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spclteach's review against another edition
4.0
Amazing
I couldn’t put this down. This author managed to make me feel like I was seeing the world through a little person’s eyes.
I couldn’t put this down. This author managed to make me feel like I was seeing the world through a little person’s eyes.
book_concierge's review against another edition
5.0
Lavinia Warren was only 32 inches high, but had ambitions that were not limited by her diminutive size. She was a real person, more popularly known as Mrs General Tom Thumb – the wife of P T Barnum’s famous “oddity.” In the midst of Civil War, their wedding was front-page news. They were received by Queen Victoria, Abraham Lincoln, and heads of state around the world. They were befriended by the Astors, Vanderbilts and other high society families. They were the Brad and Angelina of their day, mobbed by crowds wherever they went, written about by reporters, the subjects of gossip and rumor, and victims of their own fame. All of this is true, but this book is a work of fiction.
Benjamin does a wonderful job of bringing Vinnie to life. The novel depicts a woman of great intelligence and drive. She is shown to be cunning, witty, talented and strong-willed. She is also vulnerable, frightened, angry, and cold, suppressing her feelings to protect herself as best she can. Her partnership with Barnum is wonderfully imagined and beautifully told. Benjamin gives us a woman who is defined by her character, not her height. All this is presented against a backdrop of historical events – Civil War, the opening of the West, and life in the Gilded Age.
I really liked this book. I was completely mesmerized by Vinnie’s story, and that of the other members of her troupe. I grew up in San Antonio Texas, the home of the Hertzberg Circus Collection. When I was a child I spent many a Saturday visiting the collection, which was housed in the main Public Library downtown. It is the oldest and largest public collection of circus memorabilia in America. There is a significant amount of Tom Thumb memorabilia; one of the artifacts is the coach custom-made for General Tom Thumb. Unfortunately, by 2001 the building had deteriorated so much that the collection was at risk. It was moved to storage and is now conserved by the Witte Museum. It is not currently on display, though the many volumes of books and records are available to scholars for research (by appointment only).
Benjamin does a wonderful job of bringing Vinnie to life. The novel depicts a woman of great intelligence and drive. She is shown to be cunning, witty, talented and strong-willed. She is also vulnerable, frightened, angry, and cold, suppressing her feelings to protect herself as best she can. Her partnership with Barnum is wonderfully imagined and beautifully told. Benjamin gives us a woman who is defined by her character, not her height. All this is presented against a backdrop of historical events – Civil War, the opening of the West, and life in the Gilded Age.
I really liked this book. I was completely mesmerized by Vinnie’s story, and that of the other members of her troupe. I grew up in San Antonio Texas, the home of the Hertzberg Circus Collection. When I was a child I spent many a Saturday visiting the collection, which was housed in the main Public Library downtown. It is the oldest and largest public collection of circus memorabilia in America. There is a significant amount of Tom Thumb memorabilia; one of the artifacts is the coach custom-made for General Tom Thumb. Unfortunately, by 2001 the building had deteriorated so much that the collection was at risk. It was moved to storage and is now conserved by the Witte Museum. It is not currently on display, though the many volumes of books and records are available to scholars for research (by appointment only).
candacesiegle_greedyreader's review against another edition
5.0
It gave me real pleasure to be the first person to "Like" Lavinia Warren on Facebook.
Vinnie would have been posting like mad and collecting friends like a fiend because her sense of self promotion was sure and timely. Born to a middle class Massachussetts family, proportional dwarfism caused her to grow to 2'8". A younger sister did not even make it that far, and so they were indeed well-proportioned tiny people in a family of strapping farmers. Vinnie became a teacher but realized that she was destined to spend her life as a small town oddity unless she did something about it. An alleged cousin came to the farm and offered Vinnie the chance to join his showboat traveling the Mississippi, and to her parents' amazement, she said yes.
Ladylike, intelligent, accomplished but sharp tongued, she was nothing like anyone out west had ever encountered. But was she to be stuck on a reeking barge with her new friends the 8-foot-woman and the tattooed man forever? No indeed.
Melanie Benjamin's first novel "Alice I Have Been" was one of my favorite novels of, what was it, 2009? "Mrs. Tom Thumb" is not as moving but it is a fascinating story that could have gone on longer. Benjamin glosses over events in Vinnie's later career that I would have loved to know more about--for example, Vinnie claims that she, her husband, and the General Tom Thumb company were the first Americans to travel to Australia. What about her second husband and her continuing link to Barnum? More! More!
Benjamin creates a world that is convincing and alive. I could go for volume II, but since I don't think that's happening, I'll look forward to Melanie Benjamin's next.
Vinnie would have been posting like mad and collecting friends like a fiend because her sense of self promotion was sure and timely. Born to a middle class Massachussetts family, proportional dwarfism caused her to grow to 2'8". A younger sister did not even make it that far, and so they were indeed well-proportioned tiny people in a family of strapping farmers. Vinnie became a teacher but realized that she was destined to spend her life as a small town oddity unless she did something about it. An alleged cousin came to the farm and offered Vinnie the chance to join his showboat traveling the Mississippi, and to her parents' amazement, she said yes.
Ladylike, intelligent, accomplished but sharp tongued, she was nothing like anyone out west had ever encountered. But was she to be stuck on a reeking barge with her new friends the 8-foot-woman and the tattooed man forever? No indeed.
Melanie Benjamin's first novel "Alice I Have Been" was one of my favorite novels of, what was it, 2009? "Mrs. Tom Thumb" is not as moving but it is a fascinating story that could have gone on longer. Benjamin glosses over events in Vinnie's later career that I would have loved to know more about--for example, Vinnie claims that she, her husband, and the General Tom Thumb company were the first Americans to travel to Australia. What about her second husband and her continuing link to Barnum? More! More!
Benjamin creates a world that is convincing and alive. I could go for volume II, but since I don't think that's happening, I'll look forward to Melanie Benjamin's next.
jgintrovertedreader's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 Stars
Mercy Lavinia "Vinnie" Bump was "a perfectly proportioned woman in miniature," reaching a height of 32 inches by adulthood (the quote is probably not exact since I listened to the audiobook). As a teenager, she realized that she could live a small life in her small town, becoming an old spinster and being forgotten shortly after her lonely death, or she could take advantage of her size to live a big life and leave her mark on the wider world. She chose the latter, journeying first on the Mississippi River as part of a floating "freak show" and then reaching out to the legendary P.T. Barnum and joining his American Museum.
Vinnie had a fascinating life. She did actually marry Charles Stratton, "General Tom Thumb," who toured with P.T. Barnum from the age of 5 until his death. Vinnie started her career with the American Museum but after her marriage, she and Charles toured Europe, the US, and eventually the world. That trip would have been almost impossible for someone of "normal" size at the time (Vinnie's career launched shortly before the Civil War began), and it seems unimaginable that two little people managed it with their support staff. This is the part that I would have enjoyed reading more about, but true records of Vinnie's life are apparently scarce.
This was an introspective book, as a fictionalized "autobiography" should be, but the introspection is exactly the part that left me a bit disinterested. I feel this is entirely due to my mood; listening to this during stay-at-home orders during the COVID-19 pandemic might not have been the best choice. I've been struggling to find books that catch my interest while this has been going on, and the books that are working for me are more action-filled and for a younger audience. I keep trying other books though, and they keep not working out so great for me at this particular moment in history. Oh well. Life will find its new normal at some point, right?
The introspection and reflection just felt a bit repetitive. One of the first sentences of the book refers to Vinnie's guilt over the death of her sister Minnie, who was even smaller than Vinnie. Natually, Vinnie's thoughts return to her guilt and what she could have done differently to avoid Minnie's death over and over again. As a reader, I honestly just wanted to move on. And a small thing that annoyed me as I listened to the audiobook was the overuse of the word dreadful. I can't imagine this was overlooked by an editor and can only conclude that it must have been a favorite with the real-life Vinnie.
Vinnie comes across as being a bit of a cold-hearted realist. She marries Charles Stratton simply because he is also a little person and because she knows that their wedding will be the show of the decade. She also knows that childbirth is not something she would survive (she and Minnie were both normally-sized newborns), so she always keeps Charles at arm's length. A lot of her decisions are made with a business sense that appears to be as keen as that of P.T. Barnum himself. The only person who really seems to have her heart is her sister Minnie.
I had a bit of a difficult relationship with Kim Mai Guest's narration as well. Her voice was very soft and very high, which seems fitting considering who is telling the story, but that made it really hard to hear as I moved about rooms and did chores as I normally do while listening to audio books. I don't normally have that kind of trouble. That aside, I was happy enough with her performance.
Author Melanie Benjamin certainly chose a captivating subject with a lot of true material to work with, but unfortunately her approach didn't click with me at this point in my life. I certainly recommend it for others who enjoy historical fiction and who have better concentration than I do right now.
Mercy Lavinia "Vinnie" Bump was "a perfectly proportioned woman in miniature," reaching a height of 32 inches by adulthood (the quote is probably not exact since I listened to the audiobook). As a teenager, she realized that she could live a small life in her small town, becoming an old spinster and being forgotten shortly after her lonely death, or she could take advantage of her size to live a big life and leave her mark on the wider world. She chose the latter, journeying first on the Mississippi River as part of a floating "freak show" and then reaching out to the legendary P.T. Barnum and joining his American Museum.
Vinnie had a fascinating life. She did actually marry Charles Stratton, "General Tom Thumb," who toured with P.T. Barnum from the age of 5 until his death. Vinnie started her career with the American Museum but after her marriage, she and Charles toured Europe, the US, and eventually the world. That trip would have been almost impossible for someone of "normal" size at the time (Vinnie's career launched shortly before the Civil War began), and it seems unimaginable that two little people managed it with their support staff. This is the part that I would have enjoyed reading more about, but true records of Vinnie's life are apparently scarce.
This was an introspective book, as a fictionalized "autobiography" should be, but the introspection is exactly the part that left me a bit disinterested. I feel this is entirely due to my mood; listening to this during stay-at-home orders during the COVID-19 pandemic might not have been the best choice. I've been struggling to find books that catch my interest while this has been going on, and the books that are working for me are more action-filled and for a younger audience. I keep trying other books though, and they keep not working out so great for me at this particular moment in history. Oh well. Life will find its new normal at some point, right?
The introspection and reflection just felt a bit repetitive. One of the first sentences of the book refers to Vinnie's guilt over the death of her sister Minnie, who was even smaller than Vinnie. Natually, Vinnie's thoughts return to her guilt and what she could have done differently to avoid Minnie's death over and over again. As a reader, I honestly just wanted to move on. And a small thing that annoyed me as I listened to the audiobook was the overuse of the word dreadful. I can't imagine this was overlooked by an editor and can only conclude that it must have been a favorite with the real-life Vinnie.
Vinnie comes across as being a bit of a cold-hearted realist. She marries Charles Stratton simply because he is also a little person and because she knows that their wedding will be the show of the decade. She also knows that childbirth is not something she would survive (she and Minnie were both normally-sized newborns), so she always keeps Charles at arm's length. A lot of her decisions are made with a business sense that appears to be as keen as that of P.T. Barnum himself. The only person who really seems to have her heart is her sister Minnie.
I had a bit of a difficult relationship with Kim Mai Guest's narration as well. Her voice was very soft and very high, which seems fitting considering who is telling the story, but that made it really hard to hear as I moved about rooms and did chores as I normally do while listening to audio books. I don't normally have that kind of trouble. That aside, I was happy enough with her performance.
Author Melanie Benjamin certainly chose a captivating subject with a lot of true material to work with, but unfortunately her approach didn't click with me at this point in my life. I certainly recommend it for others who enjoy historical fiction and who have better concentration than I do right now.
cmwilso3's review against another edition
5.0
Simply amazing! This book is wonderful, delightful and simply marvelous!
bekab20's review against another edition
3.0
Boring
This book took too long to tell. And Vinnie is too conceited and selfish throughout the whole book. Towards the end I was just reading it to be finished. I had no real interest in seeing if Vinnie ever figured out that Mr Barnum loved her and that the world and all the people in it were not there for her to use etc etc. I would not recommend this book to anyone.
This book took too long to tell. And Vinnie is too conceited and selfish throughout the whole book. Towards the end I was just reading it to be finished. I had no real interest in seeing if Vinnie ever figured out that Mr Barnum loved her and that the world and all the people in it were not there for her to use etc etc. I would not recommend this book to anyone.
carolpk's review against another edition
4.0
Knowing just a tad about the wife of Tom Thumb was incentive to want to read The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb by Melanie Benjamin. Fiction; I knew from the outset that I would be grappling with what was fact and what was the creativity of the author. I listened to several interviews with Ms. Benjamin and also read internet resources about Mercy Lavinia Warren Bump Stratton to try to distinguish between the two. I believe Ms. Benjamin did a great job of striking a balance between what is known and what is assumed and gives the reader a fairly accurate picture of her life.
I was immediately drawn into the story as we learn how Vinnie, as she is known, is born a normal size baby but then stops growing early in her life. Vinnie is only approximately 32" but seems to be a tall presence. Imagine that Vinnie could have been hidden for what would seem her own good, never gone to school, never seen or done the things she did. Not for Vinnie. As a young woman she bucked her mother, while receiving the support of her father to attend school. Here she got a bit of a taste of what her life would be if she did not take herself seriously and demand respect. When it was time to make her own way in the world she first taught school, no easy task but using the mindset she gave herself, she earned the admiration and respect of her pupils. Yet, Vinnie yearned for more. When an offer came to join a traveling oddities show on a Mississippi Showboat, she jumped right in and never looked back.
There is so much to ponder here makingThe Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb a great choice for book discussion. Questions arise quickly. What life would Vinnie have had if she remained a teacher? What was her true relationship with P.T. Barnum, with her husband Tom Thumb? Was her marriage to Charles consummated. How did she see other performers? Was she a good businesswoman? Should "freak shows" be allowed? Was Vinnie smarter than Charles? Did she crave the limelight at the cost of others? How about her relationship with her sister Minnie (also a proportionate dwarf)?
What Melanie Benjamin tries to do is get into Vinnie's head, to explore her feelings. This may or may not be accurate but as fiction goes, I believe the author did a good job, giving us a picture of what it must have been like to be Vinnie Stratton. 4.5 stars
I was immediately drawn into the story as we learn how Vinnie, as she is known, is born a normal size baby but then stops growing early in her life. Vinnie is only approximately 32" but seems to be a tall presence. Imagine that Vinnie could have been hidden for what would seem her own good, never gone to school, never seen or done the things she did. Not for Vinnie. As a young woman she bucked her mother, while receiving the support of her father to attend school. Here she got a bit of a taste of what her life would be if she did not take herself seriously and demand respect. When it was time to make her own way in the world she first taught school, no easy task but using the mindset she gave herself, she earned the admiration and respect of her pupils. Yet, Vinnie yearned for more. When an offer came to join a traveling oddities show on a Mississippi Showboat, she jumped right in and never looked back.
There is so much to ponder here makingThe Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb a great choice for book discussion. Questions arise quickly. What life would Vinnie have had if she remained a teacher? What was her true relationship with P.T. Barnum, with her husband Tom Thumb? Was her marriage to Charles consummated. How did she see other performers? Was she a good businesswoman? Should "freak shows" be allowed? Was Vinnie smarter than Charles? Did she crave the limelight at the cost of others? How about her relationship with her sister Minnie (also a proportionate dwarf)?
What Melanie Benjamin tries to do is get into Vinnie's head, to explore her feelings. This may or may not be accurate but as fiction goes, I believe the author did a good job, giving us a picture of what it must have been like to be Vinnie Stratton. 4.5 stars
jennthelibrarian's review against another edition
3.0
As many other Goodreads reviewers have commented, for the beginning of the book, Vinny is a character you root for. You want her to succeed. However, with her marriage to Tom Thumb, she becomes someone you don't care much about. She treats her husband and sister Minnie poorly, controlling their lives, thinking mostly of herself.