Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson Buy This Book Now

Kim
Rating:


Review
Main character Ruby Lennox begins this story at her conception ("I exist!") and never slows or fades, or failed to entertain this reader. I found Ruby to be most enjoyable, even during her troubled teen-age years.  Ruby competes for the attention of her self-involved, unloving parents George and Bunty, with her sisters Gillian and Patricia for most of the story, though the lives of her grandmother and great-grandmother, along with all of their children and siblings alternate chapters with Ruby, making her life, and history, full and fascinating.  Ruby reminded me a bit of Ms. Atkinson's heroine Reggie in When Will There Be Good News? though I found Ruby a bit more charming and I liked watching her grow up and into herself.

Best Line:
"She likes the word "acquaintance", it sounds posh and doesn't have all the time-consuming consequences of friendship."

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Suzanne
Rating:


Review
Little Ruby Lennox, the star of this book, shines through in what would otherwise just be a bleak series of events.  At first I almost didn't want to keep reading because the story was so miserable but I actually ended up liking it!  Ruby is born to unhappy parents who run a pet shop in York, England. Her father George's idea of taking her mother Bunty on an exotic trip was to go to a Chinese restaurant. Ruby's story is told by her own self alternating with "footnote" chapters in third-person which peer into the past of her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, whose lives were heavily influenced by the two world wars. I enjoyed Ruby's chapters told in her own voice the best. She's quite spunky and resilient and wonderful.  It seems like she grew up in a big family because in addition to her two older sisters, Patricia and Gillian, she has numerous cousins and aunts and uncles living nearby who are often in the picture. Ruby's family ratchets along from one disappointment to another; there are cheating spouses, trouble with her desperately unhappy sister Patricia, and several real family tragedies over the years. Yet Ruby tells it all in a matter of fact way that comes across with biting humor and wit, and I ended up impressed and satisfied.

Best Line:
"I want a mother who dreams different dreams." (pg. 13)