There's a lot of media interest at the moment in both tidying and, at the other end of the scale, clutter and hoarding. I've (guiltily) watched many an episode of 'Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners" on YouTube and whilst I haven't read the book I do fold my tee shirts the KonMarie way. Mess was obviously a book that was going to appeal to me and it was a delightful and interesting read.
Barry Yourgrau is content to live in his dusty souvenir filled Queens apartment. Cajoled into sorting out his 'stuff 'by his long suffering girlfriend Barry embarks on 'The Project'. Not only will he put his own house in order he will research the world of clutterers and hoarders, looking at it's history, studying famous cases and searching for the underlying psychological motives.
It's informative and endearing and when Barry sorts out his possessions he finds it makes him strong enough to confront his own problems and reassess his relationship to 'stuff'.
The author meets a host of interesting characters in the course of his project and turns the whole experience into an amusing well written book that never feels exploitative and he ends up with a tidy apartment and a happier girlfriend.
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