The Museum of Extraordinary Things--Alice Hoffman Discovers An Earlier New York

I wouldn't have read The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman now if the libraries hadn't been closed.  When I find books mentioned and go to the library websites to locate them, I now look for e-book editions that would enable me to check them out without waiting for libraries to re-open in the uncertain future.  This is the second library e-book that I've read lately.  The first was science fiction/mystery crossover, An Oath of Dogs, which I reviewed here.

 I honestly didn't believe I would want to write a full length blog review of The Museum of Extraordinary Things until I started reading Hoffman's acknowledgements and the Reading Group Guide questions. I then realized that I had multiple paragraphs worth of topics to discuss, and that my rating would rise accordingly.  There was more to this book than I had initially thought.

                           

One of my motivations for wanting to read The Museum of Extraordinary Things is the focus on sideshow performers who are often stigmatized as "freaks".  I am interested in their struggle  to be treated as human beings.

 I reviewed a trilogy by Hayley Lawson-Smith dealing with a circus whose original owner had an innovative and remarkably egalitarian approach toward his sideshow performers revealed in the first book of The Julius Romeros Extravaganza which I reviewed on my discontinued blog here.  The attitude of "Professor" Sardie, the "Museum's" owner, toward sideshow performers in Hoffman's book is much more akin to the villainous new owner of the Julius Romeros Extravaganza in Book 2  of Lawson-Smith's trilogy which I reviewed here .  Though Professor Sardie  isn't as relentlessly abusive as that second owner in the Lawson-Smith trilogy.

The female protagonist, Coralie Sardie,  ended up being an involuntary participant in the so called "museum". I wished that she could have been more independent sooner.  Yet I did understand that she was young and had little experience of the world away from the "Professor's"  dominance.

The Museum of Extraordinary Things is set in New York in 1911.  Alice Hoffman tells us that the events of the novel are bookended by two major fires that actually occurred that year. The first was The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire  whose casualties led to union demands for improved factory conditions.  The Wikipedia article I've linked includes an extensive list of resources related to this event.  I was thinking about the conditions of meat packers that has led to meat packing factories becoming coronavirus hotspots when I read about the Triangle Factory Fire and its aftermath in Hoffman's book.  Perhaps there is something to be learned from the success of early 20th century garment workers in getting their safety concerns addressed.  Toward the end of The Museum of Extraordinary Things, I also felt that there were parallels between the female victims of the factory fire, and Coralie's situation in the "Museum" building.

Inwood, the wooded area at the northern tip of Manhattan, is another aspect of Hoffman's novel that made me feel connected to it.  As I mentioned in my 2017 review of  Lights Out Summer, which I reviewed here , I lived in Inwood for four years.  This is the second book I've read this year in which Inwood played a significant role.  The first was The Girls With No Names which took place, largely in Inwood, during 1913. I reviewed it on Flying High Reviews here.  When I lived there, Inwood Hill Park was and still is the last patch of wild left in Manhattan.  It felt like a magical place to me.  I could imagine that forest covering a great deal more territory in the early 20th century when I was reading this novel.  I identified with Eddie Cohen's feelings about this place.  Eddie was the male protagonist of The Museum of Extraordinary Things.  Eddie considered the forest that covered the northern tip of Manhattan a refuge where he went when the city felt like an urban hell.  There were times when I felt the same way.

There is a mystery aspect to this book.  Photographer Eddie Cohen had played amateur detective by finding missing people.  When one of the missing turns out to have been murdered, Eddie is asked by the family to solve this killing. I loved Eddie's determination, and his willingness to do what seemed impossible. Eddie was actually my favorite character in The Museum of Extraordinary Things. He did transgress against ethical norms at times,  but I found his motivations understandable and I thought he always had a good heart.  He was loyal to those who he considered deserving of loyalty and kept his commitments.

Between the significant themes, the fire that has echoed down the centuries, the New York setting, the compelling characters and a resolved mystery that gave the living and the dead closure,  I have to consider this an excellent novel.