Metropolitan Stories: A Novel

Description

Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the glorious walls of the Metropolitan Museum of Art? If so, here is your chance to find out. Take an intimate step behind the walls of the Met. See the daily interactions of guards, curators, and directors. Take a stroll with a visitor. See what happens with the art when no one is looking; see what happens when someone IS looking. See the close-knit community that is more of a dysfunctional family. See the Met as more than a museum: a calling, a dream job, an escape from reality, a beginning and an ending.

Christine Coulson’s collection of short stories about the Met gets off to a rocky start. If you open it expecting a novel, as the title suggests it to be, it can be jarring to find yourself reading a collection of loosely connected short stories. The stories jump between time (step inside a painting to travel to Egypt in the 1920s), space (ghosts of past benefactors attend charity functions), and medium (sculptures and paintings compete for the role of muse), which can be difficult to follow. But if you stick around, the collection becomes more cohesive around halfway through and finishes on a strong, delightful note.