Title: The Museum of Extraordinary Things
Author: Alice Hoffman
Publisher: Scribner
Page Count: 368
Publication Date: 2014
Category/Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Magical Realism, Historical Fiction, Romance, Mystery
Good Reads Rating: ★★★★☆ (3.74)
My Rating: ★★★★☆(3.8)
Coralie Sardie is the daughter of the sinister impresario behind The Museum of Extraordinary Things, a Coney Island boardwalk freak show that thrills the masses. An exceptional swimmer, Coralie appears as the Mermaid in her father’s “museum,” alongside performers like the Wolfman, the Butterfly Girl, and a one-hundred-year-old turtle. One night Coralie stumbles upon a striking young man taking pictures of moonlit trees in the woods off the Hudson River. The dashing photographer is Eddie Cohen, a Russian immigrant who has run away from his father’s Lower East Side Orthodox community and his job as a tailor’s apprentice. When Eddie photographs the devastation on the streets of New York following the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, he becomes embroiled in the suspicious mystery behind a young woman’s disappearance and ignites the heart of Coralie.
This is a beautifully written book about belonging, love and beauty, and family. Hoffman took some incredible pieces of New York history —
Bowery life, the Jewish immigrant experience, the ins and outs of 1910-1911 Coney Island, the gangsters and prostitutes and corrupt officials, Dreamland fire and the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire and tied them together in such a natural progression to two absolutely riveting protagonists and their lives.
“Listen, and you’ll hear a story being told, one you may need to know.”
Coralie and Eddie’s stories kept me equally enthralled as these two young people each struggled to find their own way in the world despite and because of their families and backgrounds.
One of Hoffman’s talents from my experience so far is her character creation and development. Multileveled and incredibly deep, they find ways into your heart and to resonate with your soul. Coralie and Eddie were no exception.
This book was beautiful; dark with moments of light in the shadow; and truly, filled with extraordinary people and things. Yet another notch on my Hoffman success’ list.
Down the Rabbit Hole 
I read and enjoyed this one a few years back as I was going through a “circus and fairground” fiction reading phase. I gave it 4 stars, and in my notes from then I compare it to Kirsty Logan’s novel “The Gracekeepers”, which is set partly in a floating circus and has similar themes around freedom, loyalty, acceptance and self-determination. Celia has certain similarities to Callanish from Logan’s novel too – a certain shared affiliation with water, shall we say.
Thanks for sharing, and giving me the chance to discuss circusy books!
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oh I will definitely need to check out “The Gracekeeprs”! I love circus based fantasy books. If you haven’t read Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (I wrote a review on that too!) or Caravel by Stephanie Garber I would highly recommend them!
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The Night Circus is a longtime favourite of mine – it inspired my undergraduate dissertation on how circuses in C21 fiction are adapted from the historical reality to suit contemporary sensibilities. I’ve heard a lot about Caravel but still not read it, so I really ought to source a copy!
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You did an undergraduate dissertation on circuses?!? I’m absolutely intrigued and would love to hear more. That sounds incredible. I added The Gracekeepers to my list to be ordered, any other recommendations would be highly welcomed!
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Thanks! I haven’t shared any of that research online (yet), but probably at some point in the future I will do.
I wrote about animal acts in circuses – because animal cruelty is considered broadly unacceptable for readers today, but the acts were considered entertaining at the time, authors have had to be clever in the way they represent animals. I also wrote about “extraordinary bodies”, and the relationship between disability and freakshows, exploring how the writers empowered the characters whose bodies caused them to be objectified or dehumanized. As I was researching, I found some great criticism about twins in literature which was very applicable to The Night Circus, and I also read a lot about clowns!
In terms of other novels, Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus is a fantastic story (in all senses) about a swan-woman, a journalist, and a circus. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (on which the Robert Pattinson/ Reese Witherspoon film is based) isn’t magical realist, but if it’s the circus setting you’re interested in, you might like it – be aware, it does have some quite violent scenes.
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