Hesser, Terry Spencer. Kissing Doorknobs. New York: Delacorte Press, 1998.
Kissing Doorknobs describes the life of Tara Sullivan, a teenage girl who has obsessive compulsive disorder. Early on in her life, Tara begins worrying about little things. With age, her worries eventually grow into stronger fears and anxieties. When she hits fourteen “powerful invisible dictators” (Hesser 30) in her head are controlling her urges. She becomes vulnerable to obsessions and rituals she performs. Tara’s relationships with her family and friends are severely strained as she struggles to find understanding and peace in her life.
I very much enjoyed this novel. I feel it realistically represented both the confusion and helplessness of persons with mental illnesses. This novel characterized diverse literature in that it seemed to correct or show truth to misconceptions people may have about those who are mentally ill. Sometimes those who are mentally ill or stereotyped as being “crazy” and not “normal.” This book demonstrated that Tara was not crazy; she simply was confused and lost as to what was happening to her. At one point she states, “Do you think I want to do this? Do you think I like it” (Hesser 66). This statement reveals the separation of Tara’s identity and the disease. Once she and her family understood and learned how to manage the disease, readers were better able to see her.
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