Traig, Jennifer

views updated

TRAIG, Jennifer

PERSONAL: Female. Education: Attended University of California at Berkeley; holds a Ph.D. Religion: Jewish.

ADDRESSES: Home—San Francisco, CA. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Little, Brown, and Company, 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

CAREER: Writer.

WRITINGS:

(With Julianne Balmain) Beauty: Things to Make and Do, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA), 2001.

(With Julianne Balmain) Cool Stuff: Things to Make and Do, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA), 2001.

Fun and Games: Things to Make and Do, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA), 2001.

Accessories: Things to Make and Do, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA), 2002.

(With Victoria Traig) Judaikitsch: Tchotchkes, Schmattes, and Nosherei, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA), 2002.

Slumber Parties: Things to Make and Do, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA), 2002.

Makeup: Things to Make and Do, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA), 2003.

Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2004.

Hair: Things to Make and Do, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA), 2004.

Contributor to periodicals, including McSweeny's.

WORK IN PROGRESS: A book about medicine.

SIDELIGHTS: Jennifer Traig began her writing career with a series of books about craft projects. She had obtained her doctorate in English and discovered that she was all but unemployable. She took to exploring a variety of offbeat craft activities, including applying decorative jewels to unusual objects. These creations were translated into a series of books that were aimed at young adults, including Beauty: Things to Make and Do, Cool Stuff: Things to Make and Do, Fun and Games: Things to Make and Do, and Accessories: Things to Make and Do. She teamed with her sister, Victoria Traig, for the volume, Judaikitsch: Tchotchkes, Schmattes, and Nosherei.

In addition to her craft books, Traig started working on a novel, but soon abandoned it in favor of writing her memoir, Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood. The book chronicles Traig's struggle with obsessive compulsive disorder, and how the disease has affected her dating, school, work, and family. The affliction manifested itself in a variety of ways during her childhood, including a need to swat at the furniture, which she describes with humor in the book. "It drove everyone crazy, but I couldn't stop. Twenty or thirty times during the course of a meal, I would hop out of my seat, spin around, smack the bookshelf behind my chair, then spin back. It was not an activity I particularly enjoyed. While I was spanking the furniture, my cereal was getting soggy, my sister was eating my bacon, and my parents were expanding my vocabulary with a series of increasingly profane threats. 'Sweet mother of crap, Jennifer. What did the bookcase ever do to you? If you're going to smack anything, smack your sister. She's the one who's eating all your bacon.'"

Although Traig keeps much of her story light, she admits that not much was known about the disease at the time, putting much of the responsibility of recovery on her own shoulders. In an interview with Mark Flanagan for About.com, Traig recounted that "there were no good drugs to treat OCD, and people didn't know what it was, or what caused it. But in a way, that was a good thing—since I don't know, either, I thought I had a lot more control over the situation than I actually did. I didn't know neurochemistry was making me do these things—I thought it was just willfulness I should learn to control. So I really worked at getting better, because I thought that was within my power. Of course, Prozac would have made that a whole lot easier, but I got through it okay."

In a review for Library Journal, Lynne F. Maxwell called Devil in the Details "a provocative yet entertaining memoir" and "a memoir with an edge." Jennifer Mattson, writing for Booklist, called the book "by turns hilarious and harrowing," while a contributor for Publishers Weekly found the work "a funny though sometimes cursory look at mental illness." Book Reporter online contributor Jamie Layton remarked that Traig's book "gives a rare inside look at obsessive-compulsive disorder. It is a funny, touching tale of a not-so-normal girl and her brave battle with a not-so-normal disease."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Traig, Jennifer Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2004.

PERIODICALS

All about You, fall, 2001, "Play Time!" review of Fun and Games: Things to Make and Do, p. 96.

Booklist, August, 2004, Jennifer Mattson, review of Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood, p. 1883; January 1, 2005, review of Devil in the Details, p. 771.

Entertainment Weekly, September 17, 2004, Henry Goldblatt, review of Devil in the Details, p. 86.

Kliatt, March, 2005, Edna Boardman, review of Devil in the Details, p. 58.

Library Journal, September 1, 2004, Lynne F. Maxwell, review of Devil in the Details, p. 173.

Publishers Weekly, August 30, 2004, review of Devil in the Details, p. 45.

Teen, July, 2001, review of Cool Stuff: Things to Make and Do, p. 105.