TLC Book Tour Review: Keepsake

Author: Kristina Riggle
Title: Keepsake
Publisher: William Morrow
Publish Date: June 26, 2012
Review Copy Provided By: TLC Book Tours and the publisher
Buy: Amazon
Book Blurb: Trish isn't perfect. She's divorced and raising two kids—so of course her house isn't pristine. But she's got all the important things right and she's convinced herself that she has it all under control. That is, until the day her youngest son gets hurt and Child Protective Services comes calling. It's at that moment when Trish is forced to consider the one thing she's always hoped wasn't true: that she's living out her mother's life as a compulsive hoarder. The last person Trish ever wanted to turn to for help is her sister, Mary—meticulous, perfect Mary, whose house is always spotless . . . and who moved away from their mother to live somewhere else, just like Trish's oldest child has. But now, working together to get Trish's disaster of a home into livable shape, two very different sisters are about to uncover more than just piles of junk, as years of secrets, resentments, obsessions, and pain are finally brought into the light.


Review: This book is simply stunning. It puts hoarding into perspective. Most people only think of hoarders as those disgusting people you see in reality shows and on the evening news. No one stops to think that these people are in fact people and that there is a disorder behind all of the mess.


Keepsake, Kristina Riggle has managed to do that and in doing so gives you a portrait of a family that has been torn apart by this disorder. You get to see how 2 generations are affected by hoarding. Trish and and Mary's mother was a hoarder and Trish is as well. Mary on the other hand is compulsively clean! So really, what you have here is a family story and one that will keep you turning the pages.

It is hard to deal with Trish, because she's in denial for much of the story. Things are falling apart around her and she feels that everything is ok. (Even though her oldest son moved in with this girlfriend's parents) The plot of Keepsake is different. Hoarding isn't one of those disorders that people seem to write about. In truth, it is a disorder that is exploited. Kudos to Kristina for showing the world is is more than that.


Rating: 4 flowers