Everyone has a secret. But Lucy’s is bigger and dirtier than most. It’s one she’s been hiding for years—that her mom’...
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Jun 02, 2011
Megan
rated it: 
C.J. Omololu had me at hoarding.
Megan glued to the television: *gasp* “Ewww!”
Hubby in the next room: “If it’s so disturbing, why are you watching it?”
Megan: “Oh my gawd! You have to come see this!”
Hubby: “I. Will. Not.”
Megan: “No, really! Yougottacomeseewhatthesepeople…”
Hubby: “It’s the same thing every week. Some fat person is too lazy to clean her house. End of story!”
But it’s not the same thing on every episode of Hoarders. Each person ha More...
Megan glued to the television: *gasp* “Ewww!”
Hubby in the next room: “If it’s so disturbing, why are you watching it?”
Megan: “Oh my gawd! You have to come see this!”
Hubby: “I. Will. Not.”
Megan: “No, really! Yougottacomeseewhatthesepeople…”
Hubby: “It’s the same thing every week. Some fat person is too lazy to clean her house. End of story!”
But it’s not the same thing on every episode of Hoarders. Each person ha More...
5 comments
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(12 people liked it)
Dec 02, 2011
From the outside, Lucy's life looks pretty normal. She's a junior; she babysits the neighborhood kids; she spends a lot of time at her best friend's house; she has a crush on a guy who plays in a band. What Lucy knows, and tries to hide, is a lot less normal. She could never date Josh Lee, his hotness unattainable; she loves her best friend, but she also stays at her house so much because it has a working shower; she needs to make and hide her own money, because her mom never has any money left
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(1 person liked it)
Feb 26, 2011
Dirty Little Secrets was such an emotional and absolutely disgusting book!
I can't describe the dismay I felt for teens that have to grow up in this type of environment. It's bad enough that people suffer from this disorder, but it's even worse that there are innocent minors that are subjected to this sickness.
My heart broke for Lucy and her ache for normalcy. I didn't really understand it at first... I was angry at Lucy for not calling the police right away, and then by t More...
I can't describe the dismay I felt for teens that have to grow up in this type of environment. It's bad enough that people suffer from this disorder, but it's even worse that there are innocent minors that are subjected to this sickness.
My heart broke for Lucy and her ache for normalcy. I didn't really understand it at first... I was angry at Lucy for not calling the police right away, and then by t More...
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Jan 26, 2012
Jodi
rated it: 
This book was completely captivating and is such a quick read that it only took a few hours to read through.
Lucy can't wait til she graduates from high school. She counts the days til she can escape from the shameful secret that waits for her everyday at home - her mom is a hoarder. Not only is her mom a hoarder, but she blames Lucy for the state of the house which is beyond anyone's control. It takes all of Lucy's time and energy to keep her secret from the kids at school les More...
Lucy can't wait til she graduates from high school. She counts the days til she can escape from the shameful secret that waits for her everyday at home - her mom is a hoarder. Not only is her mom a hoarder, but she blames Lucy for the state of the house which is beyond anyone's control. It takes all of Lucy's time and energy to keep her secret from the kids at school les More...
Jan 22, 2012
Aim
rated it:
I recently read this book and was not able to put it down. I've never really been interested in stories about hoarding but was willing to give this a try. The suspense of not knowing what will happen next and the realistic plot kept me reading until I was finished.
Lucy, a sixteen-year-old girl who is seemingly normal, has been keeping a dark secret for years. Her mother hoards almost everything she can find, and even digs in other people's garbage. As a result, their house is in More...
Lucy, a sixteen-year-old girl who is seemingly normal, has been keeping a dark secret for years. Her mother hoards almost everything she can find, and even digs in other people's garbage. As a result, their house is in More...
Jan 01, 2012
Erin
rated it:
Dirty Little Secrets by C.J.Omolou
If your looking for a book with a main character that you will love but also question her motives then this is the book for you. This book makes you think and the author does not sugar coat Hoarding she explains about the bad and ugly instead if hiding it and just explaining it as piles.
Every character in this book was different and the way that the Author had everyone in Lucy's family react to the Hoarding and its impacts on thier lives was More...
If your looking for a book with a main character that you will love but also question her motives then this is the book for you. This book makes you think and the author does not sugar coat Hoarding she explains about the bad and ugly instead if hiding it and just explaining it as piles.
Every character in this book was different and the way that the Author had everyone in Lucy's family react to the Hoarding and its impacts on thier lives was More...
Dec 01, 2011
Shari
rated it:
16 year old Lucy has been hiding a big secret for years; her mother is a compulsive hoarder. Her older brother and sister have long since moved out, leaving Lucy to deal with her mother alone. Lucy struggles with the shame, and with trying to manage to keep her home life a secret from her best friend and the boy she has a crush on. When her mother dies suddenly in her home, Lucy hesitates to call 911, knowing it would reveal the way the really live. Instead, she sets a 2 day plan into motion in
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Nov 28, 2011
Sonia
rated it:
lucy has commited a big mistake and hides a one huge secret the victim is her mother it is sad how her mom has to go thriogh this lucy has a big crush on this guy named josh and wich lucy does not know if he likes her back because josh is with some other girl and had been dating for so much.
lucy has been hiding many of her secrets wich are bundled in her home will she speak up and tell or will she keep her secrets forever? who knows what lucy will end up doing will her plans be ruined by More...
lucy has been hiding many of her secrets wich are bundled in her home will she speak up and tell or will she keep her secrets forever? who knows what lucy will end up doing will her plans be ruined by More...
Nov 23, 2011
Campbell
rated it: 
I was expecting something childish.
I was wrong.
At first, I had no clue what the book was about, and in order to surprise myself, I refused to read the back to get the general idea. And so I immediately thought, common-teenage-girl-with-boy-problems. I was not expecting much.
However.
My interpretation of the title was horrendously inaccurate.
Lucy Tompkins is a teenage girl trying to get through life like all the others. She has the friend, she has the crush, she More...
I was wrong.
At first, I had no clue what the book was about, and in order to surprise myself, I refused to read the back to get the general idea. And so I immediately thought, common-teenage-girl-with-boy-problems. I was not expecting much.
However.
My interpretation of the title was horrendously inaccurate.
Lucy Tompkins is a teenage girl trying to get through life like all the others. She has the friend, she has the crush, she More...
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Nov 12, 2011
playingwithfire
rated it: 
What the hell, C.J, what the actual hell.
******SPOILERS********
I'm not going to lie, the only reason I considered reading this book was because of Munro Chambers who plays Eli Goldsworthy in Degrassi:The Next Generation and just happens to be a hoarder. And I am in love with Munro, so yeah, totally the worst reason to read this but whatever.
Five Things I learned from this book
1. If your mother (or any parent) has a psychological disorder, it's totally ok to let her More...
******SPOILERS********
I'm not going to lie, the only reason I considered reading this book was because of Munro Chambers who plays Eli Goldsworthy in Degrassi:The Next Generation and just happens to be a hoarder. And I am in love with Munro, so yeah, totally the worst reason to read this but whatever.
Five Things I learned from this book
1. If your mother (or any parent) has a psychological disorder, it's totally ok to let her More...
Oct 25, 2011
Carol
rated it:
Lucy can't wait to escape her claustrophobic home. Her mother is a skilled and compassionate nurse by day, but a filthy pack-rat and garbage collector by night. Lucy has to walk on eggshells to not offend her mother to keep the verbal abuse to a minimum. Miraculously she has a best friend who doesn't question the fact that she is never invited over. Now a potential boyfriend makes her desire for a normal life even greater. As her house full of secrets threatens to explode into the world, Lucy ha
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Sep 25, 2011
Lisa
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Sep 17, 2011
Melanie
rated it:
The show "Hoarders" fascinates me. Naturally, when I heard there was a YA book about a girl who's mother is a hoarder I absolutely had to read it. Omololu's "Dirty Little Secrets" did not disappoint. At all. Sixteen-year-old Lucy has been keeping the secret of her mother's hoarding for too long. She's tired of losing friends when they find out or lying to friends about why they can't come to her house. But then, one day, she finds her mother dead under a pile of National Geog
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Aug 16, 2011
Michele
rated it:
Wow, this book is one that stays with you after you close it. A pretty compelling portrait of what it is like to live as a teenager with a mom who is a hoarder.
Lucy has lived her whole life not being able to invite friends into her house, being accused of moving her mom's stuff (which is everywhere) and finally living with no heat or hot water. I shudder to think there are children living in this situation, but of course, there are.
I found the references to the grandma with the s More...
Lucy has lived her whole life not being able to invite friends into her house, being accused of moving her mom's stuff (which is everywhere) and finally living with no heat or hot water. I shudder to think there are children living in this situation, but of course, there are.
I found the references to the grandma with the s More...
Aug 11, 2011
Barky
rated it:
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Jun 29, 2011
Natalee
rated it:
From Good Reads: Everyone has a secret. But Lucy's is bigger and dirtier than most. It's one she's been hiding for years—that her mom's out-of-control hoarding has turned their lives into a world of garbage and shame. Tackling an increasingly discussed topic that is both fascinating and disturbing, C. J. Omololu weaves an hour-by-hour account of Lucy's desperate attempt to save her family. Readers join Lucy on a path from which there is no return, and the impact of hoarding on one teen's life wi
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Jun 23, 2011
Sierra
rated it:
-How can I even begin to praise this repulsive book? I know, that might sound bad, but it is exactly the opposite.
I've never read a book that dealt with this issue before, so I didn't really even know what to expect. My expectations were met, they were excelled! I read this book in a day! One reason because it's not a big book. It really didn't take long. Second reason, I had to know what was going to happen next. The main character, Lucy Tompkins, was well written. But she got on my More...
I've never read a book that dealt with this issue before, so I didn't really even know what to expect. My expectations were met, they were excelled! I read this book in a day! One reason because it's not a big book. It really didn't take long. Second reason, I had to know what was going to happen next. The main character, Lucy Tompkins, was well written. But she got on my More...
May 04, 2011
Andria
rated it:
Lucy's mom is a hoarder: their house is filthy, filled with towering piles of newspapers, boxes, bags, and assorted trash, and any time Lucy tries to clean up or throw anything away her mom freaks out and becomes verbally abusive. Lucy can't ever invite friends over to her house or let anyone know how they live, so she never really let herself get close to anyone, but now the cute guy she's been crushing on for years is starting to pay attention to her. And then the unthinkable happens, and Luc
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Mar 07, 2011
Paige Y.
rated it:
Lucy guesses she loved her mom, at least mom she used not have – not the mom who has verbally abused her over the years and whose hoarding has made Lucy’s home a place of shame and embarrassment where at her old school the kids call Lucy Garbage Girl. But Lucy has been able to start over at the public high school where she has a best friend and nobody knows her secret. Now Lucy has found her mom dead in the midst of all the junk she has hoarded over the years. She doesn’t call for help. Aft
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Feb 26, 2011
Alissa
rated it:
Extremely graphic and highly disturbing, but a gripping page-turner nonetheless.
Lucy's mom is a hoarder. Highly paranoid that she's going to need something someday, she never never throws anything away, never allows anyone to touch her so-called "treasures". Old newspapers & magazines, plastic containers from take-out meals, mounds of items bought en masse at bargin sales, and countless other odds and ends create unsanitary mountains of filth and trash that all but bury ev More...
Lucy's mom is a hoarder. Highly paranoid that she's going to need something someday, she never never throws anything away, never allows anyone to touch her so-called "treasures". Old newspapers & magazines, plastic containers from take-out meals, mounds of items bought en masse at bargin sales, and countless other odds and ends create unsanitary mountains of filth and trash that all but bury ev More...
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(3 people liked it)
Feb 05, 2011
MaryBookSwarm
rated it:
Poor Lucy. She's lived with her mother's secret her entire life, never getting too close to anyone and definitely never inviting them into her house. The one time one of her friends did get a look inside, she gave Lucy a terrible nickname. Lucy changed schools to get away.
I can't even imagine living like that. Piles of trash, unwashed dishes, stacks of newspapers...it reminded me of that Shel Silverstein poem, "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out." More...
I can't even imagine living like that. Piles of trash, unwashed dishes, stacks of newspapers...it reminded me of that Shel Silverstein poem, "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out." More...
Jan 18, 2011
Khornberger
rated it:
We have another book which falls under the category of shock title. It is, however, very appropriately named. Lucy is the youngest child of a hoarder. She is now living alone with her mother and has suffered the consequences for all of life that she can remember. She has had to forgo friends coming over, sleepovers, etc. Once, when Lucy was caught unaware, a friend entered her house and her reaction was to publicly humiliate Lucy.
Lucy is now sixteen and works carefully to keep More...
Lucy is now sixteen and works carefully to keep More...
7 comments
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(4 people liked it)
Oct 28, 2010
C.J. Omololu’s Dirty Little Secrets is shocking. It will take your heart and stomach on a journey for which neither could be adequately prepared. Like 24 and Hoarders combined, the book moves you hour by hour through Lucy’s struggle to deal with her mother’s death without revealing her shameful family secret: a house overflowing with garbage, mold, and maggots. Through flashbacks, Lucy provides readers with a more in-depth understanding of her family history and the progression of her mother’s
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(1 person liked it)
Sep 24, 2010
Becky
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Aug 31, 2010
Courtney
rated it:
I picked this one up because I've never read a book about anyone with a hoarding disorder before. In this book, the protagonist, Lucy, is the daughter of a severe hoarder. Her father left years ago and her older siblings moved out as soon as they could, leaving Lucy along to deal with her mother and the ever-growing piles and stacks of garbage (or "treasures", as her mother calls them). If she tries to clean, she's accused of messing with her mother's things. One night, her mother
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Aug 23, 2010
Terri
rated it:
I give this book four stars, mostly because of its uniqueness.Lucy Tompkins has many secrets, all stemming from the fact that her mother is a HOARDER. She fears that if anyone finds out the way in which she and her family live, they will not accept her. When her mother dies from an apparent asthma attack early on in the book, Lucy frantically begins the daunting task of cleaning up her mother's mess before she will call the paramedics. Lucy thinks she will be outed if the paramedics see their ho
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Aug 12, 2010
Elizabeth
rated it:
Dirty Little Secrets by C.J. Omololu explores a subject I haven’t seen in any other YA book – hoarding. Lucy is the daughter of a hoarder, and is ashamed and embarrassed by the way she is forced to live. When her mother dies, she doesn’t know what to do – if she calls the police, her family’s secrets will be out.
Lucy believes that people will start calling her “garbage girl” if they find out – as though it is somehow her fault that she has to live this way. She worries that the came More...
Lucy believes that people will start calling her “garbage girl” if they find out – as though it is somehow her fault that she has to live this way. She worries that the came More...
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Jul 30, 2010
smoreads
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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2 comments
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Jun 21, 2010
Warnie B.
rated it: 
So...I read this entire book in one sitting, but I had some very definite issues with it--the ending in particular. The choice Lucy ends up making about how to handle her situation felt really drastic, and...well, not at all mentally sound. She doesn't really face her problems, or let anyone in to help her, just hides them in the end (even from her own family)--just like her mother had been doing most of Lucy's life. And there's absolutely no discussion about the consequences of Lucy's actions.
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May 25, 2010
Oh man, what a sad, good book. Just my kind of read! Lucy, the daughter of a compulsive hoarder, finds her mother dead under a pile of National Geographics and spends the next 24 hours hoping she can clean up enough of the mess so her family's 'dirty little secrets' will stay secrets by the time she has to call 911.
This is a very consuming, intense read with what I think is a very fitting, perfect ending. And the pacing was just spot on. Omololu frames the story over the course More...
This is a very consuming, intense read with what I think is a very fitting, perfect ending. And the pacing was just spot on. Omololu frames the story over the course More...
