RaveThe Women\'s Review of BooksOne of the ingenious aspects of Claire Wilcox’s memoir is the way in which she stitches an entire book of patches—scraps and pieces of both her own biography and the longer swathes of history—to yield a narrative arresting in its strength and elegance ... memoir, an exquisite blend of the private and the public ... Part of the wisdom of her approach here is that she makes those missing pieces not a limitation but an asset...Wilcox’s book itself feels not unlike a visit to a museum, that sensation of gradually building one’s understanding by way of meditative wandering from room to room...But though her method of composition consists of fragments and vignettes, the totality adds up. Really, every entry is a flash nonfiction, a complete and self-contained memoir or essay. But each one gains impact, too, by Wilcox’s careful placement of her chunks of text in succession, her putting them in thoughtful juxtaposition and conversation with the others around them ... Her tone is far from still or staid as some museums (no offense) can be, crackling instead with life and vibrancy, like the best museums, which remind visitors not only of the objects they contain but also of the people who once made and used those objects ... she leaves her readers astonished at the subtlety and care with which she has laid bare the pages of her own existence.
