“Offers a witty, enjoyable look at the elegant and sometimes unhinged world that exists within its walls.” Town & Country magazine
Description
From a writer who worked at the Metropolitan Museum for more than twenty-five years, an enchanting novel that shows us the Met that the public doesn’t see
Hidden behind the Picassos and Vermeers, the Temple of Dendur and the American Wing, exists another world: the hallways and offices, conservation studios, storerooms, and cafeteria that are home to the museum’s devoted and peculiar staff of 2,200 people—along with a few ghosts.
A surreal love letter to this private side of the Met, Metropolitan Stories unfolds in a series of amusing and poignant vignettes in which we discover larger-than-life characters, the downside of survival, and the powerful voices of the art itself. The result is a novel bursting with magic, humor, and energetic detail, but also a beautiful book about introspection, an ode to lives lived for art, ultimately building a powerful collage of human experience and the world of the imagination.
Praise
“Offers a witty, enjoyable look at the elegant and sometimes unhinged world that exists within its walls.” Town & Country magazine
“Vivid, comedic, tender, and episodic…Her love for the Met, for humanness, and for beauty radiant on each surprising page.” Booklist (starred review)
“Narrator Jill Eikenberry lends her gentle voice to these subtly humorous short stories…Eikenberry gives unique voices to antique chairs discussing their previous lives, muses slipping out of their paintings, custodians from the Bronx, and more…She offers just the right amount of attitude to the ‘mezz’ girls who serve guests at fundraising events and the two night security guards who tryst in the curator’s closet. The stories are a delight, made more so by Eikenberry’s splendid narration. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.” AudioFile
“The Met that emerges from these stories is both grandiose and cheerfully mundane…Those who think they know the place will be beguiled by the look behind the scenes; those unfamiliar with it will be prompted to make its acquaintance.” Publishers Weekly
“An alternative guidebook to [the Met’s] rich treasures.” Kirkus Reviews
Details
| Language | English |
|---|---|
| Release Day | Oct 7, 2019 |
| Release Date | October 8, 2019 |
| Release Date Machine | 1570492800 |
| Imprint | Blackstone Publishing |
| Provider | Blackstone Publishing |
| Categories | Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction, Anthologies & Short Stories, Magical Realism, Literary Fiction, City Life, Fiction - All, Fiction - Adult |
Author Bio
Christine Coulson began her career at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1991 as a summer intern in the European Paintings Department. She returned in 1994, and over the next twenty-five years, rose through the ranks of the Museum, working in the development office, the director’s office, and the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts. She recently left the Met to write full time.
Narrator Bio
Overview
From a writer who worked at the Metropolitan Museum for more than twenty-five years, an enchanting novel that shows us the Met that the public doesn’t see
Hidden behind the Picassos and Vermeers, the Temple of Dendur and the American Wing, exists another world: the hallways and offices, conservation studios, storerooms, and cafeteria that are home to the museum’s devoted and peculiar staff of 2,200 people—along with a few ghosts.
A surreal love letter to this private side of the Met, Metropolitan Stories unfolds in a series of amusing and poignant vignettes in which we discover larger-than-life characters, the downside of survival, and the powerful voices of the art itself. The result is a novel bursting with magic, humor, and energetic detail, but also a beautiful book about introspection, an ode to lives lived for art, ultimately building a powerful collage of human experience and the world of the imagination.
Reviews
Write Your Own Review