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katykelly's review against another edition
5.0
Matt Haig's honest and uplifting look at his own depression last year touched a nerve of many. This year, I think I'll put my best on Lily Bailey's personal journey through a lifetime of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) as non-fiction's best mental health confession.
I've read very few fictional representations of OCD in the past (Into the Darkest Corner stands out in my memory), and certainly never with an adolescent at the heart of the story.
Lily Bailey hear describes with no holds barred her own experiences from childhood, her teenage years and into her adult life, the ups and downs of her illness. The most shocking aspect for me was how serious it could be for someone so young. To spend hours, day and night, mulling over, worrying over her day's wrongs and faults; to categorise and order; to berate herself for seemingly normal behaviours that she saw as shameful, disgraceful, immoral - I've never understood the darkest reaches of what OCD must do to a person.
'Because We Are Bad' charts Lily's earliest memories of the development of her OCD, through to its ravages at school and university, her decision to seek help, and eventual breakthroughs. Her relationship with her therapist is especially well-documented, though I would have loved to have read more on her parents' perspective, on what they thought was going on with their daughter, on what they saw happening.
It's Lily's story of course, and the author uses a voice that shows her as the first person, experiencing OCD, the present tense making it all the more shocking as we go through life with Lily, thinking and feeling what she does.
It will make every reader feel guilt, guilt that they've probably at some point said "oh, I'm a bit OCD about that", when they watch LIly wash her hands 50 times a day, panic about leaving fingerprints on a fridge, run for hours and hours to escape the lists and letters in her head.
Lily's OCD also has an unusual aspect - in childhood she refers to herself as 'we' - there is another voice and person inside her mind, almost a guilty conscience manifested in a second personality. This is quite frightening, she was only a child, but also very well-written as she refers to herself as a plural.
For a debut writer (who has worked as a journalist), this is stunning writing really. I can only imagine how hard it must have been to tell this story so dispassionately yet truthfully.
I would have liked to hear from Dr Finch, even in an afterword with a clinical synopsis of Lily's journey, to hear the medical side of an OCD story, to complement Lily's own words. There is more story to tell, I felt, and I wanted to know all of it.
You will find humour here, an intelligent and plucky woman to empathise with, and a story that will help dispel common myths and rumours about a truly all-consuming condition. I hope to read more from Ms Bailey (and Rocky) in the future.
With thanks to the author for the paper copy, provided for review purposes.
I've read very few fictional representations of OCD in the past (Into the Darkest Corner stands out in my memory), and certainly never with an adolescent at the heart of the story.
Lily Bailey hear describes with no holds barred her own experiences from childhood, her teenage years and into her adult life, the ups and downs of her illness. The most shocking aspect for me was how serious it could be for someone so young. To spend hours, day and night, mulling over, worrying over her day's wrongs and faults; to categorise and order; to berate herself for seemingly normal behaviours that she saw as shameful, disgraceful, immoral - I've never understood the darkest reaches of what OCD must do to a person.
'Because We Are Bad' charts Lily's earliest memories of the development of her OCD, through to its ravages at school and university, her decision to seek help, and eventual breakthroughs. Her relationship with her therapist is especially well-documented, though I would have loved to have read more on her parents' perspective, on what they thought was going on with their daughter, on what they saw happening.
It's Lily's story of course, and the author uses a voice that shows her as the first person, experiencing OCD, the present tense making it all the more shocking as we go through life with Lily, thinking and feeling what she does.
It will make every reader feel guilt, guilt that they've probably at some point said "oh, I'm a bit OCD about that", when they watch LIly wash her hands 50 times a day, panic about leaving fingerprints on a fridge, run for hours and hours to escape the lists and letters in her head.
Lily's OCD also has an unusual aspect - in childhood she refers to herself as 'we' - there is another voice and person inside her mind, almost a guilty conscience manifested in a second personality. This is quite frightening, she was only a child, but also very well-written as she refers to herself as a plural.
For a debut writer (who has worked as a journalist), this is stunning writing really. I can only imagine how hard it must have been to tell this story so dispassionately yet truthfully.
I would have liked to hear from Dr Finch, even in an afterword with a clinical synopsis of Lily's journey, to hear the medical side of an OCD story, to complement Lily's own words. There is more story to tell, I felt, and I wanted to know all of it.
You will find humour here, an intelligent and plucky woman to empathise with, and a story that will help dispel common myths and rumours about a truly all-consuming condition. I hope to read more from Ms Bailey (and Rocky) in the future.
With thanks to the author for the paper copy, provided for review purposes.
acbrummitt's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
revanslombe's review
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Alcohol, Suicide attempt, Pedophilia, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Addiction
fionacrossley's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
ghostingarden's review
*no ratings for memoirs; cw: intrusive thoughts (if you struggle with ocd and are easily trigged/perceptive to/by intrusive thoughts plz proceed with caution I had to take breaks in between because I found myself ruminating over her intrusive thoughts as if they were mine!*)
As someone who got diagnosed with OCD just this year after years of battling terrible intrusive thoughts, this book was comforting in a weird way. The topics are obviously brutal, but it was comforting to know that I wasn't alone and that I wasn't a horrible human being just because I was struggling with this. Although Bailey and I suffer with different thoughts, I found myself relating to her in multiple ways. I think this is an important read to see a different perspective of ocd that isn't always talked about in popular media.
As someone who got diagnosed with OCD just this year after years of battling terrible intrusive thoughts, this book was comforting in a weird way. The topics are obviously brutal, but it was comforting to know that I wasn't alone and that I wasn't a horrible human being just because I was struggling with this. Although Bailey and I suffer with different thoughts, I found myself relating to her in multiple ways. I think this is an important read to see a different perspective of ocd that isn't always talked about in popular media.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
faerie_smutprincess69's review
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
I knew what OCD typically looked like in behaviour (e.g. excessively and compulsively cleaning your hands and home because of disturbing thoughts around germs, or checking and locking doors and windows over and over because of fears around intruders, etc), but I didn't know what the inside of the mind of a person with OCD was like. The author, through first person, takes the reader through the journey of her life with her severely anxious and repetitive and disturbing intrusive thoughts that allow her no rest until she acts on her compulsions. And we, the reader, only get to feel her relief for a brief moment in time at the completetion of one of her many compulsions, before we are back to the steady and fast stream of anxious thoughts that plague the author exhausting existence.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Chronic illness, Forced institutionalization, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt