The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb: A Novel by Melanie Benjamin

It was the type of Texas fall day where we were able to enjoy a warm hearty soup and yet still retire to the screened in porch to bask in the afternoon sun. There we discussed Mrs. Tom Thumb and nibbled on delicious home baked basil shortbread cookies. Marcia has the ability to make our get-togethers, though simple in activities, seem much more grand and elegant.

Synopsis:
Mercy Lavinia Warren Bump was born an average size and weight baby in 1841. However, by the time she was two years old, her parents realized that she was not growing at a normal rate. Lavinia's full grown height never passed thirty-two inches, yet that did not stunt her rise to fame.  With PT Barnum’s promotion, Lavinia became world famous and traveled to foreign lands that were beyond the imagination of most Victorian-era citizens. 

Comments:
Lavinia may have been small of stature, but her dreams were larger than life.  “Never would I allow my size to define me. Instead, I would define it.  My size may have been the first thing people noticed about me but never, I vowed at that moment, would it be the last.” (p. 25 – Nook)  She fulfilled that vow throughout her amazingly successful career in show business.  Lavinia’s intelligence, high self-esteem, determination, and courageous, stubborn personality traits were admirable as she fought to prove herself as a teacher, capable of surviving outside of her family’s farm, and succeeding as a star among the wealthy and elite.  However, somewhere along the timeline of her life, those same positive traits became aggravatingly snobbish and unappealing, reaping negative results. 

 Despite her insistence upon being treated as an equal among normal-size folks and being disgusted at the amazement of others when she displayed her intelligence, she reacts the same way to others.  When she learns of a giantess who can recite Shakespeare, she reacts, “Really? Shakespeare?” I was astonished. Imagine – a giantess reciting Shakespeare! I would pay to see that, myself! (p. 68 – Nook)  Later, she encounters dwarfs in their traveling circus family and shudders at having to shake their hands and is outraged at the idea that anyone would lump her into the same category as those “grotesque, misshapen little people.”

Lavinia appeared to have only one healthy loving relationship and that was with her baby sister, Minnie, whom she genuinely loved.  Which is why we were totally baffled as to why she did not share her knowledge of the dangers of childbirth with Minnie before she became pregnant.  Everyone else in Lavinia's life either had a role to play to help her reach her goals or they were just minor characters taking up time and space in her story. In her self-centered life she admitted, “I simply felt driven to see, to experience – to give of myself to those whose approval should have meant less than my own husband’s but instead meant so much more…I simply realized I needed the warmth of an audience like a plant needs sun…I could not bear to think that there was somewhere I had never been, someone who might not know my name.” (p. 224 – Nook)   Lavinia had such disdain for her husband, General Tom Thumb, despite his kind heart.  Lavinia herself remarks, “It seemed to me I spent our entire married life refusing him, he who asked for so little of me.”  (p. 335-Nook)  She considered him simple and uneducated, but we, the readers, saw how the general had never been allowed to be a child or receive formal education and was used his entire life to promote PT Barnum’s humbugs, and we felt compassion for him.  Lavinia’s relationship with PT Barnum, was a combination of business and friendship.  Lavinia appeared to be secretly in love with Barnum, although we felt that Barnum was more inclined to treat Lavinia as a daughter.

 Despite Lavinia’s success and strong, take-charge attitude of her life, she still found herself unfulfilled:  “I knew only that at age forty-two, after almost twenty-five years of running….I still hadn’t found what I was looking for.  Why was I, alone of everyone I knew, always still seeking?  Still searching?” (p. 338 – Nook)  Her inability to bond to babies or maintain a healthy marital relationship exposed a shallowness in Lavinia which affected her entire life.  “I had no room for big love, big decisions, big messes, big happiness; not in this miniature life, spent under the magnifying glare of so many eyes, that I had made for myself.” (p. 217 – Nook)  Perhaps the best summation of how Lavinia had indeed chosen this successful, yet ultimately lonely life for herself is found in the Prologue: “Looking back, I’m forced to admit that my mother was right; I did lose my soul, and so much more.  But I’m not sure that I didn’t give it away freely.”

Memorable Quote:
“I wondered if this was how it always felt when all your dreams came true.  Perhaps, after living with them for so long, did you simply toss them away – and begin to dream about something else?” Lavinia (p. 155 – Nook)

FAB Rating: ****1/2 (4-1/2 out of 5)
This story takes us through a very fascinating period of time in the United States.  Although the Civil War was devastating, America continued to make great advances, among the greatest being the completion of the railroad connecting the east and west coasts across mountains and prairies.  The author’s addition at the beginning of each chapter of actual clippings taken from magazines and newspapers printed during the 1800’s time period made for enlightening reading.  Lavinia’s fame was unprecedented as she traveled to new territories and continents not yet fully explored.  Lavinia made a name for herself while mingling among the kneecaps of well-known and influential figures of history.  Quite a feat for a miniature woman and quite an interesting autobiography.