Memoirs & Coffee Book Group to Discuss "Mess"

The next meeting of Bernardsville Public Library’s book discussion group, Memoirs and Coffee, will be held on Tuesday, February 23 at 10:30 am in the library’s Community Room. Manager Pat Kennedy-Grant will lead the discussion of “Mess: One Man’s Struggle to Clean Up His House and His Act” (2015) by Barry Yourgrau. [The author will not be present.] The book is an hilarious and poignant glimpse into the mind of someone who is both a sufferer from and an investigator of clutter.

Millions of Americans struggle with severe clutter and hoarding. New York writer and bohemian Barry Yourgrau is one of them. Behind the door of his Queens apartment, Yourgrau’s life is, quite literally, chaos. Confronted by his exasperated girlfriend, a globe-trotting food critic, he embarks on a heartfelt, wide-ranging, and too often uproarious project to take control of his crammed, disorderly apartment and life, and to explore the wider world of collecting, clutter, and extreme hoarding.

Encounters with a professional declutterer, a Lacanian shrink, and Clutterers Anonymous—not to mention England’s most excessive hoarder—as well as explorations of the bewildering universe of new therapies and brain science, help Yourgrau navigate uncharted territory: clearing shelves, boxes, and bags; throwing out a nostalgic cracked pasta bowl; and sorting through a lifetime of messy relationships. “Mess” is the story of one man’s efforts to learn to let go, to clean up his space (physical and emotional), and to save his relationship.

There is no charge and no registration is needed to join the discussion. Call the library at 766-0118 for more information.