“Behind the Scenes at the Museum" by Kate Atkinson.
The book covers the experiences of Ruby Lennox from a middle-class English family.
By interspersing flashbacks with the narrative of Ruby’s own life, the book chronicles the lives of four generations of women from Ruby’s great-grandmother Alice to Ruby’s mother’s failed dreams.
The story of Ruby’s own life is told in thirteen chapters, all written in the first person, documenting key periods in Ruby’s life from 1951 ("Conception" beginning with the words "I exist!") to 1992. In between each chapter are (non-consecutive) flashbacks that tell the story from the point of view of one of the other (mostly female) members of Ruby’s family—including her great-grandmother Alice, her grandmother Nell and her mother Bunty.
August 26, 2008 at 3:07 pm
August Meeting.
“A Thousand Splendid Suns”, our July selection, prompted another liv ely and stimulating discussion. It deals with a very painful subject and – although not all members were in agreement – it left us feeling extremely moved by the plight of women in Afghanistan during the Taliban rule.
The next meeting will be on Thursday August 28th at 12:30 in the recpetion Room at Central Library when the book under discussion will be “Common Murder” by Val McDermid.