12. The Museum of Extraordinary Things - Alice Hoffman

Audio read by Judith Light, Grace Gummer, and Zach Appelman

10 unabridged cds
2014, Scribner (Simon & Schuster Audio)

368 pgs.

Historical Fiction

Finished 1/31/2014

Goodreads rating: 3.72

My rating:    5 - A wonderful story, especially to listen to

TPPL

Setting: 1911 NYC

1st sentence/s: "You would think it would be impossible to find anything new in the world; creatures no man has ever seen before, one-of-a-kind oddities in which nature has taken a backseat to the coursing pulse of the fantastical and the marvelous."

My comments:  This was really two stories that slowly....ever so slowly and deliciously....come together. The time period - early 20th century - is one that I don't especially enjoy reading about for some reason, but I was mesmerized by the bits of history (yes, some very horrific bits of history, but history nontheless) that Hoffman describes in great detail.  She is one heck of a writer and one heck of a storyteller. Additionally, this one was a treat to listen to, not read.  There was a lovely voice for Coralee, and strong male voice for Eddie, and the wonderful, intense reading of Judith Light as the narrator.  Terrific!

Goodreads book summary:  From the beloved, bestselling author of The Dovekeepers, a mesmerizing new novel about the electric and impassioned love between two vastly different souls in New York during the volatile first decades of the twentieth century.Coney Island: Coralie Sardie is the daughter of the impresario behind The Museum of Extraordinary Things, a boardwalk freak show that amazes and stimulates the crowds. 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 photographing 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 an apprentice tailor. When Eddie captures with his camera the devastation on the streets of New York following the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, he becomes embroiled in the mystery behind a young woman’s disappearance.
          New York itself becomes a riveting character as Hoffman weaves her magic, romance, and masterful storytelling to unite Coralie and Eddie in a sizzling, tender, and moving story of young love in tumultuous times. The Museum of Extraordinary Things is Hoffman at her most spellbinding