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vernacular_lifeBehind the Scenes at the Museum, by Kate Atkinson
From Amazon:
"I exist!" exclaims Ruby Lennox upon her conception in 1951, setting the tone for this humorous and poignant first novel in which Ruby at once celebrates and mercilessly skewers her middle-class English family. Peppered with tales of flawed family traits passed on from previous generations, Ruby's narrative examines the lives in her disjointed clan, which revolve around the family pet shop. But beneath the antics of her philandering father, her intensely irritable mother, her overly emotional sisters, and a gaggle of eccentric relatives are darker secrets--including an odd "feeling of something long forgotten"--that will haunt Ruby for the rest of her life. (overall rating was 5 stars)
1st completed book of the new year....It took me a while to get through it because I'd purposefully leave it at work (smaller paperback) for carrying down to the pumping room 2x a day.
Overall....okay. I enjoyed the book but had a devil of a time keeping the characters straight (I'd have loved a family tree in the beginning/end of the book!!). Narrator, Ruby, goes back 3? generations of family history...I got lost a few times with stores of her mother during the war, but enjoyed the parts of the story that took place when Ruby was alive. Funny and tragic, it never took on a 'poor me' tone.
This would be a fun movie...I'd see it kind of along the lines of Big Fish if it were done well.
So overall, a B-. Not something I think I'd read again or heartily recommend to others.
Next up: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, as suggested by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ee_chick. I'm about 20 pages into it and really enjoy it thus far....not a big surprise, as Memoirs of a Geisha was one of my fav books of past years, and at least the beginning if SFatSF is pretty similar.
Also Reading: The Fiery Cross (Outlander book #5). Slogging through this at home.. not nearly as enjoyable as books 1-3, but its still mildly entertaining.
From Amazon:
"I exist!" exclaims Ruby Lennox upon her conception in 1951, setting the tone for this humorous and poignant first novel in which Ruby at once celebrates and mercilessly skewers her middle-class English family. Peppered with tales of flawed family traits passed on from previous generations, Ruby's narrative examines the lives in her disjointed clan, which revolve around the family pet shop. But beneath the antics of her philandering father, her intensely irritable mother, her overly emotional sisters, and a gaggle of eccentric relatives are darker secrets--including an odd "feeling of something long forgotten"--that will haunt Ruby for the rest of her life. (overall rating was 5 stars)
1st completed book of the new year....It took me a while to get through it because I'd purposefully leave it at work (smaller paperback) for carrying down to the pumping room 2x a day.
Overall....okay. I enjoyed the book but had a devil of a time keeping the characters straight (I'd have loved a family tree in the beginning/end of the book!!). Narrator, Ruby, goes back 3? generations of family history...I got lost a few times with stores of her mother during the war, but enjoyed the parts of the story that took place when Ruby was alive. Funny and tragic, it never took on a 'poor me' tone.
This would be a fun movie...I'd see it kind of along the lines of Big Fish if it were done well.
So overall, a B-. Not something I think I'd read again or heartily recommend to others.
Next up: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, as suggested by
ee_chick. I'm about 20 pages into it and really enjoy it thus far....not a big surprise, as Memoirs of a Geisha was one of my fav books of past years, and at least the beginning if SFatSF is pretty similar.Also Reading: The Fiery Cross (Outlander book #5). Slogging through this at home.. not nearly as enjoyable as books 1-3, but its still mildly entertaining.
