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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
I recommend this to people that loved "water for elephants". A fascinating look at mrs. Tom Thumb's life told in fiction, but most of the elements are truth.
Excellent story! Melanie Benjamin definitely did her research to produce this enlightening tale of Lavinia Warren Bump, also known as Mrs. Charles Stratton or Mrs. Tom Thumb. The story is told from Lavinia or Vinnie as she is familiarly called and provides insight into the life of someone with dwarfism. It also is a tale of adventure, longing, finding oneself and life.
If you are a fan of historical fiction, you will enjoy this tale as it encompasses life during the Civil War, the time of P.T. Barnum, the beginnings of the Wild West, the transcontinental railroad and more. Highly recommend!
If you are a fan of historical fiction, you will enjoy this tale as it encompasses life during the Civil War, the time of P.T. Barnum, the beginnings of the Wild West, the transcontinental railroad and more. Highly recommend!
Lavinia Warren Bump was born with proportionate dwarfism in 1841, a time when there were few opportunities for women and even fewer for women her size. She became a teacher in the small Massachusetts town she was from but Vinnie dreamed of bigger things. She toured with Colonel Wood for a few years before being “discovered” by P. T. Barnum. Once she came under his wing, she gained great fame and married Charles Stratton, also known as General Tom Thumb.
I’m not a big historical fiction reader but have enjoyed Benajamin’s books in the past so I decided to pick this one up. Since it’s written from the perspective of someone in the 1800’s, the language is a little formal by today’s standards and it took me a little while to adjust to it. Once I fell into it’s rhythm, I enjoyed the book - not just for Vinnie’s story but for the peek into the time period. Historical fiction lovers will eat this book up.
I’m not a big historical fiction reader but have enjoyed Benajamin’s books in the past so I decided to pick this one up. Since it’s written from the perspective of someone in the 1800’s, the language is a little formal by today’s standards and it took me a little while to adjust to it. Once I fell into it’s rhythm, I enjoyed the book - not just for Vinnie’s story but for the peek into the time period. Historical fiction lovers will eat this book up.
This was a very enjoyable book about the wife of Tom Thumb. I knew little of Tom Thumb and even less about his wife. It was amazing reading about the fame they both held during their lifetime (they were loved by aristocrats, presidents, queens, kings..). It was also interesting to learn about their relationship with PT Barnum, as I pictured him treating them as merely "freaks of natures" as he did with most of the other workers, but he seemed to generally care about them. Now I want to learn even more about "The Greatest Show on Earth!"
Melanie Benjamin has written a beautifully conceived fictionalized life of a woman whose life reads like fiction. We cannot ever know at this distance exactly what Lavinia Warren Bump felt or thought about her life (her actual autobiographical sketches are disappointingly restrained), but Melanie Benjamin has done a wonderful job of constructing the character of "Vinnie" and her motivations that one cannot help but imagine it is all true. Lavinia's life may read like fiction itself, but this book reads like truth. What greater compliment can be paid to a fictional autobiography?
Amazing
I couldn’t put this down. This author managed to make me feel like I was seeing the world through a little person’s eyes.
I couldn’t put this down. This author managed to make me feel like I was seeing the world through a little person’s eyes.
Lavinia Warren was only 32 inches high, but had ambitions that were not limited by her diminutive size. She was a real person, more popularly known as Mrs General Tom Thumb – the wife of P T Barnum’s famous “oddity.” In the midst of Civil War, their wedding was front-page news. They were received by Queen Victoria, Abraham Lincoln, and heads of state around the world. They were befriended by the Astors, Vanderbilts and other high society families. They were the Brad and Angelina of their day, mobbed by crowds wherever they went, written about by reporters, the subjects of gossip and rumor, and victims of their own fame. All of this is true, but this book is a work of fiction.
Benjamin does a wonderful job of bringing Vinnie to life. The novel depicts a woman of great intelligence and drive. She is shown to be cunning, witty, talented and strong-willed. She is also vulnerable, frightened, angry, and cold, suppressing her feelings to protect herself as best she can. Her partnership with Barnum is wonderfully imagined and beautifully told. Benjamin gives us a woman who is defined by her character, not her height. All this is presented against a backdrop of historical events – Civil War, the opening of the West, and life in the Gilded Age.
I really liked this book. I was completely mesmerized by Vinnie’s story, and that of the other members of her troupe. I grew up in San Antonio Texas, the home of the Hertzberg Circus Collection. When I was a child I spent many a Saturday visiting the collection, which was housed in the main Public Library downtown. It is the oldest and largest public collection of circus memorabilia in America. There is a significant amount of Tom Thumb memorabilia; one of the artifacts is the coach custom-made for General Tom Thumb. Unfortunately, by 2001 the building had deteriorated so much that the collection was at risk. It was moved to storage and is now conserved by the Witte Museum. It is not currently on display, though the many volumes of books and records are available to scholars for research (by appointment only).
Benjamin does a wonderful job of bringing Vinnie to life. The novel depicts a woman of great intelligence and drive. She is shown to be cunning, witty, talented and strong-willed. She is also vulnerable, frightened, angry, and cold, suppressing her feelings to protect herself as best she can. Her partnership with Barnum is wonderfully imagined and beautifully told. Benjamin gives us a woman who is defined by her character, not her height. All this is presented against a backdrop of historical events – Civil War, the opening of the West, and life in the Gilded Age.
I really liked this book. I was completely mesmerized by Vinnie’s story, and that of the other members of her troupe. I grew up in San Antonio Texas, the home of the Hertzberg Circus Collection. When I was a child I spent many a Saturday visiting the collection, which was housed in the main Public Library downtown. It is the oldest and largest public collection of circus memorabilia in America. There is a significant amount of Tom Thumb memorabilia; one of the artifacts is the coach custom-made for General Tom Thumb. Unfortunately, by 2001 the building had deteriorated so much that the collection was at risk. It was moved to storage and is now conserved by the Witte Museum. It is not currently on display, though the many volumes of books and records are available to scholars for research (by appointment only).
It gave me real pleasure to be the first person to "Like" Lavinia Warren on Facebook.
Vinnie would have been posting like mad and collecting friends like a fiend because her sense of self promotion was sure and timely. Born to a middle class Massachussetts family, proportional dwarfism caused her to grow to 2'8". A younger sister did not even make it that far, and so they were indeed well-proportioned tiny people in a family of strapping farmers. Vinnie became a teacher but realized that she was destined to spend her life as a small town oddity unless she did something about it. An alleged cousin came to the farm and offered Vinnie the chance to join his showboat traveling the Mississippi, and to her parents' amazement, she said yes.
Ladylike, intelligent, accomplished but sharp tongued, she was nothing like anyone out west had ever encountered. But was she to be stuck on a reeking barge with her new friends the 8-foot-woman and the tattooed man forever? No indeed.
Melanie Benjamin's first novel "Alice I Have Been" was one of my favorite novels of, what was it, 2009? "Mrs. Tom Thumb" is not as moving but it is a fascinating story that could have gone on longer. Benjamin glosses over events in Vinnie's later career that I would have loved to know more about--for example, Vinnie claims that she, her husband, and the General Tom Thumb company were the first Americans to travel to Australia. What about her second husband and her continuing link to Barnum? More! More!
Benjamin creates a world that is convincing and alive. I could go for volume II, but since I don't think that's happening, I'll look forward to Melanie Benjamin's next.
Vinnie would have been posting like mad and collecting friends like a fiend because her sense of self promotion was sure and timely. Born to a middle class Massachussetts family, proportional dwarfism caused her to grow to 2'8". A younger sister did not even make it that far, and so they were indeed well-proportioned tiny people in a family of strapping farmers. Vinnie became a teacher but realized that she was destined to spend her life as a small town oddity unless she did something about it. An alleged cousin came to the farm and offered Vinnie the chance to join his showboat traveling the Mississippi, and to her parents' amazement, she said yes.
Ladylike, intelligent, accomplished but sharp tongued, she was nothing like anyone out west had ever encountered. But was she to be stuck on a reeking barge with her new friends the 8-foot-woman and the tattooed man forever? No indeed.
Melanie Benjamin's first novel "Alice I Have Been" was one of my favorite novels of, what was it, 2009? "Mrs. Tom Thumb" is not as moving but it is a fascinating story that could have gone on longer. Benjamin glosses over events in Vinnie's later career that I would have loved to know more about--for example, Vinnie claims that she, her husband, and the General Tom Thumb company were the first Americans to travel to Australia. What about her second husband and her continuing link to Barnum? More! More!
Benjamin creates a world that is convincing and alive. I could go for volume II, but since I don't think that's happening, I'll look forward to Melanie Benjamin's next.
slow-paced