itibaren Coulonges, Fransa
A great book! At the time I was reading it, I was pursuing a career in college admissions counseling and this book was a really really great insight to the work that the job involves and the great sense of pride that comes with it. But at times it was hard for me to read since the students that I work with are all poverty-stricken kids living in the most dangerous city in the country. These kids were just normal and average middle-class kids, which is not a complaint, per se, but definitely a very specific type of student.
This is not a true autobiography, but a fictionalized one told in that style, of Lavinia "Vinnie" Warren Bump, who was only two feet, 8 inches tall as an adult. She was most well known as being the wife of Charles Stratton, also known as General Tom Thumb, who also had dwarfism. Vinnie was a remarkable woman; born in 1841, at a time when people like her were considered "freaks", she was not going to be content just to stay safely at home with her family. She spent a year being a school teacher, but even that was not enough for her, she longed to see the world. She joined the showboat of a revue show, finding out when it was too late to back out of her contract that it was more of a "freak show"; when the start of the Civil War put an end to that, she later met the man would change her life, Mr. P.T. Barnum, who also became a life long friend, and it was through him that she met her future husband Charles. Vinnie met many famous people during that time, from presidents to queen, but the dearest person to her was her sister Minnie, who was even smaller; later, Vinnie's fame would put Minnie's life in danger. I really enjoyed this story; the author really made it authentic, and as I was reading it, it was easy to forget that it was not actually Vinnie telling the story. She acknowledged the difficulties that she experience because of her size, but she refused to let that be a setback to stop her from doing what she wanted to do and having a career, and refused to pity herself or let others pity her. There were a few times when she actually came across as selfish, but I liked seeing that side of her, it made her human and very real. She was always a lady and carried herself with dignity.
Hughes' translation/adaptation is refined and austere. My favorite is Philomela, though the tale of Narcissus has its own dry charm.