Behind the Scenes at a Museum

Behind the Scenes at a Museum  by Kate Atkinson

How is it possible that a book can be so incredibly depressing, yet so hilarious at the same time?  How is it that a book that really can’t even really claim to have a plot be so enthralling and engulfing?  Kate Atkinson is fast becoming one of my favorite authors after having read this, only my second book (“When Will There Be Good News” - first) of hers.  I found many similarities between the two and, whereas I can see the style may not appeal to everyone, I thought it incredibly refreshing, original and unique.

This book is essentially the story of Ruby Lennox, “told” in first person, from the exact moment of her conception in 1951.  She immediately takes note of her new world, learning about her future surroundings with awe, innocence, and a bit of apprehension.  She feels apprehension for a very good reason.  As soon as we see her new family, we know the poor girl is in trouble as soon as her drunken father nakedly rolls off her annoyed mother.  As mom and dad (Bunty and George) start the next day, you can see that this couple - and their family of two girls, is a long long way from “Father Knows Best”.  There’s no love at all in this house, and Dad sleeps around a lot in addition to his frequent drinking binges. On the outside, the family does do a good job appearing normal in 1950’s England, as they live above a pet shop that provides the family their income.  Money wise, they seem to be o.k., but oh, what a miserable family.

When Ruby is born and grows up (the chapters in the book jump around a few years at a time), the family, fortunately, doesn’t realize just how miserable they are.  How can you call yourself miserable when you’ve only known misery your whole life?  So they plod along as best they can.  If this book sounds too depressing to pick up, well, that’s part of the irony that makes this book so good.  The author has a way of injecting odd bits of humor and every turn, to where you can’t help laughing at these poor sods.

This book isn’t just about Ruby and her immediate family.  Oh no.  There are tons of aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws, grandparents,  neighbors, etc. that will make your head spin.  It’s very easy to get lost with all of these individuals coming and going between the pages. A diagram of a family tree at the beginning of the book would have been quite helpful.  Fortunately, the extended family members don’t play too large of a role within the Lennox clan, so you don’t feel as though you’ve missed that much when you confuse “Ted” with “Tom”, etc.

In fact, the book almost spends as much focus on Bunty (Ruby’s mom) as Ruby herself.  There are several flashbacks of Bunty, herself, when she was young, and we even go back a prior generation as well.  We see lots of premature death, a wicked step mother, two world wars (many relatives killed), and a couple of diseases.  It seems as though Ruby’s mom, and her mom before her, were raised in similar tumultuous surroundings, so it’s not really much of a surprise when the cycle simply begins anew for Ruby and her siblings.

So we follow Ruby all the way until she is a middle aged adult.  Sadly, we never arrive at any sort of happy destination, nor do we see any changes for any future generations, but I still found the book a joy to read overall.  As mentioned, there were a tad too many relations and characters, but perhaps this was done purposely to add to the chaos of these individuals warped lives.  I’ll also point out that there are “hints” early in the book about a very dramatic event in Ruby’s childhood that is never described in much detail - and once the event has passed, your left scratching your head thinking you may have missed something.  The “event” is revealed much later in the story, and I must say that it was a bit unnecessary.  The whole episode probably could have been left out of the book without detracting at all from the story.

If you’re looking for a deliberate tale with a steadfast purpose within a story, this book probably isn’t for you.  However, if you enjoy having a first-hand glimpse of the comings and goings of a warped family (think reality t.v.), then I bet you would enjoy this one.