DEVIL IN THE DETAILS Scenes From an Obsessive Girlhood

Jennifer Traig is an obsessive-compulsive with a religious bent. Traig's adolescence is complicated by this debilitating disorder. She bathes according to Old Testament rules (obsessively or not at all, depending on the day), prays fervently, and washes all her possessions and her hands whenever they get contaminated (i.e., constantly). Melinda Wade delivers an excellent performance that conveys both the eminent reasonableness of this behavior in the author's mind and its continual irritation to everyone around her. Wade's voice is almost a whine, a fitting tone for Traig's neuroses. Well done, but not to be listened to in long stretches. A.B. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 05]