tammyhai 's review for:

The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman

3.0

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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.