The Museum of Extraordinary Things
by Alice Hoffman
Wow! Look no more if you are hoping to find things that are not only extraordinary, but also a little disturbing. No review could ever do this book much justice without spoiling the story. I was very impressed with Alice Hoffman’s incredible ability to take a reader into a different time and place and make them feel like they are reading the daily news. New York in the time of the Triangle fire was a fantastic period. Hoffman teaches us a great deal about the culture and history of the era but we hardly notice we are learning through the jaw-dropping amazement of the museum keeper.
The characters in The Museum of Extraordinary Things are as lovable as they are deplorable, which draws the reader into their sorrows and joys with the connection of a loving friend or a powerful foe.
This is the type of book I am tempted to reread after all of the pieces have been laid out and placed in order.
Historical Value- 4
Emotional Value- 4
Entertainment Value- 4
Personal Character Value- 4
Age recommendation- 16+
If you enjoyed The Museum of Extraordinary things you will also love The Dovekeepers, by Alice Hoffman
“(Love) walks up to you, and when it does, you need to recognize it for what it is and, perhaps more important, for what it might become.”
“The truth frightens people because it isn’t stable. It shifts every day.”
“Love like this wasn’t what he’d planned or wanted or expected, surely it was indeed a trap, for even when you tried to run away, it followed you through the grass and lay down beside you, it overtook common sense and willpower.”
“The clouds drifted like ice in a tumbler. Through his lens the river seemed made of light, there was the shimmer, and for a moment the world seemed whole to him.”
“Films featuring museums are on the whole, not serious ones…Nevertheless, they speak clearly to the popular perception of the museum: a place apart from normal, everyday life; dusty, dark, mysterious, with arcane processes being carried out by strange obsessive curators and naive restorers and scientists.”
