You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
fauxleo 's review for:
The Museum of Extraordinary Things
by Alice Hoffman
A fascinating concept and promising setting: Edwardian NYC; Coney Island and the museum; the contrast of lower Manhattan's factories with the mansions of the rich and the hermit's hut in the wilderness of upper Manhattan. All the elements were there to potentially capture my imagination and my heart.
Unfortunately, I feel like I experienced it all in a fog and at a distance.* The characters never came to life for me (especially Coralie). I barely knew or understood them, despite reading their backstories. Insta-love and a mostly off-camera courtship did not help. Nor did the ending, delivered via a lengthy letter that verged on "As You Know Bob." As for the letter's possible revelation, it's not something I'd even thought of before, nor did we see Coralie wonder about it, so it felt tacked on.
Overall, I'd give this a score in the high 3's. I did enjoy many parts of the book (especially the actual history) and hated none of it. Alice Hoffman's prose and imagery was lovely, and the depiction of the two big fires was vivid enough, but I really needed more depth and fire to the characterizations and the story itself in order to give this a higher score.
*Honestly, part of my odd detachment might be the psychological effect of reading page after page after page of italics on my tiny e-reader, almost half the book. I absolutely loathed that. Had I read it on paper, things might be different (but I'd still hate reading that much italicized text).
Unfortunately, I feel like I experienced it all in a fog and at a distance.* The characters never came to life for me (especially Coralie). I barely knew or understood them, despite reading their backstories. Insta-love and a mostly off-camera courtship did not help. Nor did the ending, delivered via a lengthy letter that verged on "As You Know Bob." As for the letter's possible revelation, it's not something I'd even thought of before, nor did we see Coralie wonder about it, so it felt tacked on.
Overall, I'd give this a score in the high 3's. I did enjoy many parts of the book (especially the actual history) and hated none of it. Alice Hoffman's prose and imagery was lovely, and the depiction of the two big fires was vivid enough, but I really needed more depth and fire to the characterizations and the story itself in order to give this a higher score.
*Honestly, part of my odd detachment might be the psychological effect of reading page after page after page of italics on my tiny e-reader, almost half the book. I absolutely loathed that. Had I read it on paper, things might be different (but I'd still hate reading that much italicized text).