kansasmom reviewed An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination: A Memoir on + 19 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 5
It begins, "A child dies in this book: a baby. A baby is stillborn." My husband couldn't believe I wanted to read this book, but it was a beautiful tribute to the author's pregnancy, baby boy and subsequent pregnancy. We have been blessed and lucky with my three healthy pregnancies and our three healthy children, but my extended family and friends have been touched by stillbirth and miscarriage. I feel I might understand their feelings just a little bit more after reading this book, and I hope I can better respond to such news in the future. I think, if you are the mother of a stillborn baby, you may find this book comforting. "...it meant so much to me to hear it. It happened to me, too, meant: It's not your fault. And You are not a freak of nature. And This does not have to be a secret."
Melody B. (5ducksfans) reviewed An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination: A Memoir on + 92 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
Just a few short notes:
First of all, McCracken may seem melodramatic if you have never experienced a miscarriage or stillbirth. I assure you that she is not. Keep an open mind as you read this.
Second, do not let anyone read this book who is (for the first time) pregnant/trying to get pregnant/thinking about kids. This book is the equivalent of all the horror stories people feel compelled to tell you (when you're pregnant). I hated that, and it seems tons of people don't care that they're scaring you half to death LOL.
Aside from those caveats, it is a really compelling book that goes from hope to hopelessness back to hope. I read this in one day.
First of all, McCracken may seem melodramatic if you have never experienced a miscarriage or stillbirth. I assure you that she is not. Keep an open mind as you read this.
Second, do not let anyone read this book who is (for the first time) pregnant/trying to get pregnant/thinking about kids. This book is the equivalent of all the horror stories people feel compelled to tell you (when you're pregnant). I hated that, and it seems tons of people don't care that they're scaring you half to death LOL.
Aside from those caveats, it is a really compelling book that goes from hope to hopelessness back to hope. I read this in one day.
Carla N. (MomZaMedic) - , reviewed An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination: A Memoir on + 54 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
I think this book would be a benefit to parents who have suffered the loss of a child, especially a baby. The book is very descripitive of the horrible emotional and physical devastation that happens then. Other readers may be confused or even offended about the thoughts that the bereaved family feeels towards them, and in fact, may cause them to be very hesitant to offer the family much needed support and understanding. Stark, depressing, truthful, hopeful-yes; a pick-up-your-book-and relax-book? Probably not.
Helpful Score: 1
This book caught my eye when an excerpt from it was in a women's magazine. As soon as I finished the excerpt, I knew I had to read the entire book. Then I had to wait for months while I got to the head of the wish list line at PBS. The wait was was worth it.
The beginning chapters are sad, but then stillbirth is obviously an enormously sad topic. McCracken just has a way with language. She can convey so much with just a few words. The book doesn't get mired in grief. There are humorous moments even admist the horror of the stillbirth. There is a happy ending to the memoir.
My one criticism of the book is the way the story is told. It's not linear. The memoir shifts in time. I think a more straightforward, going from the past to the present, would have been better.
I would not recommend this book to someone who is pregnant or someone who is thinking of getting pregnant. I think some of the issues the author faced could have been treated in the US (the author gave birth in Europe) because my experience is that ob/gyns in the US tend to go overboard with all sorts of tests. That's not to blame the author though... she is obviously a loving mother and felt acutely the loss of her baby.
The beginning chapters are sad, but then stillbirth is obviously an enormously sad topic. McCracken just has a way with language. She can convey so much with just a few words. The book doesn't get mired in grief. There are humorous moments even admist the horror of the stillbirth. There is a happy ending to the memoir.
My one criticism of the book is the way the story is told. It's not linear. The memoir shifts in time. I think a more straightforward, going from the past to the present, would have been better.
I would not recommend this book to someone who is pregnant or someone who is thinking of getting pregnant. I think some of the issues the author faced could have been treated in the US (the author gave birth in Europe) because my experience is that ob/gyns in the US tend to go overboard with all sorts of tests. That's not to blame the author though... she is obviously a loving mother and felt acutely the loss of her baby.
JOANNE (joann) -
Elizabeth McCracken loses a child and also has a child in this book. We are with her in France as she revels in her pregnancy, her first, at an older age. We are with her as she learns that the baby is not alive and with her as she goes through the birth of her stillborn baby boy, Pudding.
This had to have been a very tough, but maybe therapeutic thing for this author to do. This book will absolutely have you bawling and laughing, mostly bawling. Elizabeth McCracken is such a brave woman to have the capacity to share with us all of the emotions that she experienced during this rough & emotional time.
There is a death of a child and a birth of a child in this book. Both are amazingingly written about.
This had to have been a very tough, but maybe therapeutic thing for this author to do. This book will absolutely have you bawling and laughing, mostly bawling. Elizabeth McCracken is such a brave woman to have the capacity to share with us all of the emotions that she experienced during this rough & emotional time.
There is a death of a child and a birth of a child in this book. Both are amazingingly written about.
Sarah B. (caffeinegirl) reviewed An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination: A Memoir on + 114 more book reviews
McCracken's writing is beautiful, and her memoir of this period in her life and this loss is so honest. Apart from being an excellent read on its literary merits, it taught me how to be a friend to someone going through this loss, should it be needed. Like most people (like McCracken herself, as she explains in the book), I somehow thought losing an unborn child was a different kind of loss. Of course it isn't. What a humane book.
