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    Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood
    Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood
    Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood
    Audiobook7 hours

    Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood

    Written by Jennifer Traig

    Narrated by Melinda Wade

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    The struggles and humiliations of adolescence are told in an unflinching, funny, surprisingly universal tale of one good Jewish girl's battle with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHighbridge Company
    Release dateJan 31, 2006
    ISBN9781598872446
    Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood
    Author

    Jennifer Traig

    Jennifer Traig is the author of Devil in the Details  and Well Enough Alone, and the editor of The Autobiographer’s Handbook  and Don’t Forget to Write. She holds a PhD in English from Brandeis, and lives with her family in Michigan.

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    Reviews for Devil in the Details

    3.5/5

    254 ratings25 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Is it wrong to fall over laughing when reading a book about a person with severe OCD? If so, I'm in some deep cosmic trouble, because this was hilarious."Scenes" aptly describes the book because, as Traig herself makes clear, her battles with the disease were sporadic. Plus, the book has scattered through it various (also very funny) quizzes, proofs, sample SAT questions, and so forth that give insight into the OCD mind. Somehow, Traig helps us find humor in the horror of bloody, chapped hands, anorexia, and hair-pulling. It's almost a hat trick; I'm not sure how she did it.Traig and her family, as presented in the book, are immensely likable and weather the bizzare with good humor. There are colorful portraits of them as well as of Traig; no member of her immediate family is there as a mere prop to her own story, which is a real strength in the book, something that helps make it more substantial than many of the more "me-centric" memoirs.Religion plays a heavy part in this memoir, something that many readers may not expect, but it was the key piece of Traig's disorder. I personally found it fascinating to read about, as so many elements of Orthodox Judaism were unfamiliar to me, and, again, I thought it gave the book a good deal of substance. Some readers may be put off by this element of the unfamiliar, while others may find it intriguing (and it certainly makes this book stand out from any other OCD memoir). The book becomes not just a "book about a girl with OCD" but also a more profound look at a girl coming to terms with her identity and faith. And again-- to be able to make all of this side-splittingly funny reveals rare talent indeed!Very highly recommended.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      An amusing, self-deprecating account of one woman's lifelong struggles with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and the religious scruples and eating disorder that accompanied it. She weaves the tale well with descriptions of her relationships with her family members during this time and the experience of growing up Jewish in America.
    • 1/5
      This was really difficult to get through. It started out ok but the attempt at wry humor got to me after a while ... Traig had serious problems yet this tried to present the humorous side to it. Unfortunately it didn't really work.
    • 4/5
      Probably closer to three stars, except it hit a couple of my favorite topics (childhood mental disorder, and the minutiae of any kind of strict religion).
    • 3/5
      This is painfully booooooooring........her "scrupulosity" shows itself in the details of her writing.

      My favorite quote from her rules for playing "Musical Chairs" (or where to decide where to sit in the house):
      "9. Players may not sit on the floor, because this prompts your Father to yell, 'This isn't Morocco, and in this house we sit on the chairs, damnit.' To sit on the floor is to disrespect your parents. Furthermore, as your Father points out, 'If you're worried about impurity, the floor is the last place you should be sitting. As far as the pets are concerned, the floor is just one big shag-pile toilet.' "

      I thought that was funny, but not too much else.....

      I did learn that OCD is a central brain dysfunction and it seems to suit those OCDs with religious "scrupulosity".
    • 3/5
      This book made my teenage years look mild.
    • 4/5
      I didn’t know a memoir of an obsessive-compulsive teenager could be so hysterical, but I found myself laughing at every page. Seeing the world through her eyes was both enlightening and unsettling. She had a form of OCD called ‘scrupulosity’ which is when a person feels compelled to stringently observe commandments—unfortunately Traig didn’t have much religious training so she made up her prayers and commandments. From her toddler years and the compulsion to tap the bookcases to her teen years and her inability to park a car without doing damage to light poles, kerbs and other stationary objects this is a singular memoir.
    • 4/5
      This was really great. She's a great writer, and I hadn't really known what I was getting into when I started it. I knew it was about OCD of course, but I hadn't known about the religious aspect and I found that really interesting and different from other OCD memoirs I've read. She definitely has something valuable to add to a genre that can be overcrowded with similar stories.
    • 3/5
      Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood by Jennifer Traig falls right in the middle for me. I picked this book up while on my road trip, after having been recommended to read it by a family member.I enjoyed Jennifer’s tales of her obsessions, both with germs and religious scrupulosity, because of the humor and honesty she used when describing herself as a teenager. She knew she was obsessive and a lot to handle, but was able to tell her stories with a positive twist.However, about halfway through I decided I didn’t need to know much more about her life, so some of the stories seemed to me a bit superfluous.For the full review, visit Love at First Book
    • 3/5
      Interesting, in that way that it's sort of enjoyable to read about people with mental illnesses that you're glad you don't have.
      (e.g. Set This House in Order; The Pleasure of My Company, The Long Title With The Dog in the Nighttime; etc.)
      However, I feel a bit worse about this one since it's a true story.
    • 4/5
      As you might be able to see from the publisher's blurb, Traig suffered from the same form of OCD that afflicted medieval saints, driving her to bizarrely excessive acts of religious devotion. It's the sort of background that drives writers either to morose depths of self-pity or to
      hilarity. You can cry or you can laugh, you know? This book is so funny that I carted it around everywhere with me for two weeks, cackling like a madwoman, reading whole paragraphs out loud to coworkers (who ALSO laughed, even though that's one of the most annoying things someone can do to you in a bookstore), and laughing so hard to myself on the bus that fellow commuters edged away from me in fear. Why hasn't Traig written a million books to brighten my dreary existence? I don't know, but I'm glad we at least have this one.
    • 4/5
      Very funny look at a childhood ( mostly middle school) affected by OCD and religious confusion. Jennifer's mom was Catholic, her dad Jewish - she identified more with Judaism. With very little in the way of instruction she sort of made up her religion as she went along. This make it up as you go along attitude was particularly unsettling due to her OCD and anorexia. OC's love rules and routines so the the religious rules and dietary constraints of Judiasm were a perfect match.Her parents were nice people, but in those days OCD had not yet been identified as a disorder so they really were at a loss. The book might have been darker written by another person because it hard to be very painful to grow up like this but Ms. Traig keeps it light and funny.
    • 4/5
      I selected this book because, from its title, I assumed it was the story of a girl with obsessive compulsive disorder. I find such books interesting as they help me understand human behavior in all of its variants. What I found, though, was a thoroughly enjoyable mix of OCD and Judaism! Jennifer Traig, suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder as a child, found ways to use her Jewish religion to act out her behaviors. Her closest family - a devout Catholic mom, a non-observant dad, and a "could care less" Jewish sister - were throughly confused by Jennifer's behavior. They dealt with her peculiarities as long as they could until they sought therapy and medical help for her.This book is quite funny throughout and shows that the author is comfortable looking back on who she was as a child. I believe there was also some pain, but that's not part of this book. I took away from Jennifer's story of her childhood a sense of her love for Judaism, her love for her family, and her delight in being who she is. I was pleasantly surprised by how engaged I was with her story and think others will find this a pleasant read as well.
    • 4/5
      This was really great. She's a great writer, and I hadn't really known what I was getting into when I started it. I knew it was about OCD of course, but I hadn't known about the religious aspect and I found that really interesting and different from other OCD memoirs I've read. She definitely has something valuable to add to a genre that can be overcrowded with similar stories.
    • 4/5
      An amusing, self-deprecating account of one woman's lifelong struggles with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and the religious scruples and eating disorder that accompanied it. She weaves the tale well with descriptions of her relationships with her family members during this time and the experience of growing up Jewish in America.
    • 4/5
      "Devil in the Details: Scenes From an Obsessive Girlhood" by Jennifer Traig will tickle your inner OCD child if you have one. I'm not a full blown OCD person, but I can relate to some of what Traig writes about, and she shows us with much wit what a full blown disorder is like. It is great that she has such a wonderful sense of humor about a disorder that is so crippling to her and so many millions of people like her. For those who don't understand Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, this gives a good glimpse into a life that is severely train-wrecked by it. I give this four stars instead of five, because I found the ending a bit weak compared to the rest of the book that kept me enthralled. My only unanswered question is: am I the only one who noticed that the candies on the cover of the book aren't COMPLETELY straight???!!! haha.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book. The author takes you on a journey through her life as a sufferer of obsessive-compulsive disorder, and how she struggled with her "scrupulosity" on a daily basis. The book has a rather disjointed timeline of the author's life, jumping back and forth in time, but it is written with such a sharp wit and an lack of self consciousness about her disease, the reader cannot help but laugh and shake their heads at the bizarre idiosyncrasies of this young lady. She knows the way she acts is crazy, but is unable to stop.Jennifer is born and raised in an interfaith household, and while neither parent is very serious about their religion, Jennifer leans more toward her father's Jewish heritage rather than her mother's Catholicism. Since the multitude of laws and rituals of the Old Testament are so detailed and strict, and that she feels so compelled to carry out so many rituals with her OCD as well, she decides that becoming a very strict practicing Jew is perfect for her. She has a bat mitzvah after going through religious training, and finally becomes what she believes will make her complete and whole.Throughout the years, her family struggles with Jennifer's ups and downs, and the outrageous, over-zealous and literal interpretation of her religion, along with the OCD, and tries for years to get her to change her ways. Even though the story sort of jumped around from one age to another, and back again, and although the abrupt ending left this reader hanging.....this book was hard to put down and extremely enjoyable due to the author's natural wit and humor, and excellent writing skills.I already have ordered two of her other books. This one is a must-read if you know anyone with OCD, or if you just need a good hearty chuckle. I commend this author for working so hard despite her illness, and receiving a PhD in literature.
    • 1/5
      This was really difficult to get through. It started out ok but the attempt at wry humor got to me after a while ... Traig had serious problems yet this tried to present the humorous side to it. Unfortunately it didn't really work.
    • 3/5
      Some mixed feelings about this one. For someone who's been diagnosed with OCD, I would've expected this memoir to maybe have been a little more fluid than it was. My main problem with this book for me was the way it jumped around in time -- at one point Traig would be talking about an incident in her teenage years, and then she'd be talking about something that happened when she was 4 or 5, and I had trouble getting a grip on how this disease really evolved for her. True -- I laughed out loud at some particular scenes, trying to picture them in my head, and at other times I was just shaking my head back & forth at the seemingly ridiculousness of the whole OCD thing. I recognize that it's a real disease and I feel for those who suffer from it, and it was truly enlightening to read about it from the point of view from someone living it. Traig obviously has writing talent & a great sense of humor (as does her mother, who has some great lines in here), but I really didn't care for the way it was all put together -- too disjointed. The first half of the book was pretty refreshing, but the second half mostly dragged on because the sequencing (or lack of) was getting to me.
    • 2/5
      I did not enjoy this book AT ALL; I felt compelled to finish it just so I could say I did.When I started "Devil in the Details," it was with the expectation that it would be about Jennifer Traig's struggle with OCD, maybe with a funny lean to it since she is known in the McSweeney's circuit. I was NOT expecting to learn alllll about Jewish law. Traig's OCD tendencies lean toward scrupulosity (which, for her, involves keeping Jewish laws, including some very obscure ones), which was new to me, so I enjoyed reading about it, at first. But it got tedious fast. Don't get me wrong, there are some funny parts, and Traig manages to get the feeling of helplessness (for lack of a better term) -- against OCD and especially against the religious compulsions -- across. I felt for her. I felt for her parents, I felt for her sister, I felt for everyone who has read this book and felt like they HAD to finish it even though it becomes a chore about halfway through the book.In addition, the whole book felt disjointed, as Traig bounced back and forth in time and topic. Maybe this was her intent and I should have read it as a book of essays instead of a whole-piece memoir. I can't really recommend this one; although I'm sure a few people WOULD enjoy it, I can't think of any of them offhand. The cover is pretty, though!
    • 4/5
      In this bittersweet memoir, Jennifer Traig laughs about her puzzling problems growing up with obsessive compulsive disorder in an era before OCD was a recognized disorder. With a witty humor, she describes trials that would have permanently scarred a less resilient youth. In a world where OCD is stereotyped in pop culture, TV shows, and movies it is a relief to find someone willing to provide a more realistic, though upbeat, view of this very debilitating disorder. I imagine many people will be able to find a little of themselves in Jennifer Traig, and teens now facing such issues will find the upbeat happy ending comforting.
    • 4/5
      OCD wasn't really understood in the 70s and 80s so Jenny Traig's family just thought she was really weird...she also had anorexia and scrupulosity, a form of OCD related to religion. Basically she tried to follow every Jewish law she could. This book was hilarious and I sped through it. I'm buying it for a friend for Christmas.
    • 5/5
      Is it wrong to fall over laughing when reading a book about a person with severe OCD? If so, I'm in some deep cosmic trouble, because this was hilarious."Scenes" aptly describes the book because, as Traig herself makes clear, her battles with the disease were sporadic. Plus, the book has scattered through it various (also very funny) quizzes, proofs, sample SAT questions, and so forth that give insight into the OCD mind. Somehow, Traig helps us find humor in the horror of bloody, chapped hands, anorexia, and hair-pulling. It's almost a hat trick; I'm not sure how she did it.Traig and her family, as presented in the book, are immensely likable and weather the bizzare with good humor. There are colorful portraits of them as well as of Traig; no member of her immediate family is there as a mere prop to her own story, which is a real strength in the book, something that helps make it more substantial than many of the more "me-centric" memoirs.Religion plays a heavy part in this memoir, something that many readers may not expect, but it was the key piece of Traig's disorder. I personally found it fascinating to read about, as so many elements of Orthodox Judaism were unfamiliar to me, and, again, I thought it gave the book a good deal of substance. Some readers may be put off by this element of the unfamiliar, while others may find it intriguing (and it certainly makes this book stand out from any other OCD memoir). The book becomes not just a "book about a girl with OCD" but also a more profound look at a girl coming to terms with her identity and faith. And again-- to be able to make all of this side-splittingly funny reveals rare talent indeed!Very highly recommended.
    • 1/5
      Could not get into this book at all. Was a lot more about religion than OCD.
    • 5/5
      I totally identified with the author. This is a great look at the life of someone with OCD.