A review by nssutton
An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination by Elizabeth McCracken

5.0

do not read this book on the path train, do not read this book in the break room, do not read this book anywhere you don't want someone to see you cry. i love mccracken's writing, have since the first time i read the giant's house. i swear it's not just because she's a once-librarian. while reading this heartbreaking memoir of her first child's stillborn birth, you want to call her, you want to say the right thing, you want to marvel aloud how she found the right words to always say what she needed to say without being saccharine or morose.

the hardest few pages for me to read were those on how one friend in particular all but saved her life through a variety of e-mails and phone calls. i can't imagine losing a child, but even harder to imagine is what i would do if one of my friends were to ever lose their child in such a manner. i'd like to think we would all have at least .5% of mccracken's grace.

a beautiful, beautiful, terrifyingly sad book.