Saturday, October 22, 2016

Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet- H.P. Wood

Kitty Hayward, a British citizen, is lost in early 20th century Coney Island. Separated from her mother and "rescued" by a conman, Kitty is introduced to the Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet and the freaks of Coney Island. But all is not as it seems on the island and pretty soon the fun touristic atmosphere is replaced by horrors of the plague.

This would have made a great farce. I laughed out loud at every tragic thing that happened because this book can't be taken seriously. But I don't think the author intended it as a farce, i think H.P. Wood genuinely wanted us to care about the characters and feel sad at their deaths.

I didn't care though and the fact that it wasn't a farce and the ridiculous tragedies that happened weren't intended to be funny made the book desperate and boring.

Writing could have been tighter. There's a 6 page dialogue between 2 characters that's repetitive and juvenile.

" Shuuut up, you bloviating fool." ( BLOVIATING? on what planet does a teenage boy say Bloviating?)
" A fool, am I? This fool was just put in charge of Dreamland."
" What did you say?"
" Wait, you want me to talk now? I'm sorry. It's hard to keep up with-"
" That park is mine. My father doesn't even care about Dreamland, not really. He wanted to call it the Hippodrome, for Chrissake! I'm the one who loves it. I'm the one who-"



How about both you bloviating fools shut the fuck up. And how about enough with the italics italics.

It's a good try. I liked the opening, it was original, i would really love to convert this into a farce though.