almost amazing grace

"Chris Allen, the aide who sat alone in the car with Sanford as he spoke to his furious wife on the phone, told CNN in an e-mail Friday that the drive to Columbia was 'awkward, emotional, almost fictitious, and at this point a blur.'" (CNN)

I must admire the invention of “almost fictitious” here. It’s completely screwed up, but delightful. I think he must have meant “almost unreal.” Of course if the drive is now "a blur," I don't know how one could judge it to be fictitious or not fictitious. Still, I’m going to steal the expression, since “almost fictitious” makes a great description.

I have an almost fictitious love of Puccini.
I spent an almost fictitious weekend in Rome.
My grasp of the situation is almost fictitious.
By ten o'clock, the evening was almost fictitious.

I think this is the expression many book reviewers have been searching for to describe that new animal, the embellished memoir.