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In the Little World: A True Story of Dwarfs, Love and Trouble
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.
Author Biography: A top magazine journalist for the past 15 years, Richardson has been Senior Writer at Premier magazine and is currently Contributing Editor for Esquire. His fiction has appeared in the Atlantic Monthly and the 1993 O.Henry Prize Stories collection, and his debut novel, The Viper's Club, was warmly received by critics.
272 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
April 23, 2026
I want to give this 3/5 but the beginning is too good to be ruined by the ending drama so 4/5.
Part history book about how little people were treated as pets or even regarded as magical before moving into the history of circus life and how the progression of the disabled people came about due to the war. There is a part where age differences are swept over. We then progress into him staying friends with people and seeing them raise money and go through money problems. Then drama about love and catfishing.
The book states: “Midget” was used for the “proportional” dwarfs who look like small versions of average people, usually the result of hormonal deficiencies in the pituitary gland. But these days dwarfs frown on such distinctions and despise “munchkin”, if you’re 4-10” or under, you’re a dwarf. “We need the disabled to snap us out of the fascism of health and remind us of the power of life and its brokenness.”
We continue onto the brief history of the Disability Act, abortion of disabled children, militant activism, and “cultural genocide” when aiding or integrating those with disabilities.
"Being different means being wrong," is wrong. Your physical appearance does not connotate your worth, inelegance, or morality. "I don't like your body" does not mean "I don't like you." But beauty is very important to society. "Accepting difference doesn't mean overlooking bodies, it means getting to the point where difference doesn't seem wrong," was hard to hear. The author makes the controversial but factually true statement that nature and natural selection prefer symmetrical, and "normal" conventionally attractive people. Those with disabilities, ailments, improper alignments, or birth defects are by definition abnormal and not seen as desirable; but to call them "wrong" was the issue. This resulted in a debate on the topic, semantics about feelings and vocabulary in relation to people you trust.
The book kind of stops and focuses on select people and the author’s gossip about them. Andrea, Jocelyn, Michael, and Meredith; and all their drama. This doesn’t add much and just becomes a gossip rag at times, it doesn’t focus on their problems stemming from being short (it does sporadically like when the mother said “I wanted to prove I could have a normal child”). Displaying these problems as something everyone has makes these characters, these real people, no different than anyone else but it could have been handled differently.
“The problem starts when you take it personally, and we all take it personally.” Then gets into parents who throw themselves into being their child’s guardian angel and base their personality on them; then into parents that will never see their child grow into a “success”. We don’t get more of this, instead it's back to the author arguing about his harsh language choices and quoting people in a bad light. The book often tangents off to other books the author used for reference and how they had superior wording for what he was feeling but did not accurately provide sources in the back of the book, despite being a reporter where sources are key.
This author sounds insufferable as a person as he only focuses on being “right” and not how his presence or actions affect others. But he will play bystander and point out flaws in others; he does acknowledge when he makes a social faux pas, he feels shame so that's in there. I enjoyed the variety of photos within of people living their lives. The author at one point does have a moment of looking back to analyze WHY he is interested in this topic but this goes nowhere. I was loving this book before it became him droning on about his emails, details of bone scraping surgeries, and how he just became part of certain people’s lives.
More random notes:
- Because difference was the ultimate cosmic skeleton key to everything, “the ground plan in the structure of the essence of metaphysics.”
-The theory of evolution taught us that a dog was not a pale copy of the Platonic dog but the sum of all the changes it had gone through, not an essence moving through time but an accumulation of variations produced by time.
-As a wise man once said, dread is fear of what we desire and desire of what we fear.
-The return of the freak in millennial culture signals a crisis in the dominant culture’s authority to decide who stands in the center and who sits on the fringes,” writes a fashionable young critic named Mark Dery. Calling freaks “poster children for an age of extremes,” the perfect symbol of the “chaos culture,” Dery insists that the whole thing is all in our heads. “Though we stand on the other side of the footlights, we’re freaks as well, in the sense that we have internalized the cultural codes that make a freak. In our inability to see extremely tall or short people as just that, our insistence on viewing them in the fun-house-mirror distortions of myths about giants and dwarfs, we participate in a psychology that adequately earns the term ‘freakish.’” Only when we realize this, he says, will the “consensual hallucination” that we call normal life finally wither away. It’s the flip side of Naomi Wolf’s argument that beauty is just a currency system, a trendy version of the old religious idealism. It would be so pretty to believe.
-And hope like that, earned at such a cost, deserves respect. And maybe even a little hope in return. This is what she said: Oh the future—what a wonderful invention!
Part history book about how little people were treated as pets or even regarded as magical before moving into the history of circus life and how the progression of the disabled people came about due to the war. There is a part where age differences are swept over. We then progress into him staying friends with people and seeing them raise money and go through money problems. Then drama about love and catfishing.
The book states: “Midget” was used for the “proportional” dwarfs who look like small versions of average people, usually the result of hormonal deficiencies in the pituitary gland. But these days dwarfs frown on such distinctions and despise “munchkin”, if you’re 4-10” or under, you’re a dwarf. “We need the disabled to snap us out of the fascism of health and remind us of the power of life and its brokenness.”
We continue onto the brief history of the Disability Act, abortion of disabled children, militant activism, and “cultural genocide” when aiding or integrating those with disabilities.
"Being different means being wrong," is wrong. Your physical appearance does not connotate your worth, inelegance, or morality. "I don't like your body" does not mean "I don't like you." But beauty is very important to society. "Accepting difference doesn't mean overlooking bodies, it means getting to the point where difference doesn't seem wrong," was hard to hear. The author makes the controversial but factually true statement that nature and natural selection prefer symmetrical, and "normal" conventionally attractive people. Those with disabilities, ailments, improper alignments, or birth defects are by definition abnormal and not seen as desirable; but to call them "wrong" was the issue. This resulted in a debate on the topic, semantics about feelings and vocabulary in relation to people you trust.
The book kind of stops and focuses on select people and the author’s gossip about them. Andrea, Jocelyn, Michael, and Meredith; and all their drama. This doesn’t add much and just becomes a gossip rag at times, it doesn’t focus on their problems stemming from being short (it does sporadically like when the mother said “I wanted to prove I could have a normal child”). Displaying these problems as something everyone has makes these characters, these real people, no different than anyone else but it could have been handled differently.
“The problem starts when you take it personally, and we all take it personally.” Then gets into parents who throw themselves into being their child’s guardian angel and base their personality on them; then into parents that will never see their child grow into a “success”. We don’t get more of this, instead it's back to the author arguing about his harsh language choices and quoting people in a bad light. The book often tangents off to other books the author used for reference and how they had superior wording for what he was feeling but did not accurately provide sources in the back of the book, despite being a reporter where sources are key.
This author sounds insufferable as a person as he only focuses on being “right” and not how his presence or actions affect others. But he will play bystander and point out flaws in others; he does acknowledge when he makes a social faux pas, he feels shame so that's in there. I enjoyed the variety of photos within of people living their lives. The author at one point does have a moment of looking back to analyze WHY he is interested in this topic but this goes nowhere. I was loving this book before it became him droning on about his emails, details of bone scraping surgeries, and how he just became part of certain people’s lives.
More random notes:
- Because difference was the ultimate cosmic skeleton key to everything, “the ground plan in the structure of the essence of metaphysics.”
-The theory of evolution taught us that a dog was not a pale copy of the Platonic dog but the sum of all the changes it had gone through, not an essence moving through time but an accumulation of variations produced by time.
-As a wise man once said, dread is fear of what we desire and desire of what we fear.
-The return of the freak in millennial culture signals a crisis in the dominant culture’s authority to decide who stands in the center and who sits on the fringes,” writes a fashionable young critic named Mark Dery. Calling freaks “poster children for an age of extremes,” the perfect symbol of the “chaos culture,” Dery insists that the whole thing is all in our heads. “Though we stand on the other side of the footlights, we’re freaks as well, in the sense that we have internalized the cultural codes that make a freak. In our inability to see extremely tall or short people as just that, our insistence on viewing them in the fun-house-mirror distortions of myths about giants and dwarfs, we participate in a psychology that adequately earns the term ‘freakish.’” Only when we realize this, he says, will the “consensual hallucination” that we call normal life finally wither away. It’s the flip side of Naomi Wolf’s argument that beauty is just a currency system, a trendy version of the old religious idealism. It would be so pretty to believe.
-And hope like that, earned at such a cost, deserves respect. And maybe even a little hope in return. This is what she said: Oh the future—what a wonderful invention!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 17, 2007
The author looks into the lives and culture of "little people" aka dwarves. He attends their annual convention, which is about the only time of year that little people can get out and mingle amongst themselves. As a result, the convention is very competitive as far as dating and relationships. We learn just about everything concerning little people culture--dating "normals" vs. dating little people, sex lives, feuds, you name it. I have personally known at least two dwarves, so this book helped me to understand what their world is like. Fascinating.
December 22, 2018
Fascinating insight into realities of dwarfism. The author is flawed, angry, opinionated and often cold but the philosophical insights into his and those he researched was intriguing. Also learning of the different types of dwarfism was an eye opener.
June 9, 2007
This review gives a good overview of this book that I got a lot out of. Insights into what it's like to be a dwarf, it has stuck with me over the years.
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 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.
February 28, 2009
I found this to be a very interesting read. The author John Richardson had decided to go to a "Little Person Convention" that happens once a year. He felt he needed a change of pace from what he had currently been writting about. By going there and meeting the people who attend had changed his life. You follow along with the stories of people he choose to write about for about two years. He also writes about the history of "dwarves". You get to have a inside veiw of what it's like to presevere through the difficulties of living in a "big world".
October 11, 2010
I could not put this down. Even when I wanted to - even when he seemed to go on and on about too many specifics in his relationship with a few of the people he meets - the book was always captivating. It brought back memories of a guy I went to school with who was a dwarf - and how utterly oblivious I was to what that meant for his life. It brought up thoughts about body perception, and how our perceptions of our "selves" can change everything about who we are as a person inside and out.
It is a troubling, confusing, disarming, and excellent book.
It is a troubling, confusing, disarming, and excellent book.
May 25, 2009
I read this book primarily while recovering from a hangover and suffering a migraine simultaneously. I would throw up, pass out and then pick up this book to distract myself from the throbbing pain.
Despite that, the book is really engaging and well-written. The narrator does get a little too involved in places and needed a decent proofreading (he mixes up little people in a couple of places.)
Despite that, the book is really engaging and well-written. The narrator does get a little too involved in places and needed a decent proofreading (he mixes up little people in a couple of places.)
May 28, 2012
In the Little World gives us a unique glimpse into the lives of 3 little people, as they prefer to be called. The author describes his interactions with Andrea, Jocelyn, Michael, and Meredith with such clarity that you feel as though you're there with him.
He also explores what it means to be different in a society that prides itself on conformity. His explorations are interesting and thought provoking. It makes one consider the emphasis our society places on physical beauty.
He also explores what it means to be different in a society that prides itself on conformity. His explorations are interesting and thought provoking. It makes one consider the emphasis our society places on physical beauty.
July 27, 2008
Wowzees. I have an entirely different perspective now...this book made me think bunches about disability, beauty, self & other, and human perception and boundaries.
February 9, 2010
Fascinating. As a 5-foot woman, I know the pleasures and terrors of being the height of an average 12-year old American child.
March 18, 2010
This is a non-fiction book about dwarfs--it was very thought provoking and it was actually disturbing in some ways about how we react to differences in people.
April 25, 2010
Felt exploitative, particularly the detailed account of the broken marriage which did not further the reader's understanding of the subculture of dwarfs.
September 14, 2011
Fairly interesting. Besides stories of dwarfs, the author muses on beauty, postmodern theories of difference and the history of the disability movement.
July 4, 2012
Informative, but very odd book. The author seemed way to involved in lives of the people he wrote about.
November 22, 2013
I learned a lot about physical and social and health issues that dwarfs go through.
October 31, 2008
A totally fascinating look at the LPA conventions.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews