Oh Love, Come Close

In this piercing if scattered debut memoir, Frazier recalls formative moments of her life. One week into her marriage, Frazier declared during a fight with her husband that she thought she was gay. He asked that she seek therapy, which she did, and in fragmentary sections, many based around the sessions, Frazier offers snapshots of trauma and sorrow from her life: the rape and murder of a friend in her Indiana hometown, a surreal experience at church camp in which Frazier is told she’s possessed by a demon (“I remember being in a field, facing a man... as he yelled at the demon and poured holy water on my head”), and the time on her honeymoon when she “looked into the eyes of this man I’d just married and... felt like I’d just lost everything.” While Frazier’s recollections are vivid and often quite moving—as is the deep well of spirituality she draws on—the lack of structure results in a choppy reading experience. Though affecting, this one doesn’t add up to more than the sum of its parts. (Feb.)