The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman

3.62 AVERAGE

tammyhai's profile picture

tammyhai's review against another edition

3.0
I struggled between 2 and 3 stars. Alice Hoffman is one of my favorite authors. Her writing is so beautiful, her characters full of love, and I love the magical realism that she puts in every book. So of course I expected to love this one. How could I not? I've always been drawn to the world of Barnum and Bailey, old-world circuses, "freaks" and "oddities." There's a strange romanticism to it and also very human and real tragedies. Hoffman could have taken this story a hundred million directions... And she kind of did. The book was messy and convoluted yet predictable and, I hate to admit it, boring. But there were moments of beauty, Hoffman is just such a fantastic writer, that it wasn't all a waste. Hence my reluctance to give this just 2 stars.

h_hafler's review against another edition

5.0
I loved every minute of this book, from beginning to end!

kolausen's review against another edition

3.0
A mystery, a love story, and the journey of two people to find their own way in a world that seeks to define them through others. Very interesting story, and well written in a combination of first- and third-person narrative.

aligato888's review against another edition

4.0
Like reading a beautiful painting...
pwillon's profile picture

pwillon's review against another edition

3.0
3.5⭐️

andrea0301's review against another edition

5.0
I love Alice Hoffman as an author. This is either my fourth or fifth novel I have read by her and I love her weaving of historically accurate events around a fictional story and characters. This is a story set between two famous fires in NYC, the T shirt factory fire and the Dreamland fire(google both, like my friend pointed out, they are both fascinating). Aside from the backdrop of these real events and a real mystic named Hochman, the rest of the story is fictional, but weaves a tale of love, abuse, and growing up during this time period of profound change. I loved that there was a discussion of people who adored and cared for animals throughout the novel amongst several different characters. This part truly moved me every time. I adored the stories of both Coralie and Eddie, loved the back and forth of both, and also adored Maureen and The Wolfman. The Wolfman I would have promptly fallen in love with over our mutual love for Jane Eyre. They end up in a small town in the valley, I can only assume it is the Hudson Valley that I grew up in. Overall, I highly recommend this novel by this author. I own a copy of this novel if anyone is interested in borrowing it in the future.

bcgal00's review against another edition

Loved this story so much more than I was expecting to. Great storytelling!

mdwsn27's review against another edition

3.5
adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
Loved the first half. The rest of the story dragged on and disappointed.

Like, they had me in the first half, but in the opposite way of what you'd think.
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squ1dsqu1d's profile picture

squ1dsqu1d's review against another edition

4.0
I had somewhat low expectations for this book but I was pleasantly surprised. Strong sense of time and place. Sometimes the history felt a bit forced but whatever I liked it enough. also biased because I love Coney Island

charity_royall_331's review against another edition

4.0
I love Alice Hoffman. The blend of mystery and fairy tale that marks her best books is all right here, against a backdrop of historical events. In places she does fall in love with her research, and, as is not uncommon in her books, she could have used a stronger editorial hand, but she weaves a romantic spell that makes the story feel timeless.