33.
Title: Dirty Little Secrets
Author: C.J. Omololu
Pages: 224 pages
Genre: Fiction
Medium: Ebook
Acquisition: Recommended by Faith
Date Completed: April 5, 2012
Rating: ****

Compulsive hoarding is a disease I both understand and fear; while I have no desire to keep all of our garbage, for example, I can sympathize with the panic and anxiety that inspires one to keep "x" because it might be needed one day, or the similar fear of forgetting that leads people to collect things like receipts. Thankfully, my own compulsive disorder drives me to streamline and organize as much as possible (I guess you could say I hoard electronically, since I scan all paperwork/children artwork/photos/etc instead of keeping it in hardcopy), but in the absence of that kind of drive people with similar anxieties just tend to ... keep. Unfortunately, it seems in many cases that one's hoarding doesn't just impact the hoarder's life, but it has a detrimental effect on those around them - most tragically their children.

I picked up Dirty Little Secrets because of my own interest in the show "Hoarders," which attempts to help hoarders recognize their anxieties and problems. Omolou's book focuses on the real victim of this kind of household - the child of a hoarder. The protagonist has fought with her mother's hoard for her entire life, and suffers great emotional and psychological problems because of it. I found the narrative to be both compelling and realistic (from my own perspective, mind), and I could feel my own anxiety and OCD rising just reading about her living conditions. And I have to admit - I found the conclusion to be a relief.