Edward Carey

What a journey that was. I was enamored on page 1... I like solitude, quirky people, apparently shabby old buildings, and I wanted to be a statue when I was a small child. Then things got bleak and a little grotesque, and I loved the story in a different way. Compellingly honest investigation of memory and grief and engagement.

Wonderful and strange, slightly creepy, oddly touching. Francis Orme lives in flat six of Observatory Mansions, which was once the stately neoclassical manor home of the long line of Ormes but has now been broken up into flats. It would be hard to find an odder collection of eccentrics, from Twenty the Dog Woman to the Porter who hisses at all the residents. Francis thinks of them “as pure people, as concentrated people, or, to put it another way, as how everyday people would be if they show more were subtracted from work, friends, family and all the motions of life which we are told we should take part in.” The seven long-time residents, including Francis and his father and mother, are joined by a new resident whose arrival disrupts everything.

Francis tells the story in a matter-of-fact, deadpan tone, even when describing things so strange and sometimes disturbing that they provoke horrified fascination. It is tempting to describe this book as surreal, but the people and events are all quite real, only nudged past ordinary into hyperbole. Francis’s matter-of-fact tone increases rather than dispels the sense of the bizarre and the tragic.

I went into this novel knowing little about it, and I don’t want to ruin it for anyone else by describing too much of the plot or even the characters who constitute it. I’ll just say that it moves among absurdity, horror, tragedy, and romance in a most peculiar and fascinating way, and I loved it. show less

In the author's Afterword, Edward Carey explains that it took fifteen years for him to write this book. And it shows. This book is brilliantly crafted! Creatively conceived, with a quirky and distinctive writing style, and a fascinating glimpse into a downright grim period of French history.

At the center of the story is Anna Marie Grosholtz, who grows up to become Madame Tussaud of wax works fame. Most of us have heard of, if not visited, one of the museums that bear her name. And while it show more may not be high art, it's lots of fun! LITTLE tells Tussaud's plausible back story. And what Carey offers is nothing short of fascinating.

Anna Marie was born in 1761 in a small town to an impoverished family, who relocated to Paris shortly after her father's death. Marie and her mother wind up moving to Paris to clean house for a strange physician who dabbles in wax works, as a method of studying human anatomy. And so, Marie begins learning this craft, until she becomes Dr. Curtius's assistant as he transitions into making wax heads from castes of live people. For a time, these heads become a sort of status symbol to locals, creating a successful business for the doctor. And Marie winds up meeting some VERY prominent people of the era. Until, of course, the French Revolution begins and the wax work takes on a more grizzly nature - but no spoilers.

Marie's life in Paris gives her a front-row seat to all the dramatic events unfolding in France -- from the reign of King Louis XV, through the bloody French Revolution, and up to the appearance of Napoleon. Only after 1802, when Marie moves to London, does she become famous in her own right.

Marie's story is dramatic in its own right, though I don't want to go into details and spoil your own exploration. She demonstrates great intelligence and determination which allow her to survive when so many around her do not. And Carey has created a whole collection of unique characters, beyond Dr. Curtius and Marie. There is the self-absorbed widow, who helps run the wax head business, and her son Edmond, who becomes one of Marie's only friends.

Equally interesting to me is the not-so-flattering picture of Paris, nothing like the glittering city we know today. During Marie's time, it is filled with dirt, disease, poverty, injustice, violence, and anger. And day-to-day survival is a real game of chance.

Another delightful feature are the author's drawings, sprinkled throughout the novel, which add so much realism to the wax figures Curtius and Marie create. And to the main characters as well.

I highly recommend this piece of historical fiction for the rich, full, and complete picture it paints of this time period. And this plucky young girl. And for the skillful way Carey includes just the right amount of detail to bring everything to life. show less

In the author's Afterword, Edward Carey explains that it took fifteen years for him to write this book. And it shows. This book is brilliantly crafted! Creatively conceived, with a quirky and distinctive writing style, and a fascinating glimpse into a downright grim period of French history.

At the center of the story is Anna Marie Grosholtz, who grows up to become Madame Tussaud of wax works fame. Most of us have heard of, if not visited, one of the museums that bear her name. And while it show more may not be high art, it's lots of fun! LITTLE tells Tussaud's plausible back story. And what Carey offers is nothing short of fascinating.

Anna Marie was born in 1761 in a small town to an impoverished family, who relocated to Paris shortly after her father's death. Marie and her mother wind up moving to Paris to clean house for a strange physician who dabbles in wax works, as a method of studying human anatomy. And so, Marie begins learning this craft, until she becomes Dr. Curtius's assistant as he transitions into making wax heads from castes of live people. For a time, these heads become a sort of status symbol to locals, creating a successful business for the doctor. And Marie winds up meeting some VERY prominent people of the era. Until, of course, the French Revolution begins and the wax work takes on a more grizzly nature - but no spoilers.

Marie's life in Paris gives her a front-row seat to all the dramatic events unfolding in France -- from the reign of King Louis XV, through the bloody French Revolution, and up to the appearance of Napoleon. Only after 1802, when Marie moves to London, does she become famous in her own right.

Marie's story is dramatic in its own right, though I don't want to go into details and spoil your own exploration. She demonstrates great intelligence and determination which allow her to survive when so many around her do not. And Carey has created a whole collection of unique characters, beyond Dr. Curtius and Marie. There is the self-absorbed widow, who helps run the wax head business, and her son Edmond, who becomes one of Marie's only friends.

Equally interesting to me is the not-so-flattering picture of Paris, nothing like the glittering city we know today. During Marie's time, it is filled with dirt, disease, poverty, injustice, violence, and anger. And day-to-day survival is a real game of chance.

Another delightful feature are the author's drawings, sprinkled throughout the novel, which add so much realism to the wax figures Curtius and Marie create. And to the main characters as well.

I highly recommend this piece of historical fiction for the rich, full, and complete picture it paints of this time period. And this plucky young girl. And for the skillful way Carey includes just the right amount of detail to bring everything to life. show less