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Could this event be considered a turning point in her life?ġ1. Examine how she handles the situation, and compare this to how she would have reacted if it had happened two years earlier. Toward the end of Just Checking, one of Emily Colas's two children contracts head lice. How do you think things would have turned out if this diagnosis had come earlier?ġ0. It wasn't until after her separation that she was diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.
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When Emily Colas and her husband first separate, what kind of changes do you notice in her personality? She says that the separation was not caused by the constant worries brought on by her condition. One of the vignettes in Just Checking is a poem, "How to Be a Good Wife." Do you agree with her assessment of what a "good" wife is? Do you think Emily Colas was a good wife? Was she a good mother?Ĩ. Do you feel it informs all of Colas's decisions? Why or why not?ħ. The author claims to subscribe to the "Oreo cookie theory of life." Unpack the elements of this theory. After reading Just Checking, do you believe Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is a product of nature or nurture?Ħ.
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Do you think the author's regimented early life - from her German nanny's schedule to her father's daily breakfast routine - contributed to her condition as an adult?ĥ. What is your impression of Emily Colas's husband? How does he handle his wife's condition? If she were single, do you think her problems would have been magnified or minimized?Ĥ. Why? What does this say about the author?ģ. "my husband," "my friend the heroin addict"). They are all identified by their relation to the author (e.g. None of the people in Just Checking are referred to by name. Why do you think Emily Colas wrote this book as a series of vignettes? Do you think it would have been as effective had the book been written in narrative form? If so, why?Ģ. We hope that these ideas will enrich your discussion and increase your enjoyment of the book.ġ. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for discussion for Emily Colas' Just Checking. By the time she faced the fact that she was really "losing it," Colas had become a slave to her own "hobbies" - from the daily hair cutting to incessant inspections of her children's clothing for bloodstains.Ī shocking, hilarious, enormously appealing account of a young woman struggling to gain control of her life, this is Emily Colas' exposé of a soul tormented, but balanced by a buoyance of spirit and a piercing sense of humor that may be her saving grace. This raw, darkly comic series of astonishing vignettes is Emily Colas' achingly honest chronicle of her twisted journey through the obsessive-compulsive disorder that came to dominate her world. Soon there was no interval in her life when she was not Having a normal relationship with her husband. As my friend the heroin addict says, "You're only as sick as your secrets."Įmily Colas - young, intelligent, well-educated wife and mother of two - had a secret that was getting in the way of certain activities.