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

John H. Richardson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 17, 2002

In 1997, almost by accident, John Richardson found himself sharing a hotel with more than a thousand dwarfs. Over the course of a single week, he begins relationships with some of the people at a convention that evolve into an affecting two-year-and-beyond odyssey into the little world.

He introduces us to characters like a saintly but obsessed doctor and a mother who sacrifices her family to save her dwarf daughter. He follows two dwarf lovers from their first meeting through their struggle to overcome fear and shame and find the confidence to love each other. He becomes personally involved in a tangled and often confrontational friendship with a female dwarf.

Through these stories and musings, ranging from classic theories of beauty to the history of the disability movement, to postmodern theories of difference, Richardson presents a world that is a skewed reflection of our own -- and offers us a glimpse into the essential human condition.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

What began as a feature article for Esquire in February 1998, in which contributing editor Richardson introduces several people, tall and small, looking for love and miracles at the annual Little People of America convention, has culminated in this full-blown narrative. Here Richardson explores the intimate stories and relationships he cultivated with the individuals initially profiled. He deftly alternates between multiple characters and story lines the meeting and courtship of Michael and Meredith, the contentious Andrea, and the heartbreaking and truly remarkable odyssey of Jocelyn and her mother, Evelyn. Throughout, Richardson expounds upon the genetic, cultural, and literary facets of dwarfism and along the way introduces us to some fascinating people, like the brilliant surgeon Dr. Carson and the preeminent medical authority on dwarfism, the Mother Teresa-like Dr. Kopits. Richardson is both entertaining and brutally honest in these relationships, which become significant in his life an interesting twist on the detached journalistic approach. This is a work whose significance will increase. An important purchase for most libraries. Barry X. Miller, Austin P.L., TX
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Richardson's introduction to the Little World begins at the Little People of America convention in Atlanta. On assignment to write a story of the convention for Esquire magazine, Richardson conducts interviews with several dwarfs. He meets Michael, looking for love and hoping to hit it off with Meredith. He also meets Jocelyn and her mother, Evelyn, who have come all the way from Australia to consult with Dr. Kopits, a doctor famous for his dedication to treating dwarfs. And then there is Andrea--defensive and easily enraged, she seems to be as fascinated with Richardson as he is with her. Even after the convention is long over, Richardson keeps in touch with the dwarfs he became closest to, following Michael and Meredith's romance, Jocelyn's multiple surgeries and their effect on her family, and Andrea's grappling with her father's illness. Richardson's writing has both immediacy and candor, but perhaps what is most special about the book is how closely he is involved in the lives of the people whose stories he is relating here. Richardson struggles with his own perceptions of beauty and physicality, challenged by Andrea's confrontational nature and Jocelyn's stoic bravery. Richardson's introspection might cause him to lose his impersonal distance, but it is only to his, and the book's, benefit. Because of its naked honesty, In the Little World is both phenomenal and unique. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (December 17, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060931310
• ISBN-13: 978-0060931315
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,229,073 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The cynical journalist leaves little to admire, December 8, 2003

By 

Your librarian (St Louis) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Little World: A True Story of Dwarfs, Love, and Trouble (Paperback)

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.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Fiction, not reality, November 13, 2007

By 

William Bradford - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In the Little World: A True Story of Dwarfs, Love, and Trouble (Paperback)

Here's a good criteria for judging this book. Substitute the word "dwarf" or "little person" with African American, Jew, Latino, etc., and you will find this book offensive. The author never gets past the physical differences from himself, and we never get a true picture of the humanity of his subjects. I also happen to know some of the subjects of his book, and he completely distorts their stories, and actual events, for the sake of a good read. Consider it a work of fiction.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insight for everyone -- short or tall, February 22, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: In the Little World: A True Story of Dwarfs, Love, and Trouble (Hardcover)

What could have been simply a voyeuristic look into an underreported world becomes something much greater in the hands of John Richardson. Unlike many reporters, Richardson has the philospohical chops to provide real meaning to what he witnesses, and to bring out truths that aren't obvious to the naked eye. Throughout the book, Richardson surprises by often focusing his energy on the fears and hidden motivations of "normal" people -- the parents, the siblings, the doctors, the gawkers.

If anyone should feel discomfited by the book, it's not the dwarves, it's the tall people -- myself included -- who have so much difficulty dealing with what the "little people" represent.