Tuesday, 24 March 2009
Behind The Scenes At The Museum by Kate Atkinson
Book Title: Behind The Scenes At The Museum
Author Name: Kate Atkinson
Why I decided to read this book: When this book caught my eye in the shop, I remembered hearing about Kate Atkinson when I lived in York. Since Behind The Scenes At The Museum is set in that city, and since I was missing living there, I thought it would be a good book to read.
Summary: This book is about the life of Ruby Lennox: it starts at her conception and moves through her childhood to adulthood, weaving in a bit of family history along the way.
Strengths: Ruby is an interesting character, and I enjoyed reading the parts of this book about how she coped with her dysfunctional family. Atkinson also captures parts of York well.
Weaknesses: I found the vast majority of this book boring. I didn't feel drawn into the lives of Ruby's female ancestors and struggled through the parts of the book that concentrated on them. In fact, I found all the female characters except for Ruby and her sisters dull. Some of the men were a little better, but I found it difficult to care about most of them, too. This book did nothing to draw me into the story and make me intrigued as to what would happen. Even the Big Secret was rather obvious and failed to excite any curiosity.
Overall Opinion: Not worth reading, if you ask me. This book was a waste of my time.
Rating out of Five: 
