Reality Check

A banned book is a book that had something important to say; something that others found so obsence, so grotesque, so objectionable, that they had to ban others from reading it, from engrossing in the hideousness of the text. Mrs. Meghan Gurdon, in her article, “Darkness too visible,” criticizes today’s young adult fiction for being too dark, too explicit, too violent and too depraving.  Sherman Alexie comes to the defense of his young adult book The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian, and books like his by explaining why it is necessary to write about the experiences that kids have today.

I completely agree with Alexie. In essence, Mrs. Gurdon is criticizing contemporary young adult fiction because it is “too realistic.” I think Mrs. Gurdon needs a reality check. She is naive to think that writers should change what they write about and that we should protect these children from books that she claims are “too dark” and “disturbing.” She is especially naive to assume that adolescents will engage in doing drugs, violence, self-harming behavior etc, because they read Go Ask Alice, Crank, or Wasted. If I know anything about Adolescent Psychology it’s this: Adolescents are more likely to not engage in these behaviors if they are exposed to them in a realistic, fact based manner. If anything, it will inform them about the realities of the world and open them to understanding others. Sheltering adolescents and censoring what they read is not the answer to solving our worlds problems. It’s the exact opposite. We have to expose them to it!

I’ve spoken a lot about the stigma of mental illness in this blog. It is something that I am obviously very passionate about because I suffer from one. I know that many authors have written about their own experiences with mental illness, drug addiction, anorexia, etc. However, I have yet to read one that accurately describes what I go through every day in my struggle with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). I recently read an article reviewing J.K. Rowling’s new adult novel, The Casual Vacancy. One of the main characters has Obsessive- Compulsive Disorder, and according to the reviewer, Bella Mackle, she portrays it as an illness that is to be taken seriously – not just the stereotypical Monk or Jack Nicholson in “As Good As it Gets.” As a long time sufferer from OCD, I greatly appreciate this. Sure, I enjoy poking fun at myself and finding humor in illness, but I wish others could walk in my shoes, experience what I experience and understand that I am not just “crazy.” OCD is a debilitating brain disorder that affects millions of people, men and women equally. It is definitely not just washing hands and checking and rechecking locks. It’s so much more than that.

I once hid my mental illness. I was once extremely ashamed of it and hid it from the people I loved most. Now that I am older, and a little braver, I have become a lot more comfortable talking about it and educating others about mental illness in general. It is my hope that someday I can write a semi-autobiographical novel like Sherman Alexie, and maybe, just maybe, make a difference in someone else’s life.

P.S. If you want a good portrayal of what OCD looks like (untreated and undiagnosed), watch Leonardo Dicaprio as Howard Hughes in “The Aviator.” Read the book Brain Lock by Dr Jeffrey Schwartz. (Changed my life). I have a lot more recommendations if you are interested.