I drummed the table three times.įin’s ability to know what she wants for herself and pursue it drives the story forward. I’ll be brushing my teeth and then I’ll tell myself, if I don’t brush a certain number of times, something bad will happen.” Mentioning the ritual made me want to count again. While occasions when Fin is obsessed with numbers or finds herself washing her hands over and over until she gets it just right might read as stereotypical, the scene where she feels compelled to tear up a photo of her teacher’s son highlights the compulsive aspect of OCD, along with a conversation Fin has with her mother as she tries to find the words for what’s been going on: The portrayal of OCD within the book is vivid, and, while it does take some time to get to Fin’s official diagnosis, readers quickly gain insight as to how the disorder affects her. In that time, readers get to see the world from Fin’s point of view as she not only acclimates to her new life in Miami, learns more about her Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Clinical Depression, and eventually begins to find peace and self-acceptance. The action takes place over the course of four months. When her family moves from Vermont to Miami, Florida and her parents get divorced, the meaning numbers hold and the rituals begin to make her life increasingly difficult. For Fin, the main character of Crissa-Jean Chappell’s 2007 debut novel Total Constant Order, numbers and the rituals surrounding them carry significant meaning.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |