Food and Worry

FOOD AND WORRY, set in the pre-Facebook era, is the story of a late bloomer who submits a wildly inaccurate update to her college's alumni magazine. Moira Shapiro wants to be a food writer, but she's suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder since college. The story opens on her thirtieth birthday, when she mails a self-aggrandizing class note as part of an effort to shock herself well. Her regret over this impulsive act inspires her to seek professional help, but her recovery is threatened when her public boast leads to a competitive friendship. Caitlin Sturbridge is a performance artist whom Moira envied from afar in college. After Moira drunkenly confesses her OCD-related unemployment, Caitlin designs an educational installation about the disorder which exploits Moira's most embarrassing symptoms. Moira retaliates against her frenemy with Caitlin's Brando-esque ex. Geoff Brockley has impressively broad shoulders and seems charming until Moira gets to know him better. By the end of the novel, Moira, who used to obsess about whether she'd turned off her kitchen appliances and locked her front door, learns that "men who are players are like coffeemakers. They're warm, potentially explosive, fundamentally unresponsive, and not worth thinking about afterward."