{"product_id":"if-this-were-fiction-9781496232359","title":"If This Were Fiction","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e2023 Heartland Booksellers Award finalist\u003cbr\u003e Foreword INDIES Silver Winner in Autobiography and Memoir\u003cbr\u003e Winner of a 2023 Book of the Year Award from Chicago Writers Association\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eIf This Were Fiction\u003c\/i\u003e is a love story—for Jill Christman’s long-ago fiancé, who died young in a car accident; for her children; for her husband, Mark; and ultimately, for herself. In this collection, Christman takes on the wide range of situations and landscapes she encountered on her journey from wild child through wounded teen to mother, teacher, writer, and wife. In these pages there are fatal accidents and miraculous births; a grief pilgrimage that takes Christman to jungles, volcanoes, and caves in Central America; and meditations on everything from sexual trauma and the more benign accidents of childhood to gun violence, indoor cycling, unlikely romance, and even a ghost or two.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Playing like a lively mixtape in both subject and style, \u003ci\u003eIf This Were \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Christman’s writing is moving and poetic, and she has a knack for imbuing profundity into everyday activities, whether slicing an avocado or climbing a hill. Fans of the personal essay shouldn’t miss these intimate encounters.”—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e, starred review\u003cbr\u003e“Eloquent and probing, Christman’s essays examine the profound ways relationships can—for better or worse—transform an individual life and provide glimpses into the complexities of the human heart. A warmly wise, intimate memoir.”—\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"If This Were Fiction: A Love Story in Essays\u003c\/i\u003e gives you what you didn't know you needed: sloths and loss and Swedish Fish candy, alligators and avocados and bird girls, pain and loss and hard traveling back to confront that pain, googly eyes and wayward skirts and lipsticks uncapped in purses, electric eye contact with a fetching poet across a dive bar, all woven with joy.\"—Sonya Huber, \u003ci\u003eBrevity\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Reading these essays is like hanging out with a true friend, someone who isn’t afraid to be real. Jill Christman writes about love, loss, trauma, fear, parenthood, and the strange wonder of our past and former selves with deep understanding, humor, and so much beauty.”—Beth (Bich Minh) Nguyen, author of \u003ci\u003eStealing Buddha’s Dinner\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eIf This Were Fiction\u003c\/i\u003e is the collection I wish I had the talent and skill to write. Christman’s words shine with unusual beauty and hard-earned brilliance.”—Ashley C. Ford, author of \u003ci\u003eSomebody’s Daughter\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“What is more complex than love, marriage, motherhood, and family? Probably nothing, but Jill Christman takes the deep dive with intelligent, intense, intimate essays that will catch you off guard and leave you wanting more. \u003ci\u003eIf This Were Fiction\u003c\/i\u003e is a piercing book by a brilliant, gutsy writer.”—Dinty W. Moore, author of \u003ci\u003eTo Hell with It\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Engaging and distinctive. Christman brings intelligence, wit, and insightful honesty to her personal experiences with motherhood, womanhood, and girlhood, to abuse and its legacies, to the search for joy, creative expression, and love. Moving, beautifully written, and often quite funny.”—Megan Harlan, author of \u003ci\u003eMobile Home: A Memoir in Essays\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePart I. \u003ci\u003esince feeling is first\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The Sloth\u003cbr\u003e Going Back to Plum Island\u003cbr\u003e The Surprise Baby\u003cbr\u003e The River Cave\u003cbr\u003e Bird Girls\u003cbr\u003e Life’s Not a Paragraph\u003cbr\u003e Part II. \u003ci\u003ewe are for each other\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Family Portrait\u003cbr\u003e The Eleven-Minute Crib Nap\u003cbr\u003e The Googly Eye\u003cbr\u003e A Stone Pear\u003cbr\u003e Leading the Children Out of Town\u003cbr\u003e Slaughterhouse Island\u003cbr\u003e Part III. \u003ci\u003eAnd death i think is no parenthesis\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The Avocado\u003cbr\u003e The Baby and the Alligator\u003cbr\u003e Aiskhyne\u003cbr\u003e The Lucky Ones\u003cbr\u003e Naked Underneath Our Clothes\u003cbr\u003e Spinning\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments\u003cbr\u003e Source Acknowledgments\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"University of Nebraska Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49409241317719,"sku":"9781496232359","price":16.14,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781496232359.jpg?v=1730506106","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/if-this-were-fiction-9781496232359","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}