What was revealed in this story was not a simple tale of two lovers and their life together, but instead a dynamic of what it is truly like to have found your soulmate, to have found the one that completes your puzzle. McCracken was able to create such a beautiful and enticing story that evokes emotion and thought into who Lois and Tiny are as human beings not just as characters in a story. The story was easy to read but still inflicted questions and wonder onto the reader. This was all done through McCracken’s strong ability of saying what needs to b
e said with no fluff added. Word choice has one of the biggest impacts on a story. It is a guiding factor that is right up there with diction and tone.
McCracken plucked out the words that fit snuggly into each sentence, each paragraph was thought out and given its own purpose. The subtle addition of figurative language adds enough spice to dull moments to peak up the readers interest and re-engage them. “At the end of the sessions, my hands would be dead asleep from trying to hold the book steady, and when I hit them on the edge of the table, trying to rouse them, they’d buzz like tuning forks.” This sentence is simple and almost a hair too long, but by wrapping it up using a simile that describes exactly how asleep Lois’ hands were without having to explain the tingling any more than saying “they’d buzz like tuning forks.”
It is truly a journey to read through this story and feel the lives of Lois and Tiny start to come to an end as you reach the last page. McCracken signed out their love story in such a way it caused almost immediate reflection on what I had just read. “I am not a museum, not yet, I’m a love letter, a love letter.” The entire story replayed in my mind and I recollected each tattoo session, each story they shared with one another, and this life they had together and what they built from it.