The Hero of This Book
by Elizabeth McCracken
Pub Date: October 4, 2022
Ecco
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.
While this one was well written and had a good plot it was emotional for me to read.
A taut, groundbreaking new novel from bestselling and award-winning author Elizabeth McCracken, about a writer's relationship with her larger-than-life mother--and about the very nature of writing, memory, and art
4 stars

As a long-time fan of Elizabeth McCracken, I couldn't wait to read this book. It's very meta--and very McCracken in the specificity of character on the page. The mix of humor and tragedy is excellent; the reveal of the main character's struggle with her mother was both surprising and grounding. Overall, though, this fell slightly short for me. It lacked the robust , singular storytelling of her fiction and it wasn't quite as compelling as her nonfiction.

While this one was well written and had a good plot it was to0 emotional for me to read. But I'm sure that other readers who haven't lost a parent will be able to read this one.

Such an interesting and meta little gem of a novel (memoir?). McCracken's stunning prose paints a beautiful portrait of her mother and their time together, both before and after her mother's death. I loved how she plays with the question of memoir vs fiction as well - and does it really matter at all when the result is so engaging and heartfelt? Highly recommend this one.

This is a fascinating non-memoir (?) about McCracken's mother. This cross between memoir and novel (probably more of the latter) is an enchanting and unique approach to writing a book about a parent. The writing is simply amazing. I was dazzled by this book.

This multi-layered memoir that's not a memoir--or so the narrator keeps telling the reader-- is actually a beautifully moving exploration of the complexities of a decades long relationship between a mother and daughter. McCracken writes with care and sensitivity, balanced out with wit and what I can only call honest courage.

Elizabeth McCracken’s “The Hero of This Book” is extraordinary, a complicated project that examines the boundaries between memoir and fiction.
The narrator is a writer whose mother passed away in 2018; now, mid-2019, she spends a day in London, a place she and her mother visited multiple times, a place her mother loved. Much of the book happens in flashbacks, in memories of the narrator’s mother, who is sketched very gradually—lightly at first, and then with rapidly increasing depth and a great amount of care. Being a writer and having lost someone beloved to her—a person who was very private—the narrator becomes concerned with the question of whether or not she can write about her mother. Who gets to tell these stories, if at all? “Perhaps you fear writing a memoir, reasonably,” McCracken writes. “Invent a single man and call your book a novel. The freedom one fictional man grants you is immeasurable.” Through this discussion—the nature and permissions of memoir, its difference from fiction—talk of writing more broadly enters the room; given that McCracken is a graduate and former faculty member of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, these diversions are very welcome.
The writing is very clever and often also very funny. Examining a mosaic on the kitchen floor, in her parents’ house, she writes that “I would theorize that this means something about my brain or philosophy or life’s work—look for small motifs that build into something larger—but it’s only ever been floors.”
She’s a master of callbacks, often playing them for laughs, or given how subtle some of them are, just wry smiles. Going back over passages I’d highlighted, I realized how condensed the book is—just about everything seems to tie into the larger picture. There doesn’t seem to be any wasted space.
This economy of means is really present in the descriptive passages about the narrator’s mother, which I felt were shockingly vivid. Writing character is one thing; it’s another thing entirely to create a study like this one, to know which stories to tell, which details to share, to arrive somehow at something that maybe resembles a person. It’s a kind of circumlocution, offering these fragments one by one such that something emerges from their juxtaposition. There’s a magic when small, offhanded details recur, or are built upon across various chapters.
“You can do anything,” the narrator’s mother says, “once you’ve figured out a system.” You can even write a deeply-felt memoir, a moving portrait of a mother, without ever writing a memoir at all. What a compliment to McCracken’s work that I felt, in some small way, that I knew this woman, just from reading about her.

I liked this memoir cum novel. The eponymous hero is the narrator’s mother who has recently died. Some truly lovely observations here and there, but overall, just middle of the road for me.

A book with a lot of heart and wisdom. I devoured it in 2 sittings. When I was done, I wished I could have known the protagonist's mother—and author.

Thanks to the publisher, author and NetGalley for the ARC.

I found THE HERO OF THIS BOOK to be unsettling at times, but ultimately deeply moving. As others have noted, this novel reads a bit like a memoir, which is to say there's an authenticity on the page. I especially appreciated how McCracken renders everyday, ordinary moments and from them creates a complex, living portrait and a heartfelt tribute. There's something life-affirming about both the writing and the narrative. Highly recommended for fans of literary fiction.

What is the truth of mother and daughter relationships? In the end there is no one truth, only love. This book (not a memoir) is a loving remembrance of (not) Elizabeth and her mother, the good, the bad, the memorable moments, what was learned and what is best forgotten. The unnamed narrator fills in her life as shaped by her relationship with her mother. She keeps her promise not to write about her parents until they are gone. But the lessons of her physically challenged, charismatic, show stopper ( and self proclaimed inventor of the mojito) of a mom are carried with the narrator throughout her life. The relationship was touching, frustrating and even infuriating at times. I loved every truthful ( or not) word of it. Many will recognize elements of their own relationships with parents in the beautiful book. A hero indeed.
I

Elizabeth McCracken is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers. I devoured her collection from last year, The Souvenir Museum, but The Hero of This Book is remarkably different. It follows the protagonist, who is a writer, as she travels through London working through the recent death of her mother. It's quite uncanny the way McCracken renders the grief, questioning it, turning it into something I rarely see on the page. There's so much heartbreak and humor and tenderness for her family, for their circumstance, for the act of writing. I mean, at the heart of this "novel" is an exploration of what writing autobiography is. McCracken wants to distance herself from that, but she welcomes it in a way too. This is really such an exciting book.

Thanks to the publisher for the e-galley!

Is it redundant to call a novel about a mother's death, "elegiac"? I don't care because that's exactly what McCracken's book is: It's elegiac, elegantly written, and heartbreaking.

The unnamed narrator of The Hero of this Book, mourning the recent loss of her mother, travels to London and, in going to places she and her mother visited on an earlier trip to the city, she tells us the story of her mother's life and death.

In language spare, yet powerful, McCracken has written a novel that reads like non-fiction, making the reader feel every emotion of the narrator and leaving her to reflect upon her relationship with her own mother, which is particularly poignant for those of us whose mothers have passed on. Rather than being dreary, the narrator's grief is a symphony of emotion and reminiscence. A moving story that is exceptionally well written,The Hero of This Book is certainly one of the best books you'll read this year.

Elizabeth McCracken's latest (insistently not memoir) traces a poignant walk through the narrator's relationship with her recently deceased mother. Through a day-long stroll through parts of London they visited together, the woman looks back at the intricacies and complexities of her past, present, and future through the lens of the relationship's influence. McCracken's writing--whether novel, short story or memoir--is always wonderful, and I'm again and again surprised by the range of emotional notes she hits in any singular book. I really enjoyed this one and highly recommend. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

The Hero of This Book by Elizabeth McCracken will be familiar territory to anyone who has lost someone, especially a parent. It's fiction that reads like a non-fiction memoir, but that's because it's an honest and eloquent visitation into grief. I had not read anything by Elizabeth McCracken previously but it's clear that she is a talented and poignant writer, and one who loved her mother and treasured their relationship very much.

Thank you to Ecco and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book.

A daughter's memories of her late mother. Throughout the entire book, McCracker leaves the reader wondering if it's a memoir or novel. This isn't some cold post-modern trick, however. It's warm, funny tribute to parenting. (Where I landed was the book is greatly inspired by her mother, but with enough fictional details to muddy the waters.)

In addition to being a lovely (and hilarious) mother/daughter story, it's also a fascinating look at the creative process. McCracken wrestles with the common writers' fear of being a "vampire"-- exploiting those closest to her in order to get a good story.

McCracken/the narrator worries about whether her privacy-loving mother would be horrified by this book/memoir. Personally, I can't imagine her mother--or any mother--being anything but proud to have raised a daughter capable of such a wonderful celebration of her life.

Whenever I read Elizabeth McCracken, I feel as though I am on a long walk with a good friend, so imagine my delight when I realized that her new novel took place, largely, over the course of a long walk on a single day. The narrator—an unnamed writer—is in London alone, grieving her mother—revisiting places they visited together and revisiting memories.

It is not a plot-y novel. In fact, about three-quarters of the way through, I was thinking just how un-plot-y the novel was when the narrator said, “I kept walking. It’s not much of a plot,” and then went on to discuss plot and craft and the ways writing may or may not be taught. I mention this as a way to say that this novel seemed to respond to the way I read it as I read it and the experience felt like a conversation—the other and most important aspect of a long walk with a good friend.

I loved Elizabeth McCracken's sly new novel that she adamantly claimed was not a memoir or about her mother. The narrator happens to be a writer who travels to London shortly after her much-beloved mother passes away. Mother and daughter traveled to London together and this time the narrator strolls through London taking in things they both loved like art and theater. This is a trip down memory lane but charged throughout with deep thoughts on who her parents were and how entwined the three lives were. Now the old, overcrowded house is being cleared out and is up for sale.

McCracken is one of my favorite authors and this new writing is a true gift to me as an aging mother who is trying to stay relevant to my daughter, as I age with physical limitations. I loved hearing about all the wild antics of her mother, her original thoughts, and the adventures she insisted they take. Mother has multiple physical limitations but she never let that stop her from living life wildly and often recklessly. I loved the image of mom on a scooter charging ahead down the streets of NYC. Both daughter and mother are an inspiration for rich relationships possible even when it seems too difficult to manage.

Thank you to Elizabeth McCracken, Net Galley, and Ecco Press for this ARC.

A remembrance of the life of a mother, beautifully told by her grieving daughter. The scene is set in London, with the memories of an earlier trip embedded by passing the architecture and recalling the experiences they shared.
The author expresses the emotional impact of the loss of a beloved parent, but the recollections include all of the foibles and remembrance of. conflicts that are part of the complex mother-daughter relationship.

As someone who has spent a great deal of time visiting London with my late mother and terrific daughter, this certainly triggered my own memories. Beautiful detailed writing which brought London, as well as the chaotic home to life.

Thank you Netgalley for this charming novel of remembrance and mourning.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the Kindle ARC. The Hero of This Book is the unnamed author's mother. This book is listed as fiction but the story seems too real - more of a memoir. The writer of the story, a middle-aged woman, gives a lovely account of her mother's life. Her mother suffered from a "birth injury" her entire life. "Birth Injury" is how the author's grandmother refers to it. In spite of her permanent physical ailment, the writer's mother finds much joy and happiness in life. She travels with her daughter, she has a long-term happy marriage and has interests of her own. This is a short piece of fiction but very memorable.