Rating: 
Summary: Loved the book, missed the ending
Review: The Hatbox Baby was an enjoyable read. The writing was poetical; some of the passages brilliant. The character development was great -- I think I will live with each of the characters for a long time, wondering what became of their lives.This story is based on an actual person, a doctor who was a pioneer in the study of prematurely born infants, though the author clearly states in her afterword that his characterization and the circumstances surrounding the book's doctor are completely fictionalized. It is a story of several unlikely characters crossing paths, changing each of them in inexplicable, important ways. The frantic father who weaves his way through the throng of the Chicago World's Fair with his prematurely born son in a hat box to the great doctor. The great doctor with his important work he's dedicated his entire life to, ignoring a hunger he can't put his finger on until he meets Caro, the seductive and beautiful fan dancer, while they both kneel in the street attempting to alleviate the sufferings of a dying man. Caro's freakish nearly dwarflike cousin, St. Louis ("named after the city, not the saint!") who follows her around from show to show for lack of anything else to do, trying to ignore the void and lack of importance in his own life. Alice, the neonatal nurse extraordinaire who cries after the loss of each baby and who couldn't be seperated from her work any more than four days when her brother, her only existing relative in the world, died. And the Hatbox Baby who has a strange capacity to make others love him. I agree with the other reviewers who said that this book is a slow mover; it is, but it draws the reader in despite that. You want to know what happens next because you care so much about each person depicted. They seem so real. I also agree with the other reviewers who were perplexed about the ending. What in the world did it mean? What happens? And I too wonder if perhaps Ms. Brown accidently deleted the last section, or if she simply got tired of telling her story. Or does she want us to find the ending for ourselves?
Rating: 
Summary: One of a kind, interesting look at World's Fair 1933
Review: This is the story of a child who was brought in a hatbox to the World's Fair. One of the exhibits at the fair was an "infantorium" a display of premature infants. I loved all the characters in this book. A half dwarf, a stripper, the doctor, and his ugly nurse, the wet nurse Louise. The only complaint I have is the ambiguous ending. The characterizations reminded me of T.C. Boyle's work.
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