointed to see that the author hasn't mentioned such an important thing even once. Sara could have told him such a thing, that people should love you for who you are but no one did. And I'm addressing this because a lot of people feel insecure thinking that their loved ones will abandon them if they don't like/do what they say. You should only do what you feel comfortable doing. I was expecting to read this since the first pages so I'm disappointed I didn't.
The Parents: The relation with Emma is great. Steve is Steve. We saw the dad trying to be closer to his son. But his mother didn't play many parts in this story. I hoped to read more about her relationship with her son but unfortunately, she didn't do much. This isn't a very bad thing, since I think his mother is really cool, so this didn't bother me much.
The OCD part: As you already know, the book is all about OCD, mental illness in general, and finding people like you. But little do you know, that the book is actually more about other things than it's about mental illness. The mental illness/ OCD was very present in the first half of the book, but by the 2nd half, it wasn't as prominent, but still present. So I hoped the author would have given more information about it, showcased more about its impacts etc... but generally, it was still good. I have OCD -that's why I picked up this book- so I know how it feels; it's different for everyone, but the author focused mainly on the compulsions, but there are also the intrusive thoughts, thoughts that tell you stuff you would never ever say and you spend hours explaining things t yourself in your own minds and repeating it over and over again, it's crazy yes. Or imagining things you don't like, like someone's death etc... I also didn't like how the author mainly mentioned the compulsions that occur at the routine, yet it could be anytime at day especially when you are stressed. It rarely happened at day to Daniel that it almost seemed as if it only happened at night. Now for the most important part: How to actually stop OCD? Yes, Daniel told Sara he is to seek help at the end of the book, but that wasn't enough at all. It should have been earlier in the book, Daniel should have read about it in the book Sara gave him and we should have read about him trying to stop it, for once not do what his mind tells him. This really bothered me at the end.
The characters: I'm not going to talk about Daniel, Sara, Emma or even John, maybe not even Sara's mom. They were really really loveable and well written, especially Sara and Emma. I will be talking mainly about Taj, Max, and Raya. They felt a little bit shallow, perhaps cuz they weren't much present in the book, but they were enough. These especially just didn't get really attached to them. It's not something about the book but I felt like mentioning them.

Nevertheless, the ending was really satisfying, the book was really good and might just reread it. Still, these elements I mentioned above could have really enhanced the book by a lot.

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