Review: Little

Little by Edward Carey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Although this fictional biography of Marie Tussaud (the Madame of Madame Tussauds) is well written and compelling, it's frustrating. Tussaud is often portrayed as a victim. If she's not being downtrodden by a harridan of a stepmother (though, technically, her landlady), she's being neglected by her boss/pseudo father. Tussaud went through some turbulent times to become the founder of a now world-famous museum. If there was one thing she wasn't, it was a victim. She was a survivor. Therefore, I would have preferred Carey to focus less on how awful things were for Tussaud and instead look at how gritty and determined she must have been. Plus, there's countless references to how ugly she was (sigh). Why do male authors get so fixated by the appearance of their female characters. Could they not write a female character who was plain but so charismatic that it didn't matter? Oh I forgot, my bad, it's only men who get to be plain but charismatic isn't it?


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