Behind the Scenes at the Museum

I always enjoy Kate Atkinson’s novels, so I was excited to read her first book. While I can see this is a beginning, it did not disappoint. She does such interesting things with time. In this story, the main character introduces herself at birth, and while we are following Todd’s story, we are also learning her family’s history. We are reminded how an individual’s choices affect each generation. A mother who made an unfortunate choice in a mate, a decision to leave an unhappy life, or a secret kept all affect the individual and the family. Rose is a child born in 1951, two years before my own birth, so I relate to her generationally. Our mothers were busy keeping house and feeding and clothing the children to worry much about emotional health. But Rose’s mother who seems to be unhappy with her life, takes it out on her children. She just never seems to enjoy or appreciate them till they are gone. And natutally this strongly influences her children’s lives es. As is in many of her books, Kate Atkinson brings a surprise to the story. I am glad I read her premier. She writes wonderful books which stimulate thought and always make me come back for more.

This summer, I read most of Kate Atkinson’s backlist. I started with “Case Histories,” which I’d seen adapted for TV, then went on to the other Jackson Brodie novels – “One Good Turn,” “When Will There Be Good News,” “Started Early, Took My Dog,”; “Life After Life”; then this, Atkinson’s debut novel.

Yes, “Behind the Scenes at the Museum” won the Whitbread Award, and is an impressive first novel. but, it is my least favorite of Atkinson’s work. Here’s why. The Brodie novels are relatively tight novels in which intertwined lives are lived in orbit around private detective Jackson Brodie. Atkinson’s descriptions are vivid, her characters – particularly women – well drawn, the dialogue expressive but realistic (mostly), and the relationships plausible. I liked them a lot.

“Life After Life” is something of an over-long shaggy dog story of lives relived and altered by death and changed circumstance. Think of it as a 20th century historical “butterfly effect.” Again, Atkinson presents memorable characters and scenes in a plot that is ordained from the first page. Atkinson could have reached her conclusion at many different points of the book, and so it seems unnecessarily drawn out. Still, I enjoyed it.

In “Behind the Scenes at the Museum,” Atkinson presents her full bag of tricks – hyper-observant children, dysfunctional families, character asides to the reader, footnote chapters detailing the lives of previous generations, impressive imagery, and a drawn-out story with a quick ending. It’s as if Atkinson was participating in her very own writer’s workshop, trying this, trying that, and keeping all of it. In her subsequent novels, particularly the Brodies, she has exercised more self-restraint, and those novels are better for it.

I have read four of Kate’s other novels, so when this came up as a daily special I jumped at the chance to read this one, her first. I find Kate to be amazing with both her characters and her situations. As in some other of her works, notably Life After Life, the story is not told in a linear fashion, but keep at it and you will be rewarded with a thoroughly satisfying read, the story of Ruby Lennox and her family. There is a lot of chances missed and taken here, and as in real life, a lot of heartache. It’s definitely worth your time.

It difficult to allow all the threads to dangle for so long in this novel. My advice is to enjoy the short stories and dont try to put them together too soon. It will drive you crazy. You will meet the characters so frequently that you will eventually be able to put and keep them in their place in the family. I found the novel funny, sad and very satisfying by its end. I could read it again and I recommend it to you.

A clever introduction to the narrator and to the family The regular flashbacks filled in background that explained a great deal of not just where their family had come from but what had moulded members of the immediate family to be the way they were.Bunty’s attitude to her daughter Ruby is not fully explained until quite late in the novel then much falls into place
Personally there was great interest for me in the children’s adolescence,especially that of Pat as I could relate to the decade and the attitudes of the times.
To paint a picture of a life from a babe in the womb to an adult ,from no understanding of her surrounding, to an adult with her own take on life and a future with her own now grown – up family takes talent;it was a clever style to adopt
My only adverse criticism is that the narrator’s move from meeting her husband to her later years was somewhat truncated and lacked the detail of the earlier stages of the novel. I suppose if the author wanted to describe the realities of ordinary lives,then there was no likelihood of a spectacular ending just a progression through the humdrum of everyday life til its inevitable end.Despite Bunty’s tragic losses, I did not find myself having much sympathy with her character. Perhaps I like my books to take me out of the real world just a little but the real world was painted well by the author.

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