In the Little World: A True Story of Dwarfs, Love, and Trouble

Rating:
Summary: A very raw, intriguing, and dramatic story...
Review: I am a person of normal stature, however, I am also only 5ft tall. :) Aside from height, there are many ways in which any reader would be able to relate to the author as well as his subjects. Richardson's research about the history and word origin of dwarfs & little people make the book even more enjoyable, focusing only on the eyebrow-raising tidbits of information while foregoing the usual boring background stuff. What starts off as a thorough account of his participation in the Little People of America convention becomes a book of how intertwined his life became to learn about what it means to be different. His honesty and willingness to share the behind-the-scenes conversations and fights made for a very raw, intriguing, and dramatic story.

Rating:
Summary: A Surprising Read
Review: I took this book out of the library at my college, thinking that, at best, it'd be a "big person goes to visit the world of Little People" kind of thing. Objective. Curious.

It was anything but. I was fascinated by how the author begins by being repulsed by and fascinated with the people he meets, and then begins to think of them as real people, sharing in their triumphs and hurts - while still realizing that there is, and will always be, a barrier there that he cannot cross, and doesn't want to.

It is a brutally honest book in all its parts, and I consider it to be one of the best non-fiction books I've ever read.

Rating:
Summary: The cynical journalist leaves little to admire
Review: Journalist John H. Richardson attended a Little People of America convention looking for a story he could turn into a book. But the perfect story did not emerge immediately and so Richardson, cynical journalist that he seems to be, apparently decided to force a story. What emerges is more a voyeuristic look into the methods and musings of a journalist than the intimate look at "dwarfs" that Richardson may have intended.

Early in the book, the author muses over how he should approach his story. He is critical of those who write "little people with big hearts" stories and sets out to do something different. He succeeds. This book comes off as little people through the eyes of a little heart.

Richardson chronicles his involvement with a brassy female dwarf ; the blossoming love of a dwarf couple ; and a crippled teen female dwarf who suffers through multiple surgeries with her maladjusted mother. The author takes the subjects on his own terms, works his way into their lives, and gains their trust so that he can expose their worst personality traits with diminished attention to any warmth that they might possess.

The author writes very well as may be expected from one who writes for a living. His coverage of the world of little people is fairly complete with significant discussions on the medical treatment of dwarfism through surgery and therapy. He delves too deeply into the philosophical view of dwarfism through the ages. And he delves deeply into the relationships between little people, their families, friends and others who surround them.

He graphically chronicles the stress that dwarfism can place on a family and even more graphically portrays the havoc that can occur when one turns outside one's family for moral support.

Most of all, however, Ricahrdson depicts the way in which a journalist can invite himself into another person's life to spin a story in his own direction. Although Richardson documents the hurt expressed by some of those who read his blunt newspaper coverage of the Little People of America convention, he sheds any personal remorse and continues his calloused views to the end of this book. I can only hope that those same people hurt by Richardson's newspaper work will save themselves the pain of reading this book.