A miniature maiden of Memoirs of a Midget isn’t a dwarf… She is more similar to Thumbelina… She is an elflike being…But every family, I suppose, has its little pet traditions; and one of ours, relating to those early years, is connected with our kitchen cat, Miaou. She had come by a family of kittens, and I had crept, so it was said, into her shallow basket with them. Having, I suppose, been too frequently meddled with, this old mother cat lugged off her kittens one by one to a dark cupboard. Th...

"When one speaks of de la Mare one must go heavy on the cream..." I miss this book. But I don’t miss it like I missed Don Quixote or The Book of Ebenezer Le Page when I finished them. Those two books for me were the embodiments of two people; two people I dearly missed as soon as I finished reading the final page. I missed their presence as people in my life. I still miss them! even though they’re ever within arm’s reach right there on my shelf… The way I miss Memoirs of a Midget is differen

Probably the strangest novel I've read - and I mean that as a compliment. It's weird without even trying. To compare it to another book narrated by a dwarf I've read recently, unlike Geek Love, there's nothing extreme, no grotesque characters, never a sense of the author trying a little too hard. Reading Miss M's thoughts on the world, one gets the impression that Walter de la Mare had a similarly idiosyncratic way of thinking, and was blissfully unaware of it. Consequently, reading Memoirs of a...

On the bottom shelf of the back room in the cluttered East Village bookstore I stumbled on Miss M. Tattered, in hardcover, in the dark, and with the kind of title that begs to be examined. I read three pages and was enamored, and bought the book without question. Looking back, I now realize this was unusual behavior. I only buy books I've been meaning to read, and have read about, or did read, and have been meaning to find. So Miss M. became very dear to me because I discovered her for myself, w...

A forgotten gem, poetic and strange -- if not as successful as his short fiction, still very beautiful.

Someone recommended de la Mare and when I saw the title Memoirs of a Midget, I just couldn't pass it up. The idea is intriguing. The memoirs of a little person before technology could overcome most of their obstacles and further, written by a man! How intriguing!I finished this book and the first words out of my mouth, "this is stupid". Is it really stupid? No, of course not. First off, de la Mare showed some amazing insight when imagining Miss M's world and he perfectly captured the torturous t...

Not what I anticipated when I picked it up, but very good nonetheless. I had expected it to be much more based on the physical circumstances of being of very small stature in Victorian times - and to some degree it was - but the focus was really more psychological/social, exploring the inward struggles of an individual who is cut off from nearly all of humanity because of its perception of her as somehow less, and therefore not to be taken seriously. de la Mare creates a beautifully complex char...

I love the writing style; it somehow reminds me of intricate pretty old-fashioned things. It's very introspective and the book's real strength is that it's one of those that really get across an individual's experience; the particular way they think and interpret the world. The descriptions felt very vivid to me. There's a heavily hinted romantic fascination with another woman, and that's quite good if you like beautiful, enigmatic, existentially angsty and spiteful characters. What I didn't lik...

I have to say I didn't *get* this book. From all the positive reviews, I was expecting to be lured into an existence not quite real and regaled with visions of a slightly altered world. I suppose I thought it would be like watching Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge, but for me, this book was so vague I had a hard time following exactly what was happening. It didn't help that the most crucial exchanges all seemed to be written in French, a language of which I am completely ignorant. I felt this novel...

Uniquely strange, haunting, dizzying, funny and moving piece of uncanny fiction. I remember finishing Walter de la Mare's The Return and feeling that, while quietly devastating and profoundly moving, the form of the thing lacked polish. No such qualms here.As usual Walter de la Mare's writing is among the closest you'll find to a waking, shifting dream, but here, despite the often quiet restraint of the narrative, the prose was so subtly coruscating in its suggestion that I had to reread some pa...

A perfectly uncanny novel. Subtle, too, as evidenced by the sheer number of complete misreadings it's accumulated over the years (see, for instance, the laughably crap review in Rain Taxi from a couple years back).

The 4 star title lured me in, but the story disappointed. And the writing style is often confusing...or maybe I just didn't care enough to give it my full attention.

Like almost every long book I love and rate 5 stars... Weak ending but so, so close to perfect.

Read here for freeFirst line - Some years ago a brief account of me found its way into one or two country newspapersCannot work out if this is 1921 or 1922 first publication year as there is conflicting information on the net.quin·sy (kw n z ). n. Acute inflammation of the tonsils and the surrounding tissue, often leading to the formation of an abscess. ...Adam and Eve by Boschfrom the Guardian - De la Mare's preoccupation with the Brontës is unsubtle (Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre get severa

phenomenally well written. an instant favorite. more to come...

This is a wonderful book. I didn't want it to end. Completely unique. I have made progress in conquering my addiction to reading novels. I don't read nearly so many of them anymore, for which I thank God. But I bought this about twenty years ago. Recently I turned it up and decided to have a look. It is beautiful and truly original. It's so strange that I can't describe it in a way that would do it justice. I originally bought it because of his poem The Listeners, which I also love, and the titl...

Cast off into the world with a modest income following the deaths of her parents, the narrator finds a kindly landlady/caretaker. Major adventures at this location were sneaking out at night to view the night sky and forming an emotional attachment to the beautiful daughter. I initially did not realize that the mysterious male suitor there was a dwarf until Miss M refers to him as "the hunchback." Not surprisingly when she is swept up into London aristocracy (by a daughter of "Lord B."), she wea...

Do all things miniature fascinate you? I confess I have a weakness for small objects, so the autobiography of Miss M., a very small person indeed, was an enchanting read. De La Mareweaves a deft story of Miss Midgetina's struggles in the enormous and complex world sheventures into. Themes of love, loss, death and fidelity make this a big novel about a small heroine.

It's the kind of book I love-- classically constructed, beautiful sentences, highly imaginative. But the metaphor becomes very tired-- the protagonist is a midget who, like all of us, feels overwhelmed by the world. And the protagonist is not herself very engaging, or anyway I didn't find her so.

I couldn't review this quickly, I'll have to think about it. I look forward to re-reading this book and also looking at White's Natural History of Selborne. Now I will read Best stories of Walter De La Mare.

an eighteenth century midget in LONDON no less. yeah, probably won't get around to this anytime soon.

the enchanting story of a short woman: her perspective lovingly caught by De La Mare's detailed prose, particularly her isolation.

I shall read this just for Nicole.

On the suggested summer reading list for students.

I tried very hard to read this book, but just could not complete it. I found it too dragging and uninteresting.

English lit...1890s? England...solitude and society from Miss M pov. More like 2.5 stars - heavy on the ruminations, short on activity.

Very strange and exquisite. A story that stays with you for a long time.

P.9

The fictional introduction to these fictional memoirs promises an account of a remarkable woman, of keen intellect, whose travels and experiences are such a marvel that they must be shared via publication.What are we delivered? A single year in the life of this woman. During this year, her twentieth, she loses her parents and her home; is set up with a livable income and provided a home-for-life as a boarder; becomes a spoiled pet of the bored nobility; and finally, joins the circus for three ni...

I don't really remember much about this book and only know I read it in 1987 because I mentioned it in my journal of the time. But I'm so intrigued by reviews by other GoodReads members that maybe I'm due for a re-read. Novels about rebels and misfits were right up my alley when I was 14.