It's within this ambivalent territory that Marianne Eloise’s debut essay collection-cum-memoir takes the stage.

Obsessive, Intrusive, Magical Thinking is the culmination of a life spend obsessing, offering a glimpse into Marianne’s brain, but also an insight into the lives of others like her. What that means changes day to day, depending on what her brain latches on to: fixations with certain topics, intrusive violent thoughts, looping phrases. It’s a distinction that feels unnecessary, since the bulk of the essays follow a similar narrative arc: an obsession plagues the author; it sets her on a fractured, sometimes frustrated mode to healing; by the final paragraph, a mix of exposure therapy and self-realisation means the obsession is largely resolved. That said, I was surprised by how well she made such niche, personal, specific experiences feel relatable and general.

The book didn't disappoint - it follows her obsessions (LA, the sea, Disneyland), her fears (fire, Medusa) and the ways in which autism, OCD and ADHD have affected her over the course of her life. While I couldn't relate to every one of her experiences, it was moving to read a deeply honest account of how it feels when your brain and body feels like it's working against you. the essays will leave readers feeling secondhand joy and maybe even encouragement to own their love for their own less-than-cool favorite things. I find it endlessly grating to read some iteration of “I had no money” when on the same page the author speaks of years spent jetting off to faraway places for months on end, living in Brighton and London, name-dropping celebrities she had breakfast with in LA, yada yada.

As a neurodivergent person myself, I found myself relating to the author a lot of the time - and when I didn't, her sense of humour and snide observations about the world around her made up for it.I would definitely recommend this as an insight into a neurodivergent mind and as a series of interesting essays in their own right. Although, there were quite a few phrases that I felt were very 'internet' terms that I wasn't a huge fan of. Marianne Eloise's debut novel "Obsessive, Intrusive, Magical Thinking" is a series of essays about being neurodivergent and living with OCD. Ahh I wanted to like this, as someone who has OCD and loves ouroboroses, essays, and A Series of Unfortunate Events.