If I were going to write a book, this is the one I would want to write. But without the obsessive-compulsive disorder. And the Judaism. But other than that, this would be the book.
Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood by Jennifer Traig consuming, hilarious, touching, and embarrassing all at the same time.
Growing up in the 70’s and early 80’s, Traig gets to experience all kinds of horrible things (anorexia, OCD, and scruples to name a few), but writes about it with such humor that you don’t pity anything she’s been through. You don’t feel sorry for her. And that is a feat in writing, if there ever was one.
There are multiple laugh out loud moments (and her parents where it becomes obvious where she got her wicked sense of humor) and I could not wait to get into bed each night to keep reading.
One memorable part is when she, as a slightly chubby preteen, describes being named Jennifer Traig right around the time a weight loss program came out with a very similar name. She declares herself lucky to have started being anorexic just before that epidemic. Lucky, indeed.
This book entertained me in a way no other obsessive-compulsive, highly Orthodox, anorexic Jewish author could. I loved it.
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