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Book Reviews of The Museum of Extraordinary Things

The Museum of Extraordinary Things
Author: Alice Hoffman
ISBN-13: 9781629531243
ISBN-10: 1629531243
Publication Date: 2014
Pages: 368
Rating:
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
 1

3.5 stars, based on 1 rating
Publisher: Scribner
Book Type: Paperback
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

6 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

23dollars avatar reviewed The Museum of Extraordinary Things on + 432 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
THE MUSEUM OF EXTRAORDINARY THINGS was the June 2015 pick in my neighborhood book club. I really wish I'd enjoyed it more.

I thought it was a pretty predictable and boring story set in early 1900s NYC, about a young girl named Coralie and her weird "Professor" father, an evil and macabre man who runs the museum featuring extraordinary people born with all sorts of deformities and abnormalities.

And there's also a guy named Eddie, a photographer with a yawn-able narrative of his own thrown in.

The narrative alternates between italicized 1st person POV with Coralie and Eddie, followed by standard text in 3rd person with both, which made for a very disjointed feel, and the story just didn't flow very well; the middle portions really dragged.

Overall, I'm not a fan of Alice Hoffman's writing. I've read at least one of her other books and the writing is just too dreary and bores me; her prose may be lyrical at times but just not engaging enough for me. And in this book, there was WAY too much lazy 'telling' and not enough showing. Almost like the narrative was always in black and white, no color.

I give it a generous C.
reviewed The Museum of Extraordinary Things on + 22 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
I am a hard core Hoffman fan. To me all of her books are moving and many even life altering. It is astounding that Alice Hoffman just gets better & better, like a rare and fine wine.
I cried so hard as I read the ending that it was hard to see the words and I felt them deeply into my soul. This is Hoffmans best! Without reservation, 5 stars. I would also add that for this story to be based on factual events in American history is a huge plus. I have learned some things about u.s. America that I otherwise would not have known.
perryfran avatar reviewed The Museum of Extraordinary Things on + 1221 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Another enjoyable novel from Hoffman. I have read several of her books and have really enjoyed most of them. This one takes place in New York and Brooklyn in 1911 and is told from the perspectives of Coralie Sardie, the daughter of the owner of the Coney Island attraction â The Museum of Extraordinary Things â and Eddie Cohen, a Russian Jewish immigrant who has left his community and is striving to work as a photographer. Coralie is watched over by her beloved but acid-scarred family housekeeper, Maureen, and lives with her father above the museum. At first Coralie loves and respects her father but on her tenth birthday, he escorts her through the exhibit for the first time, and he also puts her on display as âThe Human Mermaid.â Born with webbed fingers, Coralie, an expert swimmer, spends her days in a tank wearing her mermaid suit. Later as the business starts to fail, her father arranges special showings, during which adolescent Coralie must swim naked for invited male audiences. Coralie longs to leave but in the mean time is comforted by Maureen. Then Coralie meets Eddie Cohen and her life seems to change as she falls in love with him.

The story is told between two tragic fires that occurred in 1911 â The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory and Coney Island's Dreamland fire. Eddie photographs and is haunted by images of the Triangle fire and then he becomes involved in locating a young woman who goes missing after the fire. This eventually leads him to Coralie and her dire circumstances at the museum.

I thought this novel was very engaging and provided a lot of the history and living conditions of early 20th century New York. I would recommend this one and I'll be reading more of Hoffman. I also read another compelling novel about Coney Island several years ago âDreamland by Kevin Baker that I would also highly recommend for anyone wanting to know more about Coney Island and its inhabitants of the early part of the twentieth century.
loregess avatar reviewed The Museum of Extraordinary Things on + 175 more book reviews
The storyline focuses on two central characters whose upbringing should have never led them to the same path. Somehow their circumstances living in an unforgiving city bring them together. I was equally fascinated and disturbed at the length amusement park owners went through to bring in or create the illusion of the strange-but-true come to life in order to bring in customers and make a profit.

Hoffman delivers a backdrop of a younger NYC in a time in which the working class man takes a stand and helps shape our future through the development of unions. Added to this is the magical time of technology in which the use of electricity is still in its infancy. The detail and care Hoffman puts into recreating this era made me feel like I got my own private tour back in time. Had this books sole purpose been to enlighten us about that period in time, I wouldve given this 4 stars. However, at its core, it is the story of Coralie and Eddie, and I felt that once their paths cross, they lose a certain dimension of their individual selves. I felt that their coming together felt rushed somehow. I also wanted to read more about the characters that help Coralie and Eddie along the way. I think Mr. Morris and Maureen deserve to be featured in their own story. Perhaps therell be a sequel?

Overall, it is Hoffmans beautiful writing that is most magical and will make you want to keep reading on. Ive heard her fans say that this is not her greatest work. This book has been my introduction to Hoffman and I really enjoyed her writing style. It did not disappoint and I look forward to reading her even finer works.
reviewed The Museum of Extraordinary Things on + 1450 more book reviews
I liked this read. The auther gives arealistic look at this period in time where men built museums to make money on the unusual occurences in humans and nature. The key character is Coralie Sardie, whose father collects items for their museum He hires the people others consider freaks such as those with deformities or physical anomalies. He pays them as little as he can because most of the individuals just want to work so they can eat and pay their bills and he can get away with it and he can make more money that way.

Coralie herself is a superb swimmer and can hold her breath a long time. She poses as a mermaid for the museum and for a time she is a star attraction. Coralie was born with skin connecting her fingers which was so embarassing to her that she always wore gloves. Yet, she always she wished she were normal. She didn't realize until she fell in love that her father saw her as a mermaid attraction for the museum. Did he even love her? And, can she find a normal life with her sweetheart?
reviewed The Museum of Extraordinary Things on + 17 more book reviews
This was a real page-turner! I lost hours of sleep because I didn't want to stop reading.