Chapter 20: A Book By an Author With Your Initials

The Museum of Extraordinary Things, Alice Hoffman

I am sure reviews of this book include descriptions like poetic and lyrical; it certainly aspires to those things. But this piece seems to have a bit of an identity crisis. Is it mystery? Is it historical fiction in which the time and location become characters themselves? Is it character-driven literary fiction? Well, it just kind of falls short of all of these. The result is readable but not memorable.

As a mystery, a glimpse at the cover art is enough to know what the menacing Professor has planned. The other surprises revealed near the end are likewise predictable even if not foreshadowed. Luckily for Ms. Hoffman, I doubt she was aiming for a shocking plot twist.

As historical fiction, Museum does a fair job of embracing the genre. Hoffman's lifelong experience in the boroughs shows in the life she breathes into the city. But the spirit of the era- both the tension in the workplace and the exhilaration of attractions- don't take form even though they are referenced often. Of course there is talk of unions and Tammany Hall corruption, but it doesn't coalesce into a character, which I think of as a very important aspect of historical fiction. In this context, I enjoyed Burning Girls more.

If Hoffman's goal is literary fiction, this is the closest she got to her goal. The plot relies heavily on a few bursts of action amid the inner thoughts of the main characters. However the characters don't really move the story along. It almost happens in spite of their efforts, in which case Fate should be the main character. I enjoyed following the threads that would eventually bring these two together, but at times felt bogged down by the shifts in perspective and time. The third person narratives move the story along better than the first person flashbacks.

And about those flashbacks- the font for entire chapters is painful! I don't know what professional selected this italicized font, but it is tiring. I can support the decision of a different typeface for different times, threads, or narrators, but for the love of mis ojos, please make it readable. The kerning is a little loose for so many lines and there are too many flourishes.

I do like the story of Coralie and Eddie and their peers. I braced myself for tragedies that never occurred and I cringed at ones that did. There is little moral ambiguity among the characters. The bad guys are really bad, the good guys are only a little bad. Except for the heavy handedness of the water and fire imagery and symbolism, the story is good even when the telling is not. Overall, I give Museum three Marias.