Kissing Doorknobs

Hesser, Terry Spence. Kissing Doorknobs. New York: Doubleday, 1998.

Annotation: 11 year old Tara has some strange habits, counting cracks, praying, and kissing doorknobs. She has to repeat her habits over and over until it feels right. OCD not only destroys the sufferer, it destroys their family too.


Justification for nomination: Tara is eleven years old when she realizes that something is wrong with her. It starts because she heard the phrase “step on a crack, break your mother’s back” and now she can’t stop saying it over and over and over again inside her head. Not only does she repeat the phrase, but she has to count cracks in the sidewalk on her way to school and then back home again. If she gets interrupted or loses count then she has to start over again. Tara suffers from a biological disease called OCD or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Over time the rituals takes over a person’s life and destroys friendships, families and the sufferer. The author does a brilliant job of describing in vivid, realistic detail through the 1st person point of view a debilitating disease. By using 1st person point of view the author engages the reader so that they can delve deep into the mind of the OCD sufferer offering insight and understanding. Tara, the narrator, tells her story with frankness and humor. The author does a good job of writing in the voice of a teen expressing thoughts, fears, hopes, and insecurities. Most of the focus of the book is on the ever widening scope of Tara’s affliction and the havoc it wreaks on her family. One of the most moving aspects is the disintegration of the relationship between Tara and her mother. The other characters are likeable and are not either good or bad, but human. Themes covered in the story are teen pregnancy, sex, smoking, drugs, alcoholism, anorexia, and family dysfunction. The book makes positive points of the themes and also points out the absurdities of drug use and teen sex. The themes are relatable by most of the teens today. The author includes an afterward by Dr. AJ Allen M.D. which adds a clinical perspective to the disease. There are many themes that teens can relate to, but also the writing style is one that teens can enjoy. It is a faced paced easy read littered with humor, sincerity, sadness, and hope.

Genre: Coming of Age, realistic novel/problem novel/edgy fiction