Mess (Yourgrau) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
The following questions for Mess were generously submitted to LitLovers by Jennifer Johnson, Reference Librarian, at Springdale Public Library in Arkansas. Thank you, Jennifer!

1. What are the author’s goals for the book? Are these goals clearly defined or ambiguous?

2. Do you think the book has at least some level of therapeutic value? Who would this book most benefit?

3. Did  you notice that slowly throughout the book the author reveals all of the emotional and physical triggers for his depression, mental illness, and hoarding? What are some of those triggers? Can we relate to his situation?

4. After reading it, do you think the author is guilty of oversharing? Are there some areas where he overshares information that is not related to the focus of the book?

5. Does the author, after going through and completing his "project," truly grasp his mental illness and emotional baggage? If he does not, does he have the right to write a memoir that timidly walks the line as a self-help book?

6. Consider the relationships depicted in the book—are they healthy relationships? Think about the relationship he had with his parents, "Cosima," and himself and the role of transitional objects. Do you believe he truly had no idea that there was a relationship between his emotional baggage, childhood, inability to have healthy relationships, and the stuff?

7. Considering transitional objects, do you think we are all guilty of some type of hoarding? Do we save items that have an emotional trigger?

8. What stereotype(s. does this book show that is reflective of our current society? How is hoarding viewed in society and culture?

9. Does society have expectations for hoarding? How do reality shows depict hoarding and other mental illness issues? Is there a level of voyeurism in the commercialization and authorship of hoarding?

10. What coping skills does the author exhibit? Have those skills benefitted him or hindered him?

(Questions by Jennifer Johnson for LitLovers. Please feel free to use, online or off, with attribution to both. Thanks.)

top of page (summary.