I reviewed this book for www.luxuryreading.com.

Whenever I’ve come across one of those TV shows about hoarding I’ve always wondered how the mess could truly get that bad. How do you not know that your house is packed nearly floor to ceiling and that it isn’t a healthy way to live, for you or for any family members living there? How could you stand the clutter, the smell? Keepsake by Kristina Riggle works to answer these questions and more by dropping the reader right into the middle of a hoarder’s life and giving a first-hand look at the inner working of a hoarder and the devastating consequences to those around them.

This book was definitely an eye-opener for me. What I found to be the most interesting was the contrast between the character Trish’s hoarding and her sister, Mary's, OCD cleaning tendencies. Both women were using these habits to hide from their pasts and shut out their present as well. I actually ended up having the most sympathy for Mary, someone who was so closed off from feeling anything in an attempt to keep from getting hurt that she had forgotten how to react normally to people who cared about her. I also found the fact that Trish and Mary’s mother was a hoarder and that the disorder seemed to pass down to Trish and that even her own son, Jack, was beginning to display those same habits fascinating. The trauma from one generation seemed to trickle down and influence the next, leaving a lot of hurt to be healed to break the cycle.

Trish was a harder character for me to sympathize with. While the reasons that initiated her hoarding were devastating, I hated watching her attack Mary every time she tried to help and bemoaning to herself over and over that she had no one when all the people around her were there to help her. I understand that much of what she said and thought were defense mechanisms but it still got under my skin that she was so unappreciative of what the others were trying to do.

All in all I think Keepsake was a very good read. It gave me a better look into the why’s behind hoarding and a new family dynamic I have never read about before. This is the second book by Kristina Riggle I have read and I am eager to see what she writes next.