Sweetly: A Close-Up Review

"As a child, Gretchen's twin sister was taken by a witch in the woods. Ever since, Gretchen and her brother, Ansel, have felt the long branches of the witch's forest threatening to make them disappear, too.

Years later, when their stepmother casts Gretchen and Ansel out, they find themselves in sleepy Live Oak, South Carolina. They're invited to stay with Sophia Kelly, a beautiful candy maker who molds sugary magic: coveted treats that create confidence, bravery, and passion.

Life seems idyllic and Gretchen and Ansel gradually forget their haunted past -- until Gretchen meets handsome local outcast Samuel. He tells her the witch isn't gone -- it's lurking in the forest, preying on girls every year after Live Oak's infamous chocolate festival, and looking to make Gretchen its next victim. Gretchen is determined to stop running and start fighting back. Yet the further she investigates the mystery of what the witch is and how it chooses its victims, the more she wonders who the real monster is.

Gretchen is certain of only one thing: a monster is coming, and it will never go away hungry." (from Goodreads) 

Sweetly by Jackson Pearce

My apologies for all the whited-out sections in this review! There were a lot of potential spoilers I had to try to sidestep with this one. 

Characters: 

Gretchen: I enjoyed her as a narrator. Gretchen is straight-forward, clear-thinking, and tells the reader what's on her mind; her narrative is easy to follow. She has some issues with trusting people (Sophia aside, because Sophia is the exception to pretty much every rule in this book), probably at least partly stemming from her traumatic past. Also, Gretchen is very self-aware, her voice feeling quite mature, which I appreciate since I sometimes find it so frustrating when a character is knee-deep in denial. She's really into introspective self-analysis, getting into the layers of her emotions and reactions, but it doesn't take over the plot. It was very easy to understand and sympathize with her, and even when she did something I didn't necessarily agree with, I found it plausible rather than annoying.
 
I wish we'd been shown more of Gretchen's parents and twin sister. We don't see very much of them in memories, and I didn't feel like I understood Gretchen's relationship with her parents as well as I would have liked.

Sophia: right from the start, I didn't like Sophia — probably a combination of the fact that I knew this was a Hansel & Gretel retelling (and let's face it, you're not supposed to trust the person with the candy...), that Gretchen was warned off Sophia, and just Sophia's altogether too shiny, bubbly, sickly-sweet personality. The ambiguity surrounding Sophia is done really well, and for a large part of the book I wasn't really sure what I should be feeling about her. She's a strange, complicated individual, as murky and enigmatic as Gretchen is clear. Also, Sophia has a definite talent for compartmentalizing. Major spoilers: in a way, you sorta have to sympathize with her, because she loved her sister and was doing all this for her. But at the same time, she was condemning all these girls to death, and she knew it and did it anyway...which is so hard to forgive. It was really interesting how she flipped between this overly bright, cheery, fake personality and the real person — guilty, upset, lonely — beneath. I almost wish we'd seen more from her perspective once we find out the motivations for her actions.

Ansel: I didn't ever really get a handle on his character or feel like his personality shone here. I do like the strong bond that Ansel and Gretchen have — I think that's a little unusual in YA — but I would have appreciated seeing more of their brother-sister dynamic. We don't see them share that much emotionally with each other, but we can tell from Gretchen's narrative how close the two of them are, particularly in terms of Ansel's role of big brother looking out for his younger sister. They're obviously very used to sticking by each other's side.

Samuel: he's a gruff, prickly sort of guy with a bit of a rough attitude. He doesn't take kindly to strangers, perhaps because he's used to people thinking he's crazy. I really loved the Samuel-Gretchen relationship. They are two people who don't normally let others in; Samuel is closed-off and still kinda hung up on his first love, and Gretchen's been in this close-knit world of just her and her brother for a long time. I think they both recognize this quality in the other person, and that's one of the things they kinda bond over. Developing this relationship requires both Samuel and Gretchen to let their guard down. The nervous anticipation surrounding a new romantic connection, the anxiety about the physicality of it, is portrayed really well here. It's new for both of them, they're unsure about it and each other, and they're not yet settled into the relationship but it's exciting at the same time. Even though we don't get that many scenes with the two of them — I would've loved some more romantic exchanges! — Pearce somehow makes it work. They don't know each other that well but there's a mutual attraction there, and they've been in these life-and-death situations with each other, so there's a certain level of trust that develops.

Premise:

This is a very loose retelling of Hansel & Gretel, but even though the whole story has been completely reshuffled, many of the key elements are present in one way or another (spoilers: for instance, the fire scene is a neat twist on the oven in the original!). The whole twist with having the siblings originally be a boy and twin sisters, and then one of the twins vanishing, was really cool. It creates this ghostly, haunting presence in Gretchen's life. She can't ever really leave her sister behind, even though, in a way, she's been left behind by her sister. While Gretchen obviously remembers how it felt to be a twin, so connected to someone else, I would have liked to have seen more of their bond through memories.

I was a little disappointed that the candy shop itself didn't play a critical role in Sweetly, since it's such an important part of the fairy tale. Spoilers: I'd like to think the candy Sophia makes is magical, because there are a couple times when it seems to have an effect on the characters who are eating it. However, it isn't explicitly stated one way or the other, unfortunately.

I wasn't really sold on the main villains in this book, for a couple of reasons. Spoilers: I'm not big on werewolves generally, and I thought it was a bit of a cop-out to use the same villains here that were used in Sisters Red. It just seemed a little too easy and convenient that they turned out to be the "witch" that terrorized the children. I also would have liked some more background information on the wolves and their behaviour; sometimes it seems like the author expects us to know about them from reading Sisters Red (it's been a while since I read that one so I didn't remember the details).

Plot:  

Sweetly is a fairly slow-moving mystery; while there's tension, there isn't a lot of action until the very end. However, Jackson Pearce builds in unsettling clues throughout, cleverly stringing along the reader and making it creepy on a subtle level.

There were a few things plot-wise that I took issue with. For one, you have to suspend some disbelief once everything's revealed. The explanation at the end felt a little rushed; most of the book is building up to this and then it felt like we didn't get enough information (spoilers: for instance, I still don't know what happened to Sophia's mom and why the werewolves came into the house for her dad). There are a lot of unanswered questions (some of which I suspect will be addressed in the next book, Fathomless — I have to admit the ending of Sweetly sets up very well for the next in the series). I guessed a sizeable chunk of the mystery surrounding Sophia, but not all of it (spoiler: I pretty much figured out the werewolf-seashell-Sophia connection, but not the layer involving her sister).

Also, I thought Gretchen should have asked more questions of Samuel about what had happened at the chocolate festivals previously. He was rather spare on the details!

That said, I loved that the author "went there" with the ending, involving a well-choreographed, symbolic "must-die" sort of death. Huge spoilers: you could kind of see the death of Sophia coming, because Gretchen, Ansel and Samuel were the inarguably "good guys" and Sophia was certainly not, so if anyone was going to go down in a blaze of glory it was going to be her. In a way, though, I think it might have been even more powerful storytelling if Gretchen had experienced a little more suffering or loss (spoiler: for example, if Samuel or Ansel had died...although I admit that would have been bleak!)

Writing style: 

Overall, the writing here is strong. Jackson Pearce does a really good job of getting us right into Gretchen's head (the narration is quite close 1st-person). Despite the fact that Gretchen is a rather closed-off, distanced individual in some ways, the narration still puts us smack-dab in her head. This allows us to bypass that hurdle that other people have when they try to get close to her — which is necessary, I think, in order for the reader to really "get" Gretchen.

Some of the descriptions of setting and atmosphere also shine, like the chocolatier and the forest. And throughout the novel Pearce manages to create an uneasy, subtly disturbing mood, without compromising her narrator's intelligence or integrity. I didn't feel like Gretchen was really lying to us, or being stupid; she didn't have the same instincts as I did, but all the same, as a reader I wanted to like her.

Given Gretchen's penchant for self-examination, there is some repetition in her thought content. Gretchen is very aware that she's actively trying to change who she is, and these themes of overcoming fear and stepping out of the role of "scared little girl" are perhaps stated a little too obviously at times.

Final verdict: 4 shooting stars.

Disclaimer: I received a review copy from the publisher.

Note: Sweetly does contain some mature content (primarily violence).

All You Never Wanted: A Psychtember Review

 Patient: All You Never Wanted by Adele Griffin

Presentation (from Goodreads): "With my eyes closed and Alex's core friends all around me, it was like I'd become my big sister, or something just as good. And so who cared if they were calling it Alex's party? One thing I knew: it would be remembered as mine.Alex has it all—brains, beauty, popularity, and a dangerously hot boyfriend. Her little sister Thea wants it all, and she's stepped up her game to get it. Even if it means spinning the truth to win the attention she deserves. Even if it means uncovering a shocking secret her older sister never wanted to share. Even if it means crying wolf.

Told in the alternating voices of Alex and Thea, Adele Griffin's mesmerizing new novel is the story of a sibling rivalry on speed."

Assessment:

Axis 1. Characters

Adele Griffin is just so good at writing complex characters. Characters who do the wrong things for the right reasons, the right things for the wrong reasons, and the wrong things for the wrong reasons...but not so often the right things for the right reasons. Her characters are so flawed — but in All You Never Wanted at least one of the two main characters is one you can root for. 

The sisters: Alex is obviously the more sympathetic, likeable sister; she has a whole host of issues to deal with (which will be discussed below) and certainly shows some less than honourable behaviour, but she is definitely easier to like than Thea.

Her sister, on the other hand, is a real pain in the neck. She's the 'bratty kid sister' taken to an extremely toxic level. I never felt like she truly cared about Alex (even though she said she did), because she went around sabotaging her sister — trying to take her friends and boyfriend, be "better" than Alex, and capitalize on the fact that Alex is struggling. Thea is never satisfied; she always wants more, and the only reason she wants it is because Alex has it. This life of luxury she's been given has opened up a realm of possibility. Suddenly there's all this stuff that she never wanted that she has now, and it's almost like she doesn't know what to do with it exactly, but it makes her want more. And she begins treating people like objects, stuff for her to accumulate. I suspect something clinical is going on with Thea as well, so her behaviour will also be addressed in detail on Axis 4. 

I wasn't strongly connected emotionally to either sister, although I found Alex easier to relate to than Thea, but they're very flawed and multi-dimensional. The story is kind of irresistible anyway, though, because it's clear that these two sisters are heading for disaster.


Xander and Joshua: Xander is the one person here who's sensible, the voice of reason/sanity. He's Alex's "rock" in a way. He's pretty awesome and the day he and Alex spend together is cute. While he's not perfect (he does get angry at times), he's pretty steady, and certainly preferable to Joshua. I couldn't get a read on Joshua for a long time, but basically, he's a jerk. I never liked him that much and I don't think we're supposed to!

Other side characters: We don't really get to know Alex's friends, "The Blondes," that well, but they're pretty much there just to show us that Thea is trying to steal them away from her sister. Honestly, I don't know why Alex wants to hang out with them anyway, because they don't seem that nice; I guess Alex and Palmer in particular have a long history and a strong connection. I wish we'd seen a little more about the mom (and Thea's and Alex's connection with her) as well as Arthur. At one point it's mentioned that Alex feels so bad about disappointing Arthur and I was like, "Really? Because you didn't seem to care about him for most of this book..."

Axis 2. Premise/plot

I was really confused for the first few chapters, but then it started making more sense as I got further into it. The whole story takes place in this glitzy glamour world of money, that Thea and Alex were pushed into when their mom remarried. It's almost soap opera–ish in a way; you can see it playing out kind of like the TV show 90210 with all these really rich teens. It conveys that vibe very well, and it's difficult to stop reading (especially towards the end) because you can't tear your eyes away from this glittery, frothy life of these rich people — and how destructive they are in their opulence. This kind of life is tearing Alex up inside, even as she weakly tries to rebel, and Thea is just destroying herself. 

It would have been interesting to have seen more flashbacks to when the mom first remarried, and been shown the effect (as it happened) of the money on Alex and Thea. As Alex acknowledges at one point, the whole thing does seem very "poor little rich girl". I couldn't feel that bad for people who have so much, but on other hand, I guess I can kind of understand how it would completely change your world and how you live, messing with your values and making you doubt yourself. I think how much it changes someone would depend on the character of the person, though. Thea didn't have a strong enough personality to resist it, and was tempted by the money and everything it gave her. It's pathetic how concerned she becomes with what people think of her. I have a hard time buying it's just the money's fault; you can point your finger at the fact that her stepdad's so rich, but really, it's how she reacts to that — the money is just an excuse. 

Plotwise not that much happens here, but it doesn't really matter — it's rich in social drama. Plus, there's the party at the end, and you know that's where everything's going to go down. And does Adele Griffin ever know how to end a book! It's exploiting some shock value, yes, but there's a sickening sort of ambiguity at play here; you don't really know what happened, but you are certainly left to suspect. The very last couple of pages gives us a brilliant dose of irony by being juxtaposed with what just happened previously.

Thea is a mess at the end, and Alex's behaviour really says something about how much Thea has torn apart their relationship (although Alex is a little to blame as well for that). However, I had to feel bad for Thea in a way (that is, given a particular interpretation of events), because she is pretty young and doesn't know exactly what she's doing. She's cluelessly reaching for fire, thinking she wants it...and then she finds out that she doesn't. There's definitely a message of "reap what you sow" with this book, and Thea cannot for the life of her figure out that there will be consequences to her behaviour, and that she'll just wind up hurting herself.

Unfortunately, we don't get much resolution about Alex's psychological problems. It looks like she's taking the first steps to getting herself back on track and getting help, though.

Axis 3. Writing Style

I just get so impressed by Adele Griffin's books because she's a really good wordsmith and the quality of writing is always high. In particular, I have to commend her talent for subtlety. She's excellent at insinuating twisted things; it's almost like the spaces where she doesn't say something are as important as all the words she does say. It's masterful writing technique when you can make those blank spaces mean as much (or more) than the actual words.

Alex's chapters are written in third-person and Thea's in first-person, which is interesting, because I feel like I couldn't understand Thea's perspective and attitude as well as I could relate to Alex's. It took a bit for me to switch between the viewpoints for the first little while, but this approach works to separate the two perspectives and keep them distinct.

Present-tense is not usually my favourite, but here I think it really gives the reader that sense of immediacy; the time passing is important because it all happens over a fairly short period. In particular, Xander's and Alex's relationship develops very quickly, and yet despite that we see they share a meaningful emotional (and physical) connection.

Some of the description in here may seem somewhat unnecessary, but it balances out some of the really important things that happen "off-screen" (otherwise it would be really short and simple!). There's also a fair bit of brand name–dropping (they are rich people, after all) which didn't do anything for me, since I didn't get most of the references; some of the slang was lost on me as well.

Griffin is great at creating meaning with fresh or unusual analogies/metaphors, and her writing feels quite powerful; it's not really a book to skim, because you could miss something important. She writes warped behaviour so effectively. I don't know how she does it, but somehow she manages to pull it off really well, so that instead of interpreting the characters as so unbelievable or unlikeable you don't want to read about them anymore, you're sucked in, wondering what they're going to do next. She also uses the unreliable narrator technique to good effect a couple of times, tricking the reader very nicely (spoiler: there are a couple scenes when Thea thinks up a lie, but you don't realize at first she's making it all up in her head, because it's written as though it's real, woven right in there).
 

Axis 4. Psychological Accuracy

The psychology here is mind-boggling — there are so many issues that both sisters are dealing with.

Alex: she definitely has some kind of anxiety disorder, specifically related to the fact that she's worried she will lose control of her bladder in public. While she does appear to have something akin to panic attacks, I don't think she'd qualify for full-blown panic disorder. She certainly displays some symptoms present in a panic attack — pounding heart, trembling, jumbled thoughts — but I don't know that she has enough, or to the extent, that they would meet the criteria for a panic attack.

What I suspect may be going on with her is agoraphobia without panic disorder. Symptoms of anxiety can still occur with this, but they are not at the same level as panic disorder. This page about the disorder states that the individual is afraid of something embarrassing happening in public, and gives a loss of bladder control as an example. Of course, it might also be possible Alex has a form of social phobia or a specific phobia — it's difficult to say without a diagnostic interview! Regardless, what happened to her at the internship was absolutely humiliating, and I can see how that would make her feel ashamed and set off an anxiety disorder that snowballs.
 
Alex also shows hints of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD). She has a need for perfection; she was always the admired, sociable sister that everyone looked up to, and while she didn't excel academically the way Thea did, she was planning on going to college. Now she's scared of losing control again and being imperfect. I doubt she is at the clinical level of OCPD, though.

Alex's phobia has led to other difficulties in her life. For instance, she barely eats at all now, because she wants to keep herself "void" to decrease the chance that she will have a repeat of the previous incident. I don't know if it would be classified as an eating disorder — it certainly isn't a typical case of anorexia, as Alex doesn't have body image issues — but it has similar effects. She's unhealthily thin and her menstrual cycle has become irregular. These kinds of problems are not touched on in most YA "issue books", so it's refreshing to see something more unusual being focused on.

Thea: she is such a weird, twisted character. I suspect she might have histrionic personality disorder. She craves attention, going so far as to invent the most outrageous stories and spreading hurtful rumors. Pathological lying can be associated with histrionic disorder. It seems like she does a lot of rash, self-flaunting things, including flirting with her sister's boyfriend.

This behaviour particularly happens when she's being "Gia", this "alter ego" of Thea's who makes her feel like a sexier, more confident person. She's aware of Gia, so I wouldn't classify it as dissociative identity disorder, but there are moments with hints of dissociation, and she certainly feels like she's playing two different roles.

It's creepy that Thea can be so cold and ruthless, and yet she has her innocent, naive side as well. We very occasionally see glimpses where Thea's real self (or at least her old self) comes back — for instance, when she feels guilty about something. A lot of the time, however, she just wants to be a manipulative Queen Bee. I wish we'd seen more of Thea before and witnessed the change in her; it's pretty sad what she's become. I think I would have liked her a whole lot more back when she was "bookworm Thea".

Validity Score: How psychologically accurate was All You Never Wanted?

Axis 5. Miscellaneous 

The girl on the cover doesn't look like either of the sisters, in my opinion. (But it is a striking image!) Also, I think All You Never Wanted is a really good title for this book, as it works on a few levels.
 

Patient's statement:

"Everyone knows your written story is a lie. But if you're going to get people to believe your lie out loud, then you have to muffle them in your breezy, shocking, junky, juicy, sexy, needless words. As for your darlings? That's the goo of anticipation. What sticks 'em to their seats. And the whole entire point of the project is that you're launching yourself into the void. Spitting in blood and crossing your heart to vouch for an experience you'd never known. That you couldn't feel, touch, or taste until the moment it was on your tongue and you realized — Everyone is buying this crap. Even me.

It pumped me up just to think about."

Diagnosis: 4.5 shooting stars. 

This book counts towards my goal for the Just Contemporary challenge. 

Disclaimer: I received this book as an ARC from the author for review.

Note: this book has some mature language/references. 


Read my Psychtember interview with Adele Griffin here!

Perfect Escape: A Psychtember Review

Patient: Perfect Escape by Jennifer Brown

Presentation (from Goodreads): Kendra has always felt overshadowed by her older brother, Grayson, whose OCD forces him to live a life of carefully coordinated routines. The only way Kendra can stand out next to Grayson is to be perfect, and she has perfection down to an art -- until a cheating scandal threatens her flawless reputation.

Behind the wheel of her car, with Grayson asleep beside her, Kendra decides to drive away from it all -- with enough distance, maybe she'll be able to figure everything out. But eventually, Kendra must stop running and come to terms with herself, her brother, and her past.

With undeniable grace and humor, acclaimed author Jennifer Brown explores OCD, the pressure for perfection, and the emotional highs and lows of a complex sibling relationship.

Assessment:

Axis 1. Characters

Kendra: Honestly, I found her pretty annoying through most of the book — not so much in terms of personality (although she does act kind of sanctimonious, like she knows best), but more in terms of the choices she makes, some of which are obviously poor decisions. For instance, going on this very unplanned roadtrip and worrying her parents like crazy. That made me mad, because it's so inconsiderate; I wanted her to think about other people for once! She's quite self-centered, and even towards the end she's not really thinking about what they'd be going through. Sure, she's in contact with them periodically (and rather sporadically), but she hardly gives them any information at all. I rather suspect this sort of perspective is fairly common in teens though, where they can't stretch their minds beyond their own little bubble to try to think about what their parents might be feeling.

In Kendra's defense, by the end she does think about what it would be like to be someone else — specifically, Grayson — and she finally takes in what he's saying. I'm glad she at last came to a certain realization (spoiler, highlight to read: that she can't "fix" her brother and shouldn't really be trying, that she was creating a "shadow" for him as well, and that she hadn't really thought about how it must feel for Grayson), but it took a long time! For all the pondering she does — and yes, she can be very reflective, spending a lot of time thinking about Grayson's and her motivations and behaviour, etc. — the girl is quite dense in some ways. Plus, oddly enough despite all this personal reflection, she also makes these rash decisions that seem like she's not really thinking things through at all!

I also wish we'd gotten more insight into Kendra's problems in striving for perfection. She recognizes why she does it, but I would have liked to have better understood how a certain plot got started (spoiler: the cheating storyline. As it is, it seemed like a subplot thrown in there to show that Kendra wasn't perfect, and just didn't seem that well-formed. I felt like we were missing something.)

In some ways, Kendra's very immature, but in her personal analysis she can be too mature for her age sometimes. Her level of insight is a bit too deep to be believable for a teen. 

Grayson: Jennifer Brown does quite a good job of portraying an individual with serious obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). It's difficult to discuss Grayson without talking about all of the psychological aspects, so an in-depth look at his character is below, on Axis 4.  

Kendra and Grayson: It's refreshing to see such an involved brother/sister relationship; it's unusual for that to be the focal point of the story in YA. Obviously in some ways Kendra and Grayson don't understand each other very well, and with Grayson being in and out of treatment they haven't seen that much of each other. When they were younger, though, they had a fairly healthy relationship, and it's good to watch them trying to renew that towards the end. There's also a bit of interesting role reversal going on, since the older brother is the one with a mental disorder; this changes the dynamic of a traditional older brother/younger sister relationship. 

Rena: I'm not sure how I feel about the addition of Rena (and Bo) to the big picture, since they seemed stuck in there more just to flesh out the cast than to have a storyline in their own right. However, I did like Rena as a person, and she makes a good contrast to Kendra — in some ways they're similar, in others quite different. Rena's a stranger, and has no history with Grayson, so she can treat him differently than Kendra does. Her role as a teen mom reflects the theme of responsibility, which ties into other aspects of Kendra's life. I must say, though, that Rena's and Bo's story could have used some more resolution; I was still curious about how things turned out for them by the end.

Axis 2. Premise/plot

The pacing of this book is really, really molasses-like slow. At least until the final few chapters, when everything comes to an emotional head. When they first start out on the road trip, there's a little bit of momentum, but then there's a huge chunk in the middle where frankly, not much happens. They meet Rena, they wander around, they stay at crummy motels, they swim in a stream, and Kendra tries to cure her brother's OCD. There's also a fair bit of repetition in Kendra's introspective analysis of herself and her brother. It would be good if she could actually accurately analyze herself, but it takes her a while. Basically, I like the idea of the premise here, but not the execution.

I thought there should have been more exciting plot points happening — after all, it's a road trip! But this is probably the worst road trip I've read about. The emotional stress that the characters are undergoing means that no one is really having any fun for most of it, and that means the reader isn't either. Basically, it's a depressing road trip. 

I wish we'd seen what happened once they returned home, both in terms of the fall-out from Kendra's past transgressions (spoiler: the cheating-on-exams fiasco) and in terms of Grayson's next steps. It would have been nice to have gotten some indication that he would be returning to therapy/treatment. He obviously has trouble functioning in some situations due to his anxiety disorders, and that's something he should get help for, particularly as it's affecting the rest of his family. The family dynamic is complicated, but we don't really get to see much of the parents, unfortunately. I hope that Kendra and Grayson tell their parents what they told each other, because while they try pretty hard to be good parents, they're not going to know everything going through their kids' minds.

There's no central romance, and while I do like a romantic plotline in my books, I think a romance would have been out of place here. It would have hijacked the whole storyline involving Grayson's OCD and his relationship with Kendra, and that is obviously the heart of this book. Not all YA books need a romance, but a lot have them, and it's kind of gutsy of Jennifer Brown to write a YA without one. (On the other hand, it might have moved the plot along a little faster!)

As for the Zoe subplot, I enjoyed the final climactic scene where Kendra defends her brother; it was nice to see her finally stand up for him, because in her own head she does a lot of blaming him and being ashamed of him. I also liked how this storyline was resolved — it's different and a little unexpected. Spoiler: it was somehow rewarding to see that Kendra wasn't so attached to Zoe and their history of friendship that she was willing to let bygones be bygones. Kendra makes the choice to dissolve the friendship, and I appreciated that she doesn't act like the perfect friend.  

Axis 3. Writing Style

I didn't think the writing style was anything really special. It's somewhat repetitive, and while the quality of the writing is pretty good, the style itself is fairly generic. It's easy to read, though, and towards the end the drama is handled quite well.

I would have welcomed some more description of the places they go (minus the motels — we're told enough about those). I know that the road trip isn't really the point of the story, but more detailed description of the scenery might have been nice. 

The dialogue is authentic for the most part, and the emotions the characters display are quite realistic. This is especially true for the interactions between Kendra and Grayson. Jennifer Brown does a good job of getting into the head of an individual whose brother has OCD, and exploring the different layers of emotion that would accompany someone who has to deal with all the consequences that come from living with him. Even when Kendra and Grayson have a "heart-to-heart," the author doesn't go over-the-top into super sappy. Really, the last couple of chapters were some of the best because all of the emotions are finally coming out after having been damped down by both characters.

Axis 4. Psychological Accuracy

For someone trying to understand classic OCD, and what it's like to live with a family member with a serious form of it, I think this would be a good portrayal to read. Grayson displays several symptoms of OCD as well as what I suspect is generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). We're told that he struggles with anxiety disorders and depression in addition to his OCD, but we're never told the specifics. I'm not so sure about the depression; he has a pretty low mood generally, so perhaps he is dysthymic, but I don't know that he qualifies for major depressive disorder.

His anxiety disorder symptoms are numerous. For starters, counting and arranging are compulsions for him, making me inclined to say that he has a symmetry subtype of OCD. Grayson also struggles with germs, so he may have the contamination subtype as well (it's difficult to say if his issues with germs are GAD, OCD, or both). Grayson has a variety of compulsions he performs — counting the number of steps he takes, counting rocks, counting numbers out loud, having one rock in each pocket, and others.

Some of Grayson's OCD behaviours make a certain sense to him. For instance, he believes he needs to quit counting on an even number to keep people safe ("He told me a year ago that if he stopped counting on an odd number, even accidentally, it meant that someone he loved would die"), which is typical of OCD. However, even Grayson himself doesn't know why he does certain actions. For instance, Kendra at one point asks him why he starts arranging rocks on the car dash; his response is a simple, "I don't know...It felt like I needed to." This "just right" feeling is fairly common in individuals with OCD. Kendra also raises the interesting point that Grayson can develop a new obsession or an old one can return, which I think is true of many individuals with OCD.

His worries — about dying of disease, danger in crossing overpasses, natural disasters — seem to fit with GAD. The focus here is definitely more on his OCD, though, since that is the more obvious issue he is dealing with. I wish we'd seen more of his other anxiety disorders separate from the OCD, but obviously in someone co-morbid for two or more anxiety disorders, there will be some entangling of the disorders. There's overlap and interaction going on, so you can't tease them apart from each other fully. That's actually illustrated quite well here in that you can't exactly separate Grayson's OCD from his GAD (and whatever else he might have), and there are obviously certain themes that cross disorders. For example, his concerns about germs seem to crop up in both in his OCD and GAD symptoms. Still, it would have been helpful to have been given a standard psychological explanation for his other anxiety disorders. Kendra mentions that he "what-ifs" and catastrophizes, which are definitely associated with GAD, but we're not privy to much detail.

Grayson also presents with a symptom that I wasn't aware was associated with OCD, but apparently can be: a throat-clearing tic. I did a little bit of research and there is an overlap in patients diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome who have OCD symptoms, and vice-versa. In fact, it looks like certain researchers have designated a specific set of symptoms "Tourettic OCD." I'm not sure that Grayson would fulfill the requirements for full-blown Tourette's syndrome, but his throat-clearing tic (and perhaps his need to tap) might qualify him for "Tourettic OCD" in addition to classic OCD. Since we're not reading the book from Grayson's perspective, we don't really know what sensations or cognitions he's experiencing, so it's difficult to say if some of his behaviours fall more into the "tic" category or the "compulsion" one.

Occasionally he'll also have an emotional/mental meltdown, which I suspect would be considered a panic attack. I think in Grayson's case these panic attacks are more strongly related to his GAD symptoms, although he also gets flustered and anxious when his compulsive rituals are interrupted.

One can't really separate Grayson from his symptoms, since they're a large part of who he is at this point in his life. However, we are shown that he has a great personal interest in rocks — and unlike his sister Kendra, who calls him a "rock junkie" at one point, I don't think that aspect of Grayson is really part of his OCD or other symptoms. Yes, he likes to count rocks, but I think the obsessive-compulsive aspect there is the counting more than it is the rocks. After all, sometimes he just counts numbers on their own, or the steps he takes. I wish this distinction had been made clearer.

Also, it should be noted that Kendra really shouldn't be trying to treat her brother.  She has no credentials or training, and doesn't even fully understand what exposure therapy is. Plus, her personal connection to him makes things even more complicated. There are just so many ways in which it could go wrong — and Jennifer Brown shows us this. It's good to see, though, that Grayson has a sense of responsibility about his own disorder and recognizes that he needs his medication.

Validity Score: How psychologically accurate was Perfect Escape?

Axis 5. Miscellaneous

Personally, I found Bitter End (which I reviewed for Psychtember last year) more gripping. Perfect Escape just doesn't have as much driving it, giving it momentum.

Patient shares symptoms with: Compulsion by Heidi Ayarbe, A Scary Scene in a Scary Movie by Matt Blackstone, Lexapros and Cons by Aaron Karo

 

Patient's statement:

"I couldn't count how many times I'd watched Grayson do this. When I was little, I used to wait until he was finished and then run up beside him and brush my hand through the lines just to mess them up. It made him cry and his face always got beet-red and I thought it was funny. But by the time we were ten and thirteen and he was spending sometimes four hours a day lining up his coins and pulling out wads of his own hair in frustration because he couldn't get them perfect, it wasn't funny anymore. I spent a lot of those nights sitting next to him with a ruler in my hand, helping him move coins such minuscule degrees I couldn't even see the movement. Is this good, Grayson? Does this make you happy?"

Diagnosis: 3 shooting stars. (This is my rating for the story overall, not specifically the psychological aspect.)

Disclaimer: I received this book for review from the publisher.

This book counts towards my goal for the 2012 Just Contemporary reading challenge.