Do You like book Kissing Doorknobs (1998)?
Confessions review? Oh yeah. I give Kissing Doorknobs by Terry Spencer Hesser 5/5 stars for being life changing and teaching me that I wasn't the only one suffering from this disease. Kissing Doorknobs review: Throughout my teenage years, I suffered from severe OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). I cannot even go into details the rituals I performed daily from this disease. I remember being in 8th grade and picking this novel at the library. I read the synopsis and immediately knew I needed to read Kissing Doorknobs by Terry Spencer Hesser. I think at the time, I was hoping for a cure. It wasn't a cure I received but a sense of knowing I wasn't alone. I had never met a person with OCD before so Tara Sullivan became my best friend. She was someone I could relate to on every level of this illness. Her struggles were my struggles and her wish for a cure was mine. Ten years later, and now 'almost' OCD free, I still remember this novel and the impact it had on me. No matter what novels I read today or in the future, Kissing Doorknobs will always have a significant place on my list and heart. Recommendation?: Yes. Kissing Doorknobs gives the reader a new perspective of the OCD disease. It shows the struggles and family ripple such a simple illness could cause. I would highly recommend this novel to anyone looking for more information on OCD.
—Heather (hungrycookiemonster)
KISSING DOORKNOBS does some things fairly well, or at least not offensively, but that's about the best thing I can say about it. The first half of the story reads like a memoir written by an adult about her teenage years; that doesn't make for bad reading for someone with an interest in mental illness, but it also doesn't make for a believable teen heroine or a particularly compelling storyline. For about the first two-thirds of the novel, Tara struggles with her illness, in all its various manifestations, without relief from her family or the string of doctors and mental healthcare professionals that they take her to see. Then a family friend who has a student with OCD miraculously recognizes Tara's issue immediately and puts Tara in contact with people who can help her---first and foremost his teenage student, Sam. It is actually Sam, and not a doctor, who explains OCD to Tara and her family. Now, this novel was written in 1998, and I don't know how the diagnosis of OCD has changed in the past seventeen years, but let's just say that even if the story was once realistic and accurate, it is now seriously out-of-date. That said, its intentions to portray OCD responsibly and realistically (including the serious effects that it has on family and friends of the sufferer), and its treatment in a positive and hopeful light are admirable, even if Sam does read more like a public-service announcement than a teenage boy. This is an acceptable title for readers familiar with OCD and its diagnosis and treatment today (and with an interest in how it was seen twenty years ago), but I would not recommend it to someone seeking information/stories about OCD for the first time.
—Susan
This is an amazingly descriptive book that firmly and realisticly describes a teens lifr in the hands of OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER.I know this since I have been personally affected with this torchering mental illness.I strongly recommend the reading of this novel since I have not read any other that shows as much truthfulness and personality as any other book of this genre.¸NOTE: OCD comes in many different and specific forms. This book, nor any other book could possibly describe ALL types and quirks of this disorder.
—Jessica
