Love of Seven Dolls by Paul Gallico

I am of two mind about this story. On one hand it was beautiful, psychological, and fascinating. On the other it was sexist, racist, and unrealistic. A young, suicidal woman finds hope and redemption in a troupe of seven dolls, whose puppet master is fierce and cruel. The dolls reach out to her, talk to her, and encourage her. The puppet master has no sympathy, no kindness. People are drawn to the interaction between the young girl, whose nickname is Mouche which means mosquito, and the puppets, which increases the revenue of the show.

We eventually discover that the puppet master has rid himself of any ability to feel, that this is a post World War II world, and his only emotions are played out in fantasy with his puppets. It is the destruction of concentration camps that really helped me understand this story, to understand why the characters were so broken and so desperate. It was at times sexist, and racist, but this is to be expected of a novel from this period. If taken to be a literal story, the conclusion is juvenile. If seen as a psychological tale, it makes a little more sense. I really liked the theme from the movie, Lili, and picked up the book in curiosity. There were several things in the movie which made no sense that worked much better in the novel, and overall I enjoyed reading it.