Every last word
2015
- schools
- high schools
- obsessive-compulsive disorder
- self-acceptance
- juvenile fiction
- poetry
- fiction
- children's fiction
- mentally ill, fiction
- schools, fiction
The story
Consumed by a stream of dark thoughts and worries that she can't turn off, a girl coping with Purely-Obsessional OCD learns to accept herself and take control of her life through her experiences in poetry club.
What it’s like
Close, interior first-person voice that feels like a notebook kept in a locked drawer: short, precise sentences, lists and counts threaded through the narration, and a quiet undercurrent of anxious repetition that makes ordinary school corridors feel charged. The sensory world is mostly fluorescent hallways, cafeteria clatter, the hush of a classroom after the bell, and the small private rituals of a bedroom at night. Its vibe is tender and wry, with a low hum of worry that softens into hope, the kind of read that suits a rainy afternoon, a long commute, or a quiet evening when you want something emotionally honest without being bleak. Pacing is steady and reflective, built around the slow loosening of control as a teenage girl begins to write and speak in a poetry group, and her arc is about learning to live alongside her thoughts rather than obeying them. Intensity is low: no violence or gore, no sexual content, and the fear is anxious rumination rather than frightening scenes, though distressing intrusive thoughts and panic moments do recur. It is for readers who want a gentle, insightful portrait of mental health, teens or adults who enjoy verse woven into prose, and anyone who appreciates a hopeful story about self-acceptance.
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