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Behind the Scenes at the Museum

By Kate Atkinson

(26)

| Paperback | 9780552996181

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Book Description

ABOUTBOOK: From the moment Ruby Lennox announces her own conception ("I exist!"), it is clear that she is a narrator who will leave no stone unturned in her account of family life above a pet shop in England. Not content simply to describe her own circumstances, Ruby investigates the lives of the women in family both past and present, from her great-grandmother's affair with a French photographer to her mother's unfulfilled dreams of Hollywood glamour. Hurtling in and out of both World Wars, economic downfalls, the onset of the permissive '60's, and up to the present day, Ruby paints a rich and vivid portrait of heartbreak and happiness, and from it draws a rare understanding of the shared secrets, hopes and failures that unite every family. DISCUSSIONQUES: What do cupboards have to do with the story? More than one reviewer compared Behind the Scenes at the Museum to Tristram Shandy and to the works of Marcel Proust and Charles Dickens. What might these novels have in common? How does Kate Atkinson update or expand upon the earlier books' use of narration and history? One of Atkinson's innovations is her use of footnotes. Why do you think she adopted this non-fiction technique in a novel? Although this novel is very much about a specific time and place, it has been embraced by audiences in twelve countries, in as many languages. What gives Behind the Scenes at the Museum such a universal appeal? What is the meaning of the book's title? What other fictional narrators does Ruby Lennox bring to mind? What does Behind the Scenes at the Museum say about women's roles and opportunities in the family and in the world at large? What do the four generations of women in Ruby's family have in common? Behind the Scenes at the Museum generated controversy in England when a critic called it "anti-family." How would you defend the book against this charge? What other novels, now considered classics, might have had to face this sort of accusation? AUTHORBIO: Kate Atkinson was born in York in 1951, she earned her master's degree in English literature at Dundee University, and did further graduate work in American literature. While raising her two daughters, she held a variety of jobs, from university tutor to welfare benefits administrator, and always wrote, publishing short stories in British magazines and finally her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, in 1995 in England and 1996 in the United States. The critical response in both countries was overwhelming, and Atkinson's talent was justly celebrated when Behind the Scenes at the Museum was named England's Whitbread Book of the Year.

Critics

Guardian book club: A chaotic arboretum

On almost the last page of Behind the Scenes at the Museum, Atkinson's protagonist and narrator Ruby Lennox tells us that her sister Patricia has paid someone to draw their family tree - "a huge, chaotic arboretum". Patricia's "thirst for genealogy" ... (read full critics)

guardian.co.uk published on Fri, 24 Sep 2010

Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson

Bunty Lennox had never wanted to marry George but after the war he was all that was left. By the night that Ruby is conceived (rather grudgingly, on her part, it has to be said) she already has two children, the sensible but rather-distant Patricia a ... (read full critics)

thebookbag published on Tue, 14 Sep 2010

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3 Reviews

1 person find this helpful

I can put up with boring book (monologue kind of narration), but not this one. Simply, nothing happens, but the writers talk like as if lots is going on.

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Miranda said on Jul 5, 2007 | Add your feedback

'That's a grand dress you're wearing, Bunty,' uncle Bill says suddenly, and Bunty flinches slightly because she doesn't like Bill (an antipathy based entirely on the fact that he's George's brother) and if her brother-in-law thinks it's a 'grand dress' - a man with no taste whatsoever (this much is ... (continue)

'That's a grand dress you're wearing, Bunty,' uncle Bill says suddenly, and Bunty flinches slightly because she doesn't like Bill (an antipathy based entirely on the fact that he's George's brother) and if her brother-in-law thinks it's a 'grand dress' - a man with no taste whatsoever (this much is true) - then Bunty thinks there must be something far wrong with it. It is a ghastly creation actually - a peculiar thing, knitted in stripes of brown and yellow with a faint lurex thread running through so that she looks like a party-going wasp.

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Claire N. said on Nov 21, 2011 | Add your feedback

I found the book fairly complex, packed with lots of different characters and interesting developments. Once started, I couldn’t put it down. Comprehensive background material including a well-researched family tree is also readily available on the Internet. The only flaw I found was on the very las ... (continue)

I found the book fairly complex, packed with lots of different characters and interesting developments. Once started, I couldn’t put it down. Comprehensive background material including a well-researched family tree is also readily available on the Internet. The only flaw I found was on the very last page where Ruby explains that she took up translation work for a living. Having been married to an Italian for a few years, she happily translates English technical books into Italian. As a professional translator she ought to translate into her mother tongue, i.e. from Italian into English, as the other way round would go against the professional code of conduct – unless of course Italian was her language of habitual use, which it is clearly not. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the book, which I would highly recommend. I now look forward to discussing “Behind the Scenes at the Museum” further…

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wgeddert said on Jul 23, 2008 | Add your feedback