Home » Book Reviews » Kate Atkinson » Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
Possible spoilers ahead
This sounds like an interesting book to read, detailing the Lennox family going back generations and up to the present day, and I do like family saga books. The reviews for it are also good, mentioning how funny it is and saying it is similar to Charles Dickens’ works (now that’s a great recommendation!). It also seems to be set in Yorkshire, which is an area I know well so I’m looking forward to recognising some of the place names mentioned.
This is clearly a very clever and memorable book and I admire the unusual format of the storytelling, however I feel annoyed at myself as I struggled with it, though I can see how well-written it is! Clearly the fault is mine, as the reviews for the book are wonderful and Atkinson is obviously an extremely well-regarded author, so I am determined to re-read this book and try again.
The book was quite humorous, and I particularly liked Ruby’s tales of being in Bunty’s womb and the ability to share her mother’s thoughts and daydreams, and the trip to Scotland was very funny with all the wrong turns and stops for the toilet and for sickness and then to set off only to stop yet again a short time later, as well as their disastrous days out from the cottage in Scotland with the terrible weather and the lack of entertainment at the cottage (I’ve certainly had holidays like that, tee hee!).
However, I found the story quite depressing in places too though, as there was sadness in all of their lives and it seemed like the family was disintegrating really, and they all seemed to be in need of help and yet not helping each other, in fact it felt at times like they were more destroying each other! Ruby’s start in life seemed a bit harsh too, being left in a cot in a maternity ward rather than bonding with her mother, but perhaps this was how things were done at that time. Her mother also seemed quite dissatisfied with her life and seemed often put-upon, and I felt quite sorry for her.
As well as feeling sad about the characters, I often felt confused about them too. I enjoyed the interesting snapshots of other members of the family, but as the story jumped from one person to another I then struggled to remember who was related to who. I also regularly got confused with the footnotes, as they were about people from an earlier time but they didn’t seem to be in order or deal with one generation in turn. I was also a little confused with the way in which Ruby told the story of her life, as she detailed her experiences as an unborn child and then a newborn and then aged two and then aged five but she related these with the understanding (and often sarcasm) of an adult whilst the descriptions and thoughts seemed to be how Ruby experienced them at those particular ages, so I struggled a bit with that combination.
I get the feeling with this book, that it is one which I will mull over now I’ve put it down and find myself appreciating the cleverness of it more and more, which is another reason why I’m keen to re-read it. I am also tempted, on my re-read, to read each chapter relating to a particular person in one go, so that I can get their life straight in my mind (although perhaps this is slightly naughty of me, as this wasn’t the way that Atkinson intended the book to be read!). There were also intriguing clues hinting at people turning up again in later life (eg, a war baby fathered by a Lennox from a previous generation who then becomes the nurse that cares for Ruby’s mum), so I’d like to go back and note these intriguing references properly.
There are so many of Atkinson’s books which sound very exciting to read and consist of such unusual ideas too, she really fascinates me as an author. I have Life After Life waiting on my bookshelf to be read which sounds such an amazing idea with someone having the chance to live their life over and over again, and Transcription sounds interesting too with someone working at MI5 during the war and then later in life people from that time appearing again, and I’m also intrigued by her detective series with Jackson Brodie, Case Histories being the first book in the series, as crime seems a change of direction for her, although she’s such an accomplished writer that I’m sure she pulls it off. And now that I’ve been reminded of my love of family saga books, I am tempted to pick up a few that I have waiting on my bookshelves, namely The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy, Paris by Edward Rutherfurd, and The Bright Pavilions by Hugh Walpole. I’ve also been lent The Book Club Bible, published by Michael O’Mara Books Limited, which reviews Behind the Scenes at the Museum and suggests some suitable companion books being After You’d Gone by Maggie O’Farrell, David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, and Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson, so I will try those too.
