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Book Club: Behind the Scenes at the Museum
http://www.the-cbb.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=8049
Author:  brie [ Fri Jun 25, 2010 8:39 am ]
Post subject:  Book Club: Behind the Scenes at the Museum
This is the CBB book club, and on the 25th of every month (as long as there is anyone interested!) I will post a new book, voted on and nominated by anyone interested, for discussion. This month's book is Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson.

Behind the Scenes at the Museum is Kate Atkinson's first novel. It is a family novel told through the eyes of Ruby Lennox from her conception until she is grown up.

Do you like the first person narrative and the way the narrative skips between generations of the family?

Do you like the reveal at the end?

Have you read any of her other novels? What do you think of the book as a first novel, do you think it compares favourably with her more famous crime novels?

And anything else you would like to add! These are just a few questions I thought of when I re-read this book.

Again this thread may contain spoilers so if you haven't read the book and now want to, you may not want to read any further!

I will set up a poll for July's book in this thread, I still don't have many entries which is why I haven't run it until now, this month I'm only going to run it for five days to give people a chance to get hold of the chosen book by the 25th of July.

Again please PM me with any suggestions you have for books, and hopefully I will be able to get a poll running earlier this time.

Okay that's the poll ended and July's book will be The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters.

Oh and please, please, please send me suggestions for August's book!
Author:  Elle [ Sat Jun 26, 2010 10:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Book Club: Behind the Scenes at the Museum
I love this book! It is one of my favourites, along with Human Croquet by the same author. I can't put my finger on why I like it so much, but possibly because it tells the story of several generations of one family, so it is history which I love. I think it compares very well with her later books. After Case Histories I think Atkinson goes down hill. Her early books are the best. I did like the reveal at the end, I had no idea, but then I never do!
Author:  janem [ Sun Jun 27, 2010 6:51 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Book Club: Behind the Scenes at the Museum
I love this book too; in fact it is one of my top ten of all time. The beginning is so clever and the slightly offhand narration Ruby gives us is so clever. It is a very complicated book with so many people's stories that it really needs reading several times in order to work them all out. I suspect of the reasons I like it so much is that Ruby is about the same age as me and there are aspects of her childhood that resonate with me.
Unlike Elle, I thought the ending was good and everything else fell into place after the truth was revealed.
This is a book, and indeed an author, I have recommended to so many people.
Author:  brie [ Sun Jun 27, 2010 5:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Book Club: Behind the Scenes at the Museum
I really enjoyed this book too, it was my first Atkinson and I really like the dark humour that flavours it. Elle I never guessed the reveal either and I grew up devouring Agatha Christie's so I should probably be ashamed of myself :lol:. I loved Ruby and I thought she was great as a narrator, and Kate Atkinson created a great bunch and mix of charcters. I really like the way she manages to capture the area it's set in and all the different times it covers.
Author:  Elle [ Sun Jun 27, 2010 8:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Book Club: Behind the Scenes at the Museum
janem wrote:
Unlike Elle, I thought the ending was good and everything else fell into place after the truth was revealed.


I liked the ending! It's her later books which I said I did not like so much. Admittedly I had had a few glasses of wine so maybe I wasn't too clear about what I meant.
Author:  janem [ Sun Jun 27, 2010 8:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Book Club: Behind the Scenes at the Museum
Elle wrote:
janem wrote:
Unlike Elle, I thought the ending was good and everything else fell into place after the truth was revealed.


I liked the ending! It's her later books which I said I did not like so much. Admittedly I had had a few glasses of wine so maybe I wasn't too clear about what I meant.


Apologies - I didn't read your post straight. And I know what you mean. I have read all of hers but found nothing as satisfying as this one
Author:  Nightwing [ Sun Jun 27, 2010 10:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Book Club: Behind the Scenes at the Museum
The first Kate Atkinson book I read was Human Croquet, and in light of that I was actually disappointed with Behind the Scenes at the Museum - not that it was bad, but just that it wasn't as good as Human Croquet, IMO!

I think what I like about Kate Atkinson is that, what she does well, she does brilliantly. I love that Ruby is such an untrustworthy narrator, for example - she misremembers so much, but in a way that once you've had the reveal at the end, you can go back and reread the flashbacks/memories and fill in the blanks, as it were.

As an aside: are her crime novels really better known? Behind the Scenes is always the book that people seem to associate with Atkinson. And I just didn't think that her detective stuff was very good, as a detective novel. I read Case Histories and it was her usual offering of sex and disturbing family relationships, but not particularly satisfying in terms of mystery + solution. I didn't bother with any of the others in the series after that.
Author:  Joey [ Mon Jun 28, 2010 10:28 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Book Club: Behind the Scenes at the Museum
I think Kate Atkinson is stalking me. When I lived in York, she published a book set in York. When I lived in Cambridge, she published a book set in Cambridge. Now that I live 30 miles from Edinburgh, her books are set in Edinburgh. The most recent one even mentioned Peebles!

I adored Behind the Scenes at the Museum and i still re-read it about once a year. If her crime books are better-known, I think it's only because crime is such a popular genre: in my opinion, her earlier books are so much bettter that there is no comparison. I do read and enjoy her crime novels, but I'm much less likely to re-read them, and I enjoy them because they are by Kate Atkinson, not because they're crime novels (a genre I could quite happily do without).

I agree with Nightwing that Atkinson is very good indeed at what she does: my main reservation is that she really seems to have one trope, the unreliable narator and a story that makes sense in a completely different way after the denoument. There's nothing wrong with that, per se - after all, EBD really only has one trope - but I must say that I am less impressed by it now than I was ten years ago. Maybe that's just me!

(Incidentally, I am not voting as I really can't afford the hard cash or space to buy more books for the book club and ordering books takes six weeks at my local library. I'll join in the discussion if it's a book I know. Hope that's ok, Brie!)
Author:  Jenefer [ Mon Jun 28, 2010 1:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Book Club: Behind the Scenes at the Museum
Like everyone else, I love this book. I have read it several times and like spotting the hints about the ending. I also enjoyed Human Croquet but the detective novels are a disappointment.
Author:  abbeybufo [ Mon Jun 28, 2010 1:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Book Club: Behind the Scenes at the Museum
I've only read this title and Human Croquet by Atkinson [both some time ago]. It is one of my favourite modern novels, but I don't go back to it as often as I thought I would when I read it first - and immediately had to reread to see the sense it made when one knew the denoument. The unreliable narrator was a favourite 'trick' at the time, and Atkinson was one of the first to exploit it [which does not, I hasten to add, detract from the effect in this book and Human Croquet] but I'm not sure how well it works on subsequent readings [i.e. after 2nd time through] or subsequent books by same author/using same trope.
Author:  Joey [ Mon Jun 28, 2010 2:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Book Club: Behind the Scenes at the Museum
abbeybufo wrote:
The unreliable narrator was a favourite 'trick' at the time, and Atkinson was one of the first to exploit it [which does not, I hasten to add, detract from the effect in this book and Human Croquet] but I'm not sure how well it works on subsequent readings [i.e. after 2nd time through] or subsequent books by same author/using same trope.


I think that's what I was trying to say, only Ruth has put it much more clearly! I was stunned by the brilliance of Behind the Scenes when I read it first, and I do still love it and her other books; but it stops being quite so stunning after several repetitions.
Author:  JB [ Mon Jun 28, 2010 2:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Book Club: Behind the Scenes at the Museum
It’s a while since I read this and I enjoyed it but can’t remember too much about it. Part way through I did suspect the twist at the end and I did like Ruby’s narration. .

I haven’t read Human Croquet or Emotionally Weird (although I do own them).but have read all the crime novels. I liked them but then I’m addicted to crime novels. I absolutely love her short story collection – Not the End of the World – and would recommend to anyone who’s enjoyed her novels.

I’m not sure I’d say the crime novels were better known, although as she’s such a well know author now, her new books get a lot of press coverage. I always think of Behind the Scenes as her most well known book because it won Whitbread first novel and was really high profile for a first novel.

I’m surprised no-one mentioned that Kate Atkinson name checks the Chalet School in one of her books (One Good Turn?) when she describes a character as being like a Chalet School head girl. I met her once when I interviewed her at a literature festival. It was in Kendal and the same book is very disparaging about a writers’ group in Kendal. I was very relieved that no-one asked a question about that.

Think I might have to add Kate Atkinson to my reread pile for August.
Author:  cestina [ Mon Jun 28, 2010 3:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Book Club: Behind the Scenes at the Museum
Eek just realised I haven't read this yet though I took elaborate steps to get it here....well at least that solves the problem of what to read next. I loved Human Croquet but haven't read anything else by KA yet though I have the 3 krimis on my bookshelf.
Author:  brie [ Mon Jun 28, 2010 7:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Book Club: Behind the Scenes at the Museum
Joey of course it's okay to just read what ones you want! :lol:

Hmmm it's interesting that so many of you are saying behind the scenes is the most famous, I think perhaps it's because I only 'found' KA about a year ago, I saw her latest crime novels plastered everywhere and it was only after searching amazon that I caught a peek at behind the scenes, so to me reading her now for the first time everyone's talking about the crime novels.

I bought Behind the scenes and case histories, and read behind the scenes first and then was rather disapointed by case histories. One good turn is sitting on my bookshelf but I haven't got round to it yet, but i'm very tempted now to buy human croquet!
Author:  cestina [ Thu Jul 01, 2010 12:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Book Club: Behind the Scenes at the Museum
I loved Behind the Scenes and found that I was laughing out loud at several turns of phrase that were completely delightful. I meant to keep a list of them but of course then didn't :(

The only other KA I have read is Human Croquet, also quite recently, and I loved that too but on balance I think I enjoyed this one more. I guessed the reveal very early on, possibly because I once knew twins called Ruby and Pearl, so I didn't actually find Ruby unreliable, just uncomprehending. I loved the way KA took us back in time with the footnotes, always flagging them up in the main text.

I've thought about reading this for some time but never got round to it so many thanks Brie!

(I was too late for the poll for the next book but would have voted the way it went since The Little Stranger is the only one of the three that I have here.....)
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