Not As Crazy As I Seem

by George Harrar

Overview

Devon Brown won’t eat in the school caf (a germ swamp). He covers his hands before opening doors, eats things in groups of four (his lucky number), and hangs up his shirts (with all their buttons buttoned) by color. Some kids say Devon’s crazy, but he knows better—these are the tricks that keep bad things from happening, and he can’t imagine giving them up. Devon calls it “controlling things.” His doctor calls it obsessive-compulsive disorder. When Devon starts at a new school, his compulsions start to get him in trouble, and before long he realizes that his only choice is to confront his behaviors and the events that trigger them. In a compelling story of growing up different, George Harrar introduces us to a boy who just might change the way we think about “crazy.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780547529554
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	10/25/2004
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	161 KB
Age Range:	12 - 16 Years

About the Author

George Harrar is the author of several novels and numerous short stories, one of which was chosen for the 1999 edition of The Best American Short Stories. Harrar lives in Wayland, Massachusetts, with his wife, Linda, a documentary filmmaker.

Editorial Reviews

Devon Brown has what his mother discreetly calls "tendencies": he eats his food in combinations of four, buttons every shirt completely before hanging it in the closet and can't stand knowing that there's a crooked poster in the biology classroom. At a new private school in a new town, he tries his best to stay inconspicuous and resists the efforts of his new shrink (who eventually diagnoses obsessive-compulsive disorder). Devon's first-person narration, especially his descriptions of sessions with his therapist, gives readers a strong sense of what it's like to live with OCD (he knows his behavior "doesn't make sense if you think about it for very long"). Harrar's (First Tiger) plotting, however, is less realistic. Devon accompanies a troubled classmate, Ben, to school after hours: while Ben spray-paints the word "Nazi" everywhere, Devon can't resist the opportunity to straighten that biology poster. The narrator is spotted and blamed, and not even his parents believe him when he says he is innocent and refuses to name the real perpetrator. Realizing that his compulsions have landed him and his parents in serious trouble, Devon throws himself into conquering his problems and in short order reveals their origins in a childhood trauma. Unfortunately, Ben's vandalism reads like a device to inspire the protagonist's self-examination, and the wholly optimistic ending comes off as scripted, too. While Devon emerges as intriguing and likable, the convincing profile does not quite cohere into a full-bodied novel. Ages 11-up. (Apr.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Gr 6-10-Devon Brown, 15, may be anxious, even weird, but he knows he's not crazy. He just has a fixation on the number four, an obsession about germs, and an intolerance of untidiness, all of which have afflicted him since his grandfather's death when he was eight. When his parents decide to move to the Boston area, the teen must adjust to a new private school and a new therapist. In a frank and humorous first-person narrative, he relates his midyear entrance into The Baker Academy as he copes with opinionated teachers and tentatively begins friendships with Tanya, an African-American girl, and Ben, an angry, purple-haired boy, but he shies away when they try to get closer. Despite his intelligence, Devon has a remarkable lack of self-knowledge. The crisis comes after he sees Ben spray paint the epithet "Nazi" throughout the school and takes the blame himself. It strains credulity that even in the face of his parents' profound disappointment, the harsh words of the headmaster, and two weeks' suspension, Devon refuses to implicate Ben, who is not a close friend. In a cathartic spree, he rips up the neatly buttoned shirts in his closet until his formerly distant father comes in and wraps his arms around his son, and Devon confesses he feels responsible for his grandfather's death. The positive news is that Devon can use his willpower, not a pill, to overcome his compulsive behaviors, and a rosy reunion with Tanya wraps up a novel that may have bibliotherapeutic potential.-Susan W. Hunter, Riverside Middle School, Springfield, VT Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

A 15-year-old boy with OCD struggles for mental health. Obsessed with cleanliness, germs, order, and the number four, Devon Brown feels compelled to wash his hands frequently, line up his books perfectly, and eat four of everything. Hoping to give Devon a fresh start (again), his concerned parents move, hire a new therapist, and enroll Devon in private school. The story, which never develops the dramatic urgency of Harrar's Parents Wanted, gathers steam when one of Devon's new acquaintances talks him into going to the school after-hours, then defaces the property with spray paint. Devon, who accompanied the boy because he felt the need to straighten a crooked poster in the biology room, is seen at the school, accused of the crime, and suspended. The reader is supposed to see a connection between Devon's obsessions and the trouble he gets into, but the correlation is weak, and despite the intriguing topic, the protagonist never becomes more than a sum of his neuroses. (Fiction. 11-13)

Kirkus Reviews

At once humorous and poignant, frustrating and sympathetic, this will leave readers wondering if they could be a little obsessive-compulsive themselves.” Booklist, ALA

“A novel that may have bibliotherapeutic potential.” School Library Journal

“The novel is a fine and entertaining story of a young man struggling with Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder.” VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates) —

From the Publisher