Mad Girl - Bryony Gordon

Title: Mad Girl
Author: Bryony Gordon
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: 336 pages
Date read: July, 2017

Bryony Gordon has OCD.

It's the snake in her brain that has told her ever since she was a teenager that her world is about to come crashing down: that her family might die if she doesn't repeat a phrase 5 times, or that she might have murdered someone and forgotten about it. It's caused alopecia, bulimia, and drug dependency. And Bryony is sick of it. Keeping silent about her illness has given it a cachet it simply does not deserve, so here she shares her story with trademark wit and dazzling honesty.


I came across this book in a London bookshop and thought it sounded interesting. I knew absolutely nothing about Bryony Gordon before starting the book, and still don't really have any clue if she's a person you're "supposed" to know.

Even so, I thought the book was fascinating. Most people know somebody with at least a mild case of OCD, but it's still rare to see as severe cases as Bryony's. It was interesting to see how it affected all aspects of her life, and heartbreaking to hear how little help she got from the health care system, simply because it's a mental illness rather than a physical one (imagine people having to wait 3 weeks to get a broken bone set!). Unfortunately I've heard this complaint before, about the British NHS, but I wouldn't automatically assume it's any better in other countries.