Book Review: Chomp Press Pull

Reviewed by Addison Ciuchta

A funny, sensory-filled essay collection about one woman’s experiences growing up with sensory issues

Chomp, Press, Pull is a humorous romp of an essay collection centered on growing up in the 1980s and 90s with sensory dysregulation. Even if it was a time that didn’t necessarily recognize or accommodate sensory issues, Elaina Battista-Parsons still experienced them. 

This memoir in essays reveals a surplus of everyday sensory moments, from Elaina’s childhood to adulthood. It humorously chronicles the times when dysregulation played a part in both positive and negative ways, like discussions of her father’s car freshener, her first love, and her tendency to bite anything and everything as a child.

Battista-Parsons succeeds in what she sets out to do: make readers laugh. Chomp, Press, Pull is direct, honest, but also full of sensory details that make even the smallest thing come alive with touch and sound and smell. You can feel the rim of the Tupperware she gnawed on as a kid, hear the soft chalk on a clean chalkboard, feel the sweat of the single car garage as she choreographed dances to a boombox. It’s like Battista-Parsons’ hyperawareness of her senses bleeds over into the essay collection and comes out the other side.

“Those dreary not-quite-spring Saturdays or Sundays with my dad and the stinky green tree on the rearview were some of my favorite days.”

Battista-Parsons is quick to point out that, while she’s struggled with sensory dysregulation her whole life, she’s not an expert. This is not an essay collection for solving the issue. It’s an entertaining documentation of her experiences, one that I think many others can find solace and recognition in. While not everyone has persistent sensory issues, we’ve all experienced at least one time in our lives when the smell of someone’s perfume created a headache or we felt calm as someone combed our hair. Senses are all around us, and this collection is a reminder to pay more attention to them while educating others on the ways in which some people might experience senses more extremely than others. The author does an excellent job of pointing out that sensory issues are not always a bad thing, too. It has enhanced her life, too, feeding into her creativity and art. 

“The air hung thick with April’s vinegar tears, ushering me and someone I’ve apparently blocked from my ten-year-old moment in time, toward the playground.”

Chomp, Pull, Press is an easy-going, sensory-rich collection about the way the senses can be too much to cope with for all of us, let alone those with sensory dysregulation.

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