Reader's Ink discussion

Any thoughts on Milo hiding his OCD from everyone else? Was it necessary? Helpful or not? What about his decision to not seek treatment?

Milo hides his disorder from friends, wife, parents, school, job. It's very complicated for him. His innocent behavior in grade school causes him to be viewed as odd, and teachers and parents are mystified and alarmed. He is filled with shame, and as he grows older he becomes convinced that no one will ever understand him. And so he learns to hide these compulsive behaviors.

Well, I think hiding it made him nuttier. Like Carol says, there's a big shame element, but I don't see what's so shameful. I mean, he's just popping lids off jars. The dude isn't hurting anyone! Honestly, the whole hiding it thing was a little unbelievable to me. It felt like it was a plot ploy, to create conflict where perhaps there wouldn't otherwise be any.

I agree- hiding the OCD made it worse for him. I'm sure he couldn't hide all the physical signs of the psychological distress he felt, which ultimately drove the wedge between him and Christine.

This part of him actually drove me nuts- I work with kids with autism and their families, and I work with the attitude that although the child's brain functions differently than most, it doesn't mean there's something "wrong" with him! He is who he is, and that's ok, we'll just work on teaching him in a different way than may be necessary for neurotypical children. There is still so much of a stigma attached to having some sort of disorder- I just wanted to yell at Milo to get over himself and deal with it!

Alisha: Given your line of work, have you read any novels that you felt had a strong understanding of differently-functioning brains?

I think you nailed it, Alisha. Milo had such shame that he seemed to categorize as just WEIRD, when trying to hide it was the most dysfunctional thing he did. The OCD was a neuro thing, yes? But the hiding it was self-sabataging.

Lauren- I think I'm a slow learner. I've been drawn to many novels like this, and am ultimately disappointed by them. Maybe one day I'll learn! So, no novels that I felt strongly about. However, I can suggest a few non-fiction books that I loved- these are all written by people with autism about their lives. (well, the last one is mostly written by the father, but the daughter wrote the last couple of chapters).

Send In The Idiots, Kamran Nazeer

Songs of A Gorilla Nation, Dawn Prince-Hughes

Born on a Blue Day, Daniel Tammet

Carly's Voice, Arthur & Carly Fleishmann

THE ONLY BOOK ABOUT CRAZY PEOPLE I EVER LIKED WAS ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST.

Alisha: Thanks for the recs. I'd been looking forward to reading Milo, because, like you, I've had bad luck with novels that deal with mental illness (I ended up skipping Milo after seeing the bad reviews from the group the last weekend in March). Have you by any chance read or seen the play Proof (I think it might be a film as well)? It's one of the few fictional works that tackled mental illness in a way I found both insightful and respectful.

And now my to-read list is four books longer -yay! Thank you. :)

Hadn't heard of Proof before- I'll keep my eye out for it. Thanks!

I just remembered we read the book in club called "Story of Beautiful Girl" about people with mental disabilities. That one touched me on some levels. Almost forgot it.

I had forgotten about that one, too. Of course, I wasn't crazy about it--apparently this is a tough genre to write!

Oh! I almost forgot. Steve Martin (yes, THAT Steve Martin) wrote an adorable novella about a guy with some OCD tendencies. (I reviewed it here: http://sharingtheshelf.blogspot.com/2...)

I thought Martin's book was very good, and his main character is far more complex and endearing than Milo.