I'm always a little skeptical when it comes to self-published books because, from experience, they often aren't as tightly edited as one that's been traditionally published. However, after seeing a few good reviews of this from people whose opinion I trust, I was quite excited to see what it was like.
The Existence of Amy is about a woman struggling with OCD. It'd gotten to a point where it's affecting her work life, friendships and romantic life. Amy's finding more and more tasks that she used to be able to do seem harder and harder. When her work proposes a trip to Australia, she's terrified, but there's no easy way to say no. On the trip, Amy's boundaries are pushed more than she can cope with, and she starts to find things even more difficult when she returns home.
The book was a really great representation of someone struggling with OCD. It broke down stereotypes around this illness and there wasn't an easy 'ending' to it: Amy didn't suddenly fall in love and her issues vanished away. I think that the book could have benefited from some tighter editing as there were a few bits that dragged a little, but I feel like it was an important read in highlighting particularly how a mental illness like OCD can impact your relationships with other people. There's a lot of work that needs to be done generally about stigma around OCD and this book does a really great job of showing how it could feel to struggle with it, in an understandable way for readers.
If you enjoyed Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, then I would recommend this. I gave it four stars.
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