I used to say that Alice Hoffman was one of my favorite authors. “Used to” as in have always, ever since I first fell in love with the book “Practical Magic,” which is SO much better than the movie, which is really damn good it its own right, but for the record, only covers about 1/3 of the content of the book. Initially in my late teens I read her books with a voracious appetite, and regularly recommend her to others. There are elements of […]
Coney Island Love Story
There are certain settings I think automatically lead to interesting stories worth exploring. Two of them are early 20th century New York and ‘freak shows.’ Alice Hoffman’s The Museum of Extraordinary Things takes both of these on. Museum is the story of Coralie, a talented swimmer playing mermaid in her father’s museum of unusual people, animals and artifacts, and Eddie, a Russian Jewish immigrant with a serious chip on his shoulder and a talent for photography. There are many things I disliked about this novel, […]
A Worthy Tribute
I’m a huge fan of Ray Bradbury, but I actually found this in the process of hunting down a copy of Joe Hill’s By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain, which is included in this collection. Pretty much every story here is a winner, though, and definitely worth reading for Bradbury fans. Here’s a full list of everything included. I particularly enjoyed Lee Martin’s Cat on a Bad Couch, Jacqueline Mitchard’s Two Of A Kind, Charles Yu’s Earth: (A Gift Shop) and Julia Keller’s Hayleigh’s Dad. Overall, though, there aren’t any duds. And I really liked […]
Mothers and Daughters and Meh
Alice Hoffman is one of my favorite authors, so I was eager to tackle this one, and yet, meh. Two mothers, one who put her daughter up for adoption and has carried the secret with her (Lila), and one who is facing an unplanned pregnancy (Rae) have their lives interwoven through serendipitous means. This is a tale of tragedy, hope, and forgiveness, and how small missteps can irrevocably change the lives of our protagonists, and those around them. Magical realism is usually my jam, but […]
Magical realism that falls flat
I do not have an issue with magical realism in books; in fact, I enjoy it. Isabel Allende and Sarah Addison Allen both use it — in very different ways — to add spark and dimension to their novels. Alice Hoffman’s Illumination Night, by contrast, seems weighed down by it — or maybe that was just the utterly depressing story. “He fell in love with the way she closed her eyes, long before he fell in love with her.” In Martha’s Vineyard, we’re introduced to a […]
A Strange Romance in Early 20th Century New York
Alice Hoffman’s The Museum of Extraordinary Things tells the story of Coralie, a “mermaid” girl forced to perform in her father’s freak show on Coney Island, and Eddie, who made his living for years by finding people, and has been tasked to find another young girl after a horrible disaster. Coralie and Eddie meet, and things change forever. “You are the one who taught me that love was never what we expected it to be and that it was all we needed. For that, and for a thousand […]
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