New York Times Magazine, could draw audiences. She'll make appearances at Jewish book fairs and in San Francisco, and her association withįorward (she contributes to both), as well as her recent essay in the (Sept.)įorecast: Readers who can't get enough of wacky childhood stories by Augusten Burroughs, David Sedaris and Haven Kimmel may like Traig's book. , and her book is a funny though sometimes cursory look at mental illness. The author's behavior makes her seem like a character on Seinfeld The struggles and humiliations of adolescence are told in an unflinching, funny, surprisingly universal tale of one good Jewish girls battle with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. When Traig swathes herself in head-to-toe flannel on hot summer days, her mother points to a scantily clad teenager on a talk show entitled My Teen Dresses Too SexyĪnd suggests Traig cool off like the adolescent "in the red vinyl number with the cut-outs over the chest and fanny." Traig spoofs Jewish rituals, cracking up at elaborate bar mitzvahs produced like Las Vegas floor shows and the meticulous analysis that goes into deeming a food item kosher. Still, this memoir is less about suffering than it is about punch lines. A well-meaning Jewish girl, with good-natured parents, takes a funny look back at growing up with obsessive-compulsive disorder and the agony of growing up as a religious fanatic.
Initially, Traig's family is amused eventually, they try to help. Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood.
The daughter of a Jewish father and a Catholic mother, Traig becomes obsessed with Jewish ritual, inventing her own prayers since her Jewish education is limited. In this 1970s memoir, Traig describes how, from the age of 12 until her freshman year at Brandeis, she suffered from various forms of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), including anorexia and a rarer, "hyper-religious form" of OCD called scrupulosity, in which sanctified rituals such as hand washing and daily prayer are repeated in endless loops.
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