A compelling story of Amy, who grew up struggling with Tourette's and OCD. Gives a real insight into these conditions and the impact of them on her life.

As a mild sufferer myself, I can honestly say that this book is an accurate depiction and a fantastic reading experience. This, I suspect, is especially so for those with the disorders, but I think it could also be very interesting to those just wanting to gain insight.

The most common criticisms seem to be about structural or flow problems, or random bits of information that don't get drawn on in detail although they may seem significant to the reader. There is at least one, if not a few references the author makes to her writing process, where she explicitly states that it takes her hours to accomplish very little, because she is constantly erasing and rewriting, obsessing over tiny details, struggling to control her tics enough to keep writing. With this is mind, I think readers should accept that she probably did the very best that she could in writing this memoir. Thought processes for EVERYONE are often quite random; histories, stories, experiences, feelings: these aren't always easy to pack neatly into paragraphs, sections, or chapters.

While she is not the warmest of characters, I personally don't think this detracts from the book too much, because whether you like her or not, the book is useful for understanding what it's like to have this disorder.

The main benefit is gained insight and understanding, and she certainly achieves this, with an interesting variety of facts, anecdotes, and explanation of thought processes and the complexity of feelings regarding the issue. Those who suffer themselves will almost certainly relate, and those who don't will likely finish the book with a deeper understanding of Tourette's and OCD, and hopefully more respect for sufferers. ( )

Not much to say about this one, as it pretty much does what it says on the label. Amy Wilensky tells her story: how she started to develop odd physical tics as a child, how these developed into full-blown tics, rituals and obsessions which dominated her life, and how she battled those around her - and herself - until she finally got her diagnosis and started learning how to live with her disorders.

There are some mistakes in the book which could have been ironed out, and Wilensky doesn't always come across as a particularly pleasant young woman, particularly at the beginning. She warms up towards the end of the book, so it's hard to tell whether to attribute her less savoury side to honesty and self-deprecation, recreation of her feelings as a child, or to pure self-obsession. Either way, it's a fine line and she sometimes appears very selfish and rude, seeming to think little about the feelings of those around her even in the retrospect allowed by the autobiographical form. Towards the end, as her understanding of her disorders improves, she detaches a little and this uncomfortable self-interest lessens in favour of genuine insight.

In conclusion - an interesting book, but perhaps a different one might have been better suited to gaining insight from outside the disorder. It is actually a pretty mundane autobiography, which could have been vastly improved by including information gleaned from her own research (which is mainly confined to a couple of pages in the Afterword) to balance out her own rambling everyday experiences. This one might appeal more to people who suffer - or think they might suffer - from Tourette's and OCD, as they can gauge their own experiences against Wilensky's. Contact details for two major OCD and Tourette's associations are included at the end of the book, which might also prove useful - though they may be American institutions rather than international ones. Worth a read but nothing special. ( )

About: A biography of a woman with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Tourette's Syndrome.

Pros: Interesting, quick read

Cons: Wilensky tries for the typical inspirational ending, but it feels very out of place with the rest of the book. ( )

Amy did an excellent job of describing the symptoms and difficulties of Tourette's and OCD from an insider's perspective. It was odd because sometimes, I really felt connected with Amy as a person, and other times, I felt like she was lecturing me on technical things. I guess...it just didn't really seem to flow.
It's not a book I will buy, or ever read again, but I am glad I read it.

One more thing, I read another book by Amy Wilensky, another memior. It's called "The Weight of It" and it's about Amy's sister's struggle with obesity. Reading the other book, I had no hint or clue that Amy herself lived with Tourrette's and OCD. Also, I noticed, reading this book I had no hint about Amy's sister's struggles with her weight. I sort of expect books involving the same 'characters' (even though these are real people, especially because these are real people) to have some sort of ....well, similarities at least. Reading the two books, it almost seems like the Amy in the book about Alison's weight is an entirely different person than the Amy in the book about Amy. It's less important to me that Alison seem like the same person, because Alison is not often mentioned in Amy's book about herself , but it is impossible for Amy to write about Alison without talking about herself. I don't know. I guess it bothered me because I had an idea of who Amy was both as a person and a writer from "The Weight of It" and then she seemed completely different in "Passing for Normal." I understand that the two books had very different themes, and it's good to focus on just one subject or theme, but I just don't get how she could write another book that is also mostly about herself and her family and have it seem like it's about two different families. ( )

With non-fiction the synopsis usually tells you all you need to know really. However I thought I'd just add my thoughts so that if you're thinking about reading it I might help you make the decision :-)

I've read a fair few of this genre and when this was recommended to me a by a good friend from my reading group I was pleased. It was right up my street. It is typical of its genre in that it's someone's memoirs and yes it does all turn out alright in the end but I felt the journey from the first page to the last page is what makes it stand out.

It felt 'real', let me try to explain this. I can read memoirs forever (not the celebrity kind, but real ones) and I can read them with a sense of detachment and an imaginary pat on the shoulder for the writer safe in my own world knowing that it could never happen to me. This felt more gritty and substantial - she told it like it was.

'Passing For Normal' packs a lot of punches and is worth the read. It is informative whilst not ramming the theory down your throat. I was engaged and interested and didn't skim through any of it, which I sometimes find myself doing with memoirs as there are inevitably bits I'm often not wanting to know.

Read it! ( )

This is an interesting but flawed memoir of one woman's experiences with OCD and Tourette's Syndrome. The stuff directly relating to her experiences with these poorly-understood disorders is excellent and well-written. The memoir suffers overall, though, from a lack of organization in speaking about her personal relationships, particularly with her husband, Ben. I was extremely confused about their relationship; she would go from mentioning their honeymoon in one paragraph, to talking about him breaking up with her several pages later, and never explains just how they came to a truce in their relations. Her tics and the stress of living with someone else are mentioned as a major problem when she and Ben are living together post-college, but she never explains how the two of them worked this out. It's as though she felt including some of her relations with Ben was important to the memoir, but she was reticent about revealing too much. This is understandable, but the overall effect leaves the reader wondering just how the two of them make their lives toether work, if indeed they do. ( )