NYLONbooks

An Exact Replica Of A Figment Of My Imagination

An Exact Replica Of A Figment Of My Imagination, June 2009, 6.5/10.

Written by Elizabeth McCracken. Published by Little, Brown and Company.

This novella was a tenderly told and touching story, one that was terrifying, heartbreaking and somehow a little bit uplifting. Written about one of the most awful experiences imaginable the story was told very openly, but such frankness was a prerequisite if this book was going to hold the reader’s attention and draw him in, which it did.  My primary criticism is that the writing was too scatty and too lightly edited; chapters were often very short, many paragraphs were interrupted by new thoughts (or old ones returning), ideas were introduced and dropped and reintroduced later, etc.. If this was a literary device to emphasise confusion and disorientation I thought that it was a heavy-handed one, and I suspect that it was just the way the author wanted to tell this story.