"Abandonment," be Kate Atkinson, is a play that switches back and forth in time to tell two connected stories. The opening pages of the book note that the play was first performed at the Traverse Theater in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2000; also noted is the fact that the author lives in Edinburgh.

The play opens with Elizabeth, a contemporary woman who works as a historian and lives in a converted Victorian mansion. The people in her life include her sister Kitty, a reporter; her widowed mother Ina; her best friend Susie, a lesbian who wants to have a baby with her partner; and Callum, a New Age-y fellow who's doing work on the house. These characters deal with both their current relationships as well as with issues from the past that continue to haunt them. Their story alternates with that of a troubled family that occupied the house in the 19th century.

I really didn't know what to expect when I started reading this play, but by the end I really loved it. It's a full-bodied blend of tragedy and comedy; the two stories are effectively linked. Although the story is at times a bit soap opera-ish, ultimately the play as a whole is quite moving and very satisfying.

Some of the play's themes include romantic love, sex, societal pressure, sisterhood, infidelity, and women's desire for motherhood. The dialogue is strong, and the characters really came to life for me as I read the play. I think this would be a good book both for classes in contemporary drama and women's studies; I also recommend it for independent reading.

Kate Atkinson is a genius, and this is a great little book all about her first novel. According to the book, Kate thinks that her second novel Human Croquet is better, but I disagree. Behind the Scenes at the Museum is just amazing. In the first chapter of this, she comes across as slightly mad - which she may well be. When a British newspaper asks her for her favourite ten books, for example, she manages to squeeze in thirteen. (But it's a great list anyway!) The book talks about her obsession with dogs and with Lewis Carroll, and gets very in-depth about Behind the Scenes at the Museum, which I thought was fascinating. And you would not believe the patronising nonsense that some male reviewers and judges came out with about the novel. Just unbelievable.

Anyway, if you haven't read anything by Kate Atkinson then you're really missing out. If you have, and you loved it, then read this book as well. It tells you so many things about a brilliant writer.

This is a book that I bought on the basis of the reviews I read. Actually, if it had not been for the great reviews,I probably would not have kept reading the book. I'm very glad I did.

It is the story of Ruby Lennox, from conception in 1952 through her 40th year. Through footnotes in the form of chapters she takes you back to the turn of the century and the lives of her maternal family. Her grat-grandmother, Alice, grandmother, Nell, mother, Bunty and herself. Then there are all the sisters, cousins, aunts uncles, father and so on. There is a lot of story here.

It is quite rewarding to read and funny, yet as the story moves on it is quite sad and disturbing. The author has a way of pulling you in to the life of Ruby Lennox. You won't be disappointed. Give this book a chance. It was great!!!!

The only complaint I have is that I wish there had been a family tree to refer to at the beginning of the book. It became confusing keeping track of everyone.

This is one of the best books I have ever read. I've been carrying it around with me, showing to all my friends and recommending that they read it, too. It's magical, magnificent, a very great, important piece of writing. Although the story revolves around Ruby and her family, the lives of her maternal great-grandmother, grandmother and mother are woven into the story so that in effect, the there two books here: Ruby and pre-Ruby. Several reviewers have described this novel as "one of the funniest books to come out of Britain in years (The NY Times Book Review) and as "comic" (Boston Sunday Globe) and while Behind the Scenes is enormously charming, inventive and endearing, don't buy this expecting it to be a funny or humorous book. At times it is unbearably sad, sadness tinged with dark scamperings of horror. I was telling my husband about this book and he kept saying, "this sounds awful, terrible things keep happening to these people," ! and while that is true, the author tells this story with a beautiful lightness that keeps Ruby safe despite her sadness.

One thing I found very interesting about this book was the way the women's lives went from the unending drudgery of cooking, cleaning, mending, pregnancy and taking care of numerous children by Alice, the great-grandmother who lived in rural 19th century England, to the comparatively empty days of Bunty, Ruby's mother, days that are filled up with a dedication to housekeeping that only mimics what was once a necessity of life. Alice lived in a world where the failure to bake bread and to keep up with darning and mending meant that children went hungry and cold in winter. Bunty lives in a world attached to a strict household schedule (washing on Monday, ironing on Tuesday, cleaning on Wednesday, etc) and where store-bought cakes and cookies are looked upon as evidence of a slatternly nature.

Another interesting this about this book is the way Ruby's! voice changes from when she is little to when she grows up! . Little Ruby is consumed with magical thinking, she believes in a world of ghosts where things happen for no reason and a deck of cards designed to teach the alphabet become a wondrous bridge to life away from home. As she grows, her voice takes on depth and the effects of secondary school and while the frivolity and delightful silliness that characterize little Ruby's world continue to exist, they are moderated by her maturity. This is a truly wonderful book.

Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson.

In "Behind the Scenes at the Museum", Kate Atkinson has created one of the most original first person narrators of recent years. Her character, Ruby Lennox, is at once witty, fragile, sad, and sassy. Ruby's sharp eye for detail, and the way in which she brings alive the interior and exterior fabric of her life through her voice, engages us with its immediacy.

The novel begins with Ruby's conception in 1951, charts her exit from the warmth and safety of her mother's body, and her arrival into a very strange and alienating world. Her family is eccentric but engaging, living above the pet shop in York that they own and run. Her parents, Bunty and George, are well meaning, but have cracks in their psyches that play themselves out through interactions with their children. Ruby is not an only child: her older sisters Patricia and Gillian are her constant companions, as bizarre as their parents. The novel takes us through the early part of Ruby's life, constructing a magical world where the strangest events seem inevitable and manageable. Increasingly Ruby becomes aware that there is something about her family that she is not being told and, in a brilliantly realized moment of revelation, Atkinson allows Ruby to discover what that secret is, then we watch her come to terms with it.

The past is a strong presence here. Atkinson tells much of the quirky family history through separate chapters called "Footnotes", which take us back to pre-Ruby days, and they do much to explain why her family is as it is, and why Ruby develops as she does.

This novel is never predictable, constantly delighting by the way that Ruby's world-weary sardonic view of adults is wittily expressed. The independence of the voice here is powerful and new. Atkinson has found a way to express the young Ruby's viewpoint without sacrificing the older Ruby's knowledge. This achievement means that even within the grimmest passages of the novel there lurks a longing for the past, and an irrepressible need to find the humor and humanity in every situation. In the narrative, for example, Ruby's parents let her down in many ways, but they are never less than loved, and the older Ruby never lets us forget that fact.

The vigor and passion of this book comes from the language and the forcefulness of its life-affirming voice. At no time do we think that Ruby's life is easy, yet her resilience and refusal to be miserable carries us on with her. The novel begins with Ruby declaring "I exist!" and ends with the words "I am Ruby Lennox." The pages in between the two statements justify the second completely. By the time we reach it, we know exactly who Ruby Lennox is, and we feel reluctant to leave her. This is a mark of Atkinson's success: she has made us love her character.

Some of the cultural references and events that Kate Atkinson utilizes in this novel may be alien to some American readers, but they are not impediments to understanding. "Behind the Scenes at the Museum" is an exhilarating and hilarious read, and its humanity transcends the Atlantic barrier. Ruby Lennox is a unique character, and to let her pass you by would be a great loss.

I started reading Human Croquet with a great sense of excitement (after all, I haven't read a good book since Behind the Scenes at the Museum). And Kate Atkinson certainly didn't disappoint me.

Once more, she manages to play with dream and reality, past, present and future in an extraordinary exercise of style. The easiness with which she describes people, places and times as if she had the ability to cut out a slice of time for you is remarkable indeed.

But above all, she manages to bring to life yet another truly great character. Isobel Fairfax is sensible, generous, she has a wonderful sense of humour and this amazing sense of reality whilst travelling through the magical depths of time. Although different from Ruby Lennox in Behind the Scenes at the Museum, Isobel displays the same essential characteristic; both are extremely lovable. Kate Atkinson makes you think with them, feel with them, and suddenly Ruby and Isobel become your friends.

Ruby is a precious stone, Isobel is a beautiful pearl; Kate Atkinson has the gift of a jeweller to turn raw material into a magical sparkle of life. I can't wait for her next masterpiece!

Kate Atkinson knows how to write a great book. Having read virtually thousands of novels during my seventeen years, I've grown increasingly frustrated with the "formula" writers who all sound exactly the same. Luckily, Ms. Atkinson has dared to break the mold. In this sparkling story, we are led through the fascinating mind of Isobel Fairfax, are introduced to her dysfunctional but enjoyable family, and an array of very human characters. The characters here are a little exaggerated, but Atkinson uses such brilliant imagery in her descriptions that we can easily forgive her. At the heart of the story is the mystery of Eliza, Isobel's mother, who disappeared years ago. Strange, inexplicable fluctuations in time slowly reveal more of the story behind the mystery as we are led into the past and through several different realities of the future. Following the time jumps can be confusing, but the patient reader will be rewarded in the end. I am a very critical reader, and I loved this book- so go read it!

Kate Atkinson has a quite unusual and creative style of writing. If you like very linear,unambiguous fiction, she is definitely not for you but if you are up for a challenging and extraordinary read, check this, her second novel, out. It's hard to describe "Human Croquet" without sounding unbearably pretentious or giving away too much of the plot. Simply put,"Human Croquet" is the story of Isobel Fairfax, a teenager growing up in northern England in the early 1960s -- but the book goes far beyond the traditional coming-of-age story, with its time-bending, imaginative plot. History is intermingled with the present, dreams with reality, and alternate realities are at war with what's actually happening in Isobel's life. The characters are vivid and real, the writing is funny and witty and fresh, and Isobel's story and voice grip you from the beginning. Thoroughly enjoyable, and well worth the trip.

An interesting mix of styles and subjects, something to appeal to a wide variety of readers. But all of these stories share one thing - they are beautifully written. If you love good writing, love literature, you will love these stories. Highly recommended.

I gave it a 3 because it IS a good read. It's not the best but still worth reading. I did find the characters to be engaging and amusing. Prof. Cousins is a hoot. The different plots/settings take time to get use to but you quickly understand that the "real" story is happening with Nora on the island. Overall, if you're looking for a deep, meaninful read I'd say this isn't it. If it's a quick funny book you're after, this is a decent choice. It seems as though Ms. Atkinson had a lot of good ideas, but just couldn't make them all gel together.

I had never read anything by Kate Atkinson before this and was quite pleasantly surprised. What I hastily concluded from the jacket description was that this was going to be a play-like dialogue between a mother and daughter. This is, instead, a multilayered, multigenre piece of experimental fiction that is fun to read, thought-provoking and original. As much as anything else, Emotionally Weird is about writing and the creative process. Effie, the young woman who is the narrator, tells stories which may or may not be true to Nora, an older woman who may or may not be her mother. The two live on a secluded island off Scotland. The stories Effie tells are mainly whimsical character studies of bohemian college life in the 1970s. By contrast, the scenes that take place on the island beteen Effie and Nora are told in a somberly poetic, almost gothic (and very Celtic) style. To further complicate things, Effie is also herself writing a detective novel about yet another set of characters. If this sounds confusing, at times it is. Yet, you don't have to completely understand what's going on to enjoy this novel. After all, there is very little plot to worry about following. There are, appropriately enough, several references to Alice in Wonderland, though, compared to Emotionally Weird, Lewis Carroll's tale is almost conventional and straightforward. James Joyce is also mentioned, but despite her radical style, Atkinson is much, much easier to read. There is a very deliberate pointlessness to the book. When Effie is at college, for example, there are scenes that are little more than parades of absurd characters. Professors are portrayed as gibberish-speaking buffoons; some of my favorite scenes took place in the classroom, where the professors uttter meaningless jargon to apathetic students. Nora often interrupts the tales to deliver her quite valid criticisms, such as the fact that Effie creates too many characters. Some of the scenes could be considered more like writing exercises than actual scenes that propel a story. Some readers will find this novel tedious; it does take a suspension of your usual expectations regarding fiction. I enjoyed the contrasting styles and the existentialism of the characters that is alternately tragic and comical. Finally, I found it's labyrinthian stories within stories to be a fascinating exploration of creativity and of identity.

To say this is a book in which on a deserted Scottish island Effie and her mother tell stories about their lives is to give a completely wrong impression of this book...

it's more like Italo Calvino in the way it plays with a bunch of different narratives. Most of the book is 20-year old Effie's story.. it's 1972, and she's an unmotivated student at the University of Dundee. Her chapters, "Chez Bob" (Bob is her Star Trek-obsessed boyfriend she's too lethargic to leave) are hilarious... the descriptions of her friends and the nonsensical situations and conversations will be familiar to anyone who's ever been to college, anywhere. The excerpts from tutorials (we'd call them seminars" she half-heartedly participates on are exact and funny. They also provide an excuse to show excerpts from the mystery novel she's writing, the fantasy a friend is writing and a mysterious novel that seems to have supernatural powers taht one of the professors is working on. Every time we get to an excerpt, the font changes, which is a clear and delightful device

For all that the book plays with reality, it still remains clear and not mystified and annoying. Every now and then we return to the remote Scottish island (the font is more stark there, too) and we get little glimpses of Nora's story as Effie tries to get the story of her birth... Nora is a Virgin and as the book goes on we realize Nora is not her mother... also in Effie's story she is being followed by a mysterious woman...

all of these threads are tied together brilliantly by the end in a conclusion that is logical and satisfying.

We also get a brief epilogue set in 1999, largely excerpts from the now-published writings of Effie and her friends, which is short and funny.

I laughed out loud at the description of one of the college parties. Atkinson has a brilliant ear for dialogue and her character descriptions are sharp and clear. I feel as if I've *been* to Dundee in 1972! (The student demonstrations and their escalations, and a feminist meeting attended by a doddering, gallant male professor, are particularly wonderful).

Don't be put off by some of the lukewarm reviews here-- this is one of the more original books I've read in a while!