THE MUSEUM OF EXTRAORDINARY THINGS

by Alice Hoffman

MINI REVIEW

The second book I’ve read by Alice Hoffman (review of The Marriage of Opposites here), I am once again impressed by her ability to weave factual historical events with a fantastical love story that borders on magical. Set in New York just after the turn of the century, our heroine is a young girl living on Coney Island with her father who owns a museum that is essentially a freak show. Because of a slight deformity in her hands, her father displays her as a mermaid, and the small museum world is all she has ever known. Our hero is a young Jewish boy who escapes the pogroms in Russia with his father, but eventually abandons him and his faith to pursue a life of investigation and photography. How the two meet and how their stories connect to several major New York City events is the heart of this romantic, horrifying and page-turning book. (Lily)