The Book Shelf
A
lice Hoffman’s ‘The Museum of Extraordinary Things’
takes the reader on a journey that eloquently blends historical
facts with an engaging fictional tale. It is hard at times to
remember which is which as she exposes us to a mysterious,
menacing and magical New York City. It is a New York where
wolves and bears still roam the yet unclaimed wilderness that
skirt the ever expanding metropolis. It is a New York where
immigrants of all stripes are trying to find their American
Dream as they struggle to discover their true selves even in the
midst of personal loss and the tumult of the city that seems
even more wild and dangerous than the marshy wilderness
that clings to it’s fragile existence along the Hudson River.
Ezekiel (Eddie), an orthodox Russian Jewish boy who escapes
to New York with his father after their former lives in Europe
have been shattered, discovers in the streets, back alleys and
work houses of the city not only loss, but love and eventually
himself in ways he never anticipated. After rejecting his father
and his community Eddie reinvents himself through the art of
photography and begins to see the world in it’s bleak light,
while searching for something he can’t quite grasp nor truly
understands.
Scribner
A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
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New York, NY 10020
Coralie, a young girl growing up in Brooklyn and raised by a
mysterious and demanding father, discovers the true cost of
the bright lights and magic of Coney Island attractions. As the
face of New York continues to change so does Coralie’s life
and she learns all to quickly that things are not always what
they seem. Eddie and Coralie ultimately find themselves
drawn to each through the disappearance of a girl connected
to the famous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. This masterfully
told story of love and self discovery is rooted in the class
struggle of New York in the early 1900s between the wealthy
and the various immigrant populations that catered to them.
Filled with colorful and exotic characters Hoffman let’s us feel
the grime, grit, despair, joy and excitement of a burgeoning
city growing into its own and two young spirits who equally
are doing the same. - PSB
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THE CONE - ISSUE #1 - SPRING 2014