The Minuscule Mansion of Myra Malone by Audrey Burges – 352 pages
ARC from Berkley and Netgalley for an honest review
Book Blurb:
From her attic in the Arizona mountains, thirty-four-year-old Myra Malone blogs about a dollhouse mansion that captivates thousands of readers worldwide. Myra’s stories have created legions of fans who breathlessly await every blog post, trade photographs of Mansion-modeled rooms, and swap theories about the enigmatic and reclusive author. Myra herself is tethered to the Mansion by mysteries she can’t understand—rooms that appear and disappear overnight, music that plays in its corridors.
Across the country, Alex Rakes, the scion of a custom furniture business, encounters two Mansion fans trying to recreate a room. The pair show him the Minuscule Mansion, and Alex is shocked to recognize a reflection of his own life mirrored back to him in minute scale. The room is his own bedroom, and the Mansion is his family’s home, handed down from the grandmother who disappeared mysteriously when Alex was a child. Searching for answers, Alex begins corresponding with Myra. Together, the two unwind the lonely paths of their twin worlds—big and small—and trace the stories that entwine them, setting the stage for a meeting rooted in loss, but defined by love.
My Review: 4 stars
The Minuscule Mansion of Myra Malone was a unique story about an enormous dollhouse, but don’t let the main character hear you call it that, to her, it was her mansion, her mission and her passion. This book’s genre falls into a mix of contemporary fiction peppered with magical realism.
Myra, the main character, struggles with agoraphobia, so to make her small world bigger, she blogs and posts pictures of each room’s décor in every stage of its creation. She is creative with an amazing eye, so her photos and stories she shares become incredibly popular. When Alex, who works in a furniture store is confronted by a customer to make a full size item of something she saw in miniature on Myra’s blog, Alex’s world turns upside down. He has actually seen the item the customer is looking for in his grandmother’s estate. It’s at this point that Alex and Myra strike up a correspondence.
How Myra and Alex connect, Myra’s relationship with her step-grandma Trixie, her love for her grandfather and BFF Gwen combined with Alex’s missing grandmother and poor relationship with his own father are all explored as the story progresses.
This is a sweet book that reminds the reader that looks and imperfections don’t make the person; it’s their hearts and souls that matter. It’s also a testament to the importance of grandparents and the pivotal role they can play in their grandchildren’s lives.
As a child I loved playing with my dollhouse, so I enjoyed the bones of the story. There were a few moments when I thought the connection between the three storylines got stretched, but it was a minor flaw at best. I look forward to see what else comes from this author.
Quotes I liked:
Bookcases full of every possible kind of love, in addition to the love of words themselves.”
“And you know, books and lumber and sawdust all come from the same place. Whenever you go to a library, you’re really walking into a forest.”
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I absolutely adored this book. The themes were so powerful, and the relationships and characters pulled every one of my heartstrings.
Made me want to play with my old dollhouse!!