Unthinkable Things

by Chloe Henkel

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction

360 pages, Paperback

Published January 14, 2025

About the author

author, mental health advocate

ocd & trichotillomania & bpd awareness

instagram/tiktok:
@chloe.creating & @UnthinkableThingsNovel

Reviews

[croissant · Rating 5 out of 5]

so proud of you chloe!!! ❤️❤️❤️ i can't wait to hold this book in my hands at last 🤗

[Fran Bohn · Rating 5 out of 5]

It didn't even feel like my decision to make. It came to me the way that all the compulsions do: a command written in the marrow of my bones. If you drop something, it'll fall. One plus one is two. You have to write on your stomach or your organs will get taken. Go home and shower right now or you'll get ink poisoning. Wash your hands until they hurt, you deserve it. If you killed a child last night, you'll have to kill yourself.

I read this book all in one evening, and I gotta say, I have never felt more dissected (oops) by an author. As someone who has only been recently diagnosed with OCD despite having symptoms since they were a young child, this book is triggering in the best way possible. I swung wildly between sheepishly laughing at obsessions and compulsions that sounded a little too close to ones I had experienced, and crying over Summer's mental health journey.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has OCD, knows a loved one with OCD, or simply wants to know more about OCD. Henkel does a great job of depicting a non-stereotypical version of OCD and the best ways to help someone struggling with it. I will say, if you are not decently versed on Internet and TikTok culture, you may find yourself skimming during chats about Supernatural or the Kissing Booth movies—though I still think there's something to gain from this book in other sections.

Also, the Special Edition is 100% worth it for the notes and drawings at the end!

[Sara C · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book, mainly for the fact that it’s the first media representation of ROCD that I’ve ever seen, and I really appreciated that. I think the story was generally good and I certainly found it engaging, but it probably could have used some more editing before being published. There were a lot of typos and quite a few plot inconsistencies. I also found it weird that the author censored the word “pedophile” like it was a TikTok caption. But these are just nit-picky things.

The book was pretty triggering to read which is to be expected, but at times it made me feel very seen. I do wish it had gone into more detail about how much of a mind-fuck ROCD can be because I felt like it oversimplified it a bit, and it would’ve been nice for it to go into Relationship-focused ROCD and Partner-focused ROCD. But also, considering this is primarily the author’s lived experience I can’t be projecting my own shit onto what I wanted from the story. Considering the YA genre I think the author did a decent job of wrapping up the story nicely without making it too unrealistic with “they lived happily ever after”, but I do think some of the tension and pacing of Summer’s journey could have been shifted around to be more realistic and engaging.

Overall I am very grateful that this book was written and published, and I hope it inspires more media representation of ROCD.

Thank you for bringing visibility to OCD!

[Chloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been following Henkel's Instagram account for some time, and once I saw the posts about this book, I was eagerly awaiting its release.

Listening to the main character, Summer, describe some of her obsessions hit me very hard. Some of the themes are ones that I have been lucky enough to develop better management of, but her descriptions of the sheer panic reminded me of how I felt years ago when I was struggling to understand what was happening to me. At the time, the only awareness I had of OCD was as the "cleaning disorder" so when I started thinking these thoughts, I was so scared about who I was becoming. As a result, I really related to a lot of Summer's internal monologue and concerns about what was happening to her.

I liked the realistic representation of how different people reacted to Summer's OCD, and I found the story overall really powerful. I also loved that Henkel did not refrain from representing some of the most taboo OCD themes. I won't reveal any spoilers but I would highly recommend reading this book, there are some typos/grammatical errors, but creating this book was a huge achievement and I am so glad that Henkel chose to self-publish. I know that I benefitted from reading this, and I believe many others will too.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unflinching deep dive into the real experiences of someone with severe OCD, written by an author who has the disorder herself, UNTHINKABLE THINGS is incredibly compassionate, honest, insightful, vulnerable, and real. I can’t say enough good things about this book. It was like Chloe Henkel looked inside my head and put the contents on paper—which made it very difficult to read at times and makes me all the more grateful that she was brave enough to write this book. It will undoubtedly be triggering for anyone who suffers from OCD or similar mental illnesses, as it was for me, but it was well worth the read. This is my new go-to recommendation for anyone who wants to know what it’s really like to live with OCD. I underlined so many quotes that I had to get a new stick of lead for my pencil. Summer is brave and strong, just like the author, and it makes me feel proud of how far I’ve come with my own severe OCD. UNTHINKABLE THINGS is a special book and one I will keep on my bookshelf for years to come. Thank you Chloe for this gift.

[Venus Cooperider · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is, without a shred of exaggeration, the most accurate representation of OCD that I have ever read. Not only does it just completely encapsulate what the reality of living with OCD is like, the subtypes of OCD written about in the book are not the “typical” ones you see in most media (contamination, symmetry, etc). Chloe seriously knocked it out of the park and I recommend this book to basically everyone I meet.

[Abraham Vincil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as a way to understand ocd better and ways to help people that suffer through it. It was great at giving tools for me to use and examples of some common thoughts People who suffer from Ocd have

[J Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Phenomenal story about love and living with OCD. Love the writing style and the characters. Relatable and very personal. Thank you for writing this <3

[Kai McCarthy · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolotley incredible!!! Chloe henkel vividly writes about the experiences of mental health, ocd, and intrusive thoughts in a way I've never seen written about before. This is such an important book, and I hope as many people as possible are able to read it. It speaks to me in such a deep and personal way. Reading this felt like a warm hug to the rawest part of my soul. 💫🌷💌

This author has worked so so hard on putting this book out, and it feels so incredible to finally be able to hold it in person :) <333