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H.P. Wood

Autor von Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet

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I received this book from NetGalley for free for review purposes. This does not mean that I have to give the book a positive review, but I do have to notify the reader how I received this book.

There is a funny story behind this book. I had applied to NetGalley to read the book, but did not hear anything for a few weeks, so I figured I was going to be turned down. I did want to read the book, so I went out and purchased it. The day after I started reading it, I found out I was approved to read it via NetGalley, so I read half of it in galley form and the other half in the final retail form.

Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet by HP Wood was a difficult read for me not due to the language or the writing, but due to the story.

The book tells the story of Kitty Hayward who has just arrived in Coney Island and is looking for her sick mother who disappeared from a hotel room. Kitty is penniless and stuck. She runs into a local con man who takes her under his wing and introduces her to a cast of characters who work for the boardwalk.

As the story is told, we see that rats are dying on the boardwalk, as are the camels in one of the acts, and then one of the boardwalk workers all falls ill. It turns out the plague aka the cough is claiming the lives of people.

It was at this part that book kind of fell apart for me. I really enjoyed the first part of this book as the two stories of Kitty and the Cabinet start coming together. Those parts of the book were great. When the plague is introduced and the cast is separated, I found the book lost its way.

The writing was a lot of fun and I felt that Wood was telling a great story. She kept the slew of characters going and kept the story progressing. It was just the plot that drew me out. I know that people will love this book despite my beef with the plot. I will warn that there is a feeling that this is a YA book, but it definitely is not. It becomes a pretty depressing book toward the end and has themes that are not appropriate for youth.

I rated this one 3.5 stars.
… (mehr)
 
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Nerdyrev1 | 12 weitere Rezensionen | Nov 23, 2022 |
Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.
 
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fernandie | 1 weitere Rezension | Sep 15, 2022 |
I loved the cover and was intrigued by the description.

I felt so bad for Kitty being hungry and alone, and I enjoyed the setting. It reminded me somewhat of an old Alfred Hitchcock episode in which a young girl loses her mom after checking into a hotel and being sent out for medicine and then being told she has the wrong hotel when she returns. I did find it a bit difficult to keep up with so many characters.

I received an advance copy for review
 
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IreneCole | 12 weitere Rezensionen | Jul 27, 2022 |
Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet is an engaging novel set in the early 1900’s on Coney Island, New York.

It’s 1904, and seventeen year old Kitty Hayward finds herself stranded in Coney Island when her ailing mother, and all their belongings, inexplicably disappears from the hotel room they were sharing. Friendless, homeless, and penniless, she must rely on the kindness of a stranger who introduces her to the extraordinary employees and hanger-ons of Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet.

“Theophilus P. Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet is just an ugly old building with blacked-out windows and a faded sign. Thousands of souls may visit Coney Island, but few of those souls are hearty enough to peer inside Magruder’s heavy oak door.”

The characters of Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet are extraordinarily rendered, ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous. Magruder’s is a rundown dime museum crowded with oddities, staffed solely by Zeph, a legless black man. Upstairs lives Timur, a reclusive inventor, and Rosalind, who has a carny act as a half woman half man in a tent on the boardwalk. In the basement of the building is an unlicensed pub which welcomes the unusual employees of the Coney Island attractions after hours. It is with this eccentric family, which also includes Rosalind’s lover Enzo, and a mute orphan boy the call P-Ray, that Kitty unexpectedly finds refuge, and help.

“That’s what we call you…normal people. You call us Unusuals, freaks, monsters… Did you never think we’d have our own name for you? Dozens. As in, dime a.”

Wood takes a little liberty with some of the historical elements in this novel, but the story is richer for it. Coney Island becomes the epicentre of an outbreak of plague (inspired by a similar event which actually occurred on the country’s west coast) threatening both ‘freaks’ and ‘dozens’ alike. It is this tragedy that drives much of action, as the wealthy owners Coney Island’s businesses attempt to hide the virulent disease they call the ‘Calcutta Cough’ in order to protect their profits, and their employees are left to fend for themselves as the dead pile up around them.

“We must keep those hotels filled, miss! Keep those dancehalls crowded, keep that Shoot the Chute flying down the track. And if you develop a slight cough, if your complexion goes a bit lumpy? The men in masks will scoop you up and take you away...”

Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet is a thoughtful exploration of oppression, corruption, belonging, and compassion. Often delightful and charming yet also dark and challenging, its also a story of perseverance and redemption in the face of tragedy.

With lively characters, a colourful setting and a rich and interesting plot I found Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet to be an entertaining and enchanting read.
… (mehr)
½
 
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shelleyraec | 12 weitere Rezensionen | Apr 27, 2019 |

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Werke
2
Mitglieder
131
Beliebtheit
#154,467
Bewertung
½ 3.5
Rezensionen
15
ISBNs
8

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