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Metropolitan Stories
“Only someone who deeply loves and understands the Metropolitan Museum could deliver such madcap, funny, magical, tender, intimate fables and stories.” —Maira Kalman, artist and bestselling author of The Principles of Uncertainty
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.
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.
249 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 8, 2019
183 people are currently reading
2838 people want to read
About the author
Christine Coulson
4 books72 followersChristine 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 25 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.
In 2017, Coulson was given a yearlong sabbatical from the Met to write her first novel, Metropolitan Stories, after she published this personal essay in The New York Times.
She left the Met in April 2019 to write full-time.
In 2017, Coulson was given a yearlong sabbatical from the Met to write her first novel, Metropolitan Stories, after she published this personal essay in The New York Times.
She left the Met in April 2019 to write full-time.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 295 reviews
August 20, 2019
3.5 The Metropolitan Museum of Art, a place I wld love to visit but doubt it will ever happen. It ks the setting though of some very original stories or related episodes. In these stories the museum comes alive, literally. The first episode concerns a chair made in the mid 1700's, a chair that was the favorite another for a you g princess. Oh, how it longs to be sat on once again.
Then the director of the museum needs a muse, because a renown fashion designer is meeting with him and stated he was bring his muse. So all those qualified as muses, from various pai tings , sketches, statuary and sculptures show up to be interviewed. Clever and witty.
All those who k ow the museum from the workers,to the office personal and even the guards feAture in a story. As do various of the other exhibits. L enjoyed the one where Adam who had been on his pedastal for ages, steps down to warn a guard. Of course, that doesn't turn out well
So an innovative look inside a famous museum, though not all episodes worked as well as others. Still, cudoes for creativity and originalty.
ARC from Other Press.
Then the director of the museum needs a muse, because a renown fashion designer is meeting with him and stated he was bring his muse. So all those qualified as muses, from various pai tings , sketches, statuary and sculptures show up to be interviewed. Clever and witty.
All those who k ow the museum from the workers,to the office personal and even the guards feAture in a story. As do various of the other exhibits. L enjoyed the one where Adam who had been on his pedastal for ages, steps down to warn a guard. Of course, that doesn't turn out well
So an innovative look inside a famous museum, though not all episodes worked as well as others. Still, cudoes for creativity and originalty.
ARC from Other Press.
June 13, 2020
I was really looking forward to reading this. I had super high hopes – I love books on and about art, both fiction and non-fiction, and of course the MET is an international art institution dinosaur. The sumptuous cover alone would make anyone want to read it. Unfortunately, this book fell short of my expectations.
Novel idea, writing from the point of view of the works of art themselves – but it just didn’t work here at all. I found it quite ‘try hard’ in spite of some humorous sections and patches of catchy language. Some of the history of pieces was interesting, but this wasn’t enough to make it a great read. The structure was particularly messy – in an attempt to link or cross reference the characters and stories across the separate chapters – this either should have been avoided altogether, or achieved much more coherently.
And where were the pictures??? I know this was meant to be a novel and not an art reference book, but seriously, I’m trying to envisage a personified Napoleonic chair or a marble Aphrodite and pictures would have really enhanced the reading experience. Something along the lines of Alain de Botton’s style in Consolations of Philosophy (brilliantly put together). While I’ve visited the MET, it’s impossible to recall all what you see, and for readers who have never visited, pictures would have made the novel much more engaging.
All in all, I feel like this was a great idea, imagined well but written wrong and thoughtlessly edited. It does look nice on the coffee table though – it’s that lovely cover!
Novel idea, writing from the point of view of the works of art themselves – but it just didn’t work here at all. I found it quite ‘try hard’ in spite of some humorous sections and patches of catchy language. Some of the history of pieces was interesting, but this wasn’t enough to make it a great read. The structure was particularly messy – in an attempt to link or cross reference the characters and stories across the separate chapters – this either should have been avoided altogether, or achieved much more coherently.
And where were the pictures??? I know this was meant to be a novel and not an art reference book, but seriously, I’m trying to envisage a personified Napoleonic chair or a marble Aphrodite and pictures would have really enhanced the reading experience. Something along the lines of Alain de Botton’s style in Consolations of Philosophy (brilliantly put together). While I’ve visited the MET, it’s impossible to recall all what you see, and for readers who have never visited, pictures would have made the novel much more engaging.
All in all, I feel like this was a great idea, imagined well but written wrong and thoughtlessly edited. It does look nice on the coffee table though – it’s that lovely cover!
February 7, 2020
Did you know? The tunnels of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC is a hive of lifeless tunnels. The ceilings run the length of the museum with pipes and electrical wiring. "I didn't see another soul when I was down there. I only heard the buzzing of the fluorescAent lights above me. There were statues looking upward as if longing to return to the galleries. I shared their desire as I sank deeper into the cluttered passageways---at once constricting and vast."
The death of an overnight custodian might surprise you to learn "the Met mourns rigorously. Not to any one god or any group of gods, or according to any doctrine or religion. But along deep, internal traditions, and with carefully tended rites that evolved in a tribal, rather orthodox, way."
"Walter found the loneliness of this singular procession heartbreaking, and felt the wet path of a tear slip down his cheek and land in a small, salty puddle on his lower lip. He didn't even know the Rubber Band Man's name."
Christine Coulson ran through the ranks of the Museum for twenty-five years. In 2019 she left the Met to write full-time.
The death of an overnight custodian might surprise you to learn "the Met mourns rigorously. Not to any one god or any group of gods, or according to any doctrine or religion. But along deep, internal traditions, and with carefully tended rites that evolved in a tribal, rather orthodox, way."
"Walter found the loneliness of this singular procession heartbreaking, and felt the wet path of a tear slip down his cheek and land in a small, salty puddle on his lower lip. He didn't even know the Rubber Band Man's name."
Christine Coulson ran through the ranks of the Museum for twenty-five years. In 2019 she left the Met to write full-time.
March 2, 2020
A wonderful love letter to the Met, if not all art museums. More a series of loosely interconnected short stories than a traditional novel, some are stronger than others but together create a beautiful whole. Coulson’s love of the Met and her way with words makes for a strong foundation, as does her use of what I can only term magical realism. Metropolitan Stories makes for a powerful, if unintentional, argument about the importance of culture and its preservation. Highly recommended.
November 19, 2022
4.5 stars
Coulson, having worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for 25 years, has written a brilliant collection of short stories focusing on a wide variety of art and aspects of the Met. Captured within each story is that little glimmer or spark that is the seed of understanding of and devotion to art and the Museum itself. The awareness of the importance and gravity of art in our world, coupled lovingly with humor, whimsy, and eccentricities, Coulson has crafted a magnificent array of themes, characters, and situations. I was captivated by her stories — they are each unique while all swimming through the same current, in the same ocean. From auditioning Muses to discovering a long-time employee's secret room and hidden treasure, Coulson writes with a tender hand and a keen eye.
Also, Coulson has a website with a Featured Art page with photos for the various pieces of art utilized in her stories, labeled by chapter (with duplicates when necessary), and linked to the Met's own site for more information.
Coulson, having worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for 25 years, has written a brilliant collection of short stories focusing on a wide variety of art and aspects of the Met. Captured within each story is that little glimmer or spark that is the seed of understanding of and devotion to art and the Museum itself. The awareness of the importance and gravity of art in our world, coupled lovingly with humor, whimsy, and eccentricities, Coulson has crafted a magnificent array of themes, characters, and situations. I was captivated by her stories — they are each unique while all swimming through the same current, in the same ocean. From auditioning Muses to discovering a long-time employee's secret room and hidden treasure, Coulson writes with a tender hand and a keen eye.
Also, Coulson has a website with a Featured Art page with photos for the various pieces of art utilized in her stories, labeled by chapter (with duplicates when necessary), and linked to the Met's own site for more information.
December 29, 2021
In the beginning I struggled through the book because I couldn't figure out the author's basic principles. But once I'd made an extra effort and searched for C.Coulson's interview, I realized that she masterfully combined imaginary and real-life stuff, being absolutely loyal to Met's geography, specific museum language and customs, but employing fictional characters (generally drawn from the real people). And since I'd got the idea, the book turned out to be an absolute masterpiece.
The book seems to be a collection of short stories, but then it became clear that all stories are connected, the characters migrate and mingle, so finally we get the Museum's image as an isolated mystical island, full of magic, beauty, emotions and special rituals.
I'd like to add that most of the objects mentioned in the book can be seen in the author's website and I'd recommend giving it a look since they play an important role in the reader's perception of the story.
The book seems to be a collection of short stories, but then it became clear that all stories are connected, the characters migrate and mingle, so finally we get the Museum's image as an isolated mystical island, full of magic, beauty, emotions and special rituals.
I'd like to add that most of the objects mentioned in the book can be seen in the author's website and I'd recommend giving it a look since they play an important role in the reader's perception of the story.
January 11, 2020
A beautiful, gem of a book. Each chapter is a story in itself, but lightly connected to others so that the sum is greater than the parts. There's a beautiful humanity here: The art is taking care of the caregivers, just as they put their lives and heart into the art. And the two groups - the art and the many departments of the met devoted to their care - become a family together. A beautiful read during such a fractious time.
December 13, 2025
I came to this story collection after reading the author’s more recent title, One Woman Show. I highly recommend that one—the format of telling a woman’s life story through art museum description plaques was frankly inspiring and very interesting.
This earlier work is a collection of semi-interconnected tales, real-ish and extremely un-real, all centered on the art and people housed within the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
I was very excited to read this given my enjoyment of her other work. And it was fun!
Personally, I think it’s a fun concept that had moments of prescient humanity in it. Not ground-breaking, not unique in formatting, but a good time. It was like all short stories collections for me, some hits and some misses.
This earlier work is a collection of semi-interconnected tales, real-ish and extremely un-real, all centered on the art and people housed within the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
I was very excited to read this given my enjoyment of her other work. And it was fun!
Personally, I think it’s a fun concept that had moments of prescient humanity in it. Not ground-breaking, not unique in formatting, but a good time. It was like all short stories collections for me, some hits and some misses.
October 8, 2019
I am a great admirer of the Met, but have only visited twice -- not nearly enough times to truly appreciate this collection of short stories. Most certainly I have a greater admiration for this great museum after finishing this book and along with that greater knowledge of the collection and its history. This would make a great Christmas gift for a regular visitor to the Met.
Thank you to Other Press and to Edelweiss for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to Other Press and to Edelweiss for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
February 9, 2026
I wanted to love this, it is right up my alley. I will preface the review by saying my favorite art museum IN THE WORLD (and I’ve been to a lot in my years) is the Art Institute of Chicago. Truly the 🐐. The met is gorgeous and lovely in its own way, no doubt about it.
The thing I love about art is that it comes from life, sometimes our emotions, our daily tools, our honor and reverence. It comes from something human. This books profiles and riffs on some truly wonderful pieces of art. My biggest issue was that the whole time it felt too clean- too superficial. I am not sure but I’d assume this was made in collaboration with the Met, so it has to be MOSTLY positive, but it just felt a bit like the guidebooks you can grab from the front with a bit of fine fiction instead of the history of the work.
If you love the met, this would be a great addition. This would be nice to read or thumb through in the gallery. For me, it felt just okay.
The thing I love about art is that it comes from life, sometimes our emotions, our daily tools, our honor and reverence. It comes from something human. This books profiles and riffs on some truly wonderful pieces of art. My biggest issue was that the whole time it felt too clean- too superficial. I am not sure but I’d assume this was made in collaboration with the Met, so it has to be MOSTLY positive, but it just felt a bit like the guidebooks you can grab from the front with a bit of fine fiction instead of the history of the work.
If you love the met, this would be a great addition. This would be nice to read or thumb through in the gallery. For me, it felt just okay.
December 4, 2022
"This is the dream. To stand before the weight and heft of the real things, not reproductions or high-definition scans, but the objects themselves, touched by the artist's hand, made by human effort, skill, and ambition. The centuries traversed between that creation and Nick's lifetime are made irrelevant by an immediacy that is overpowering here, on this night, in this gloaming, charged with Nick's own, glimmering spark.
i am going to need wes anderson to make a movie based on this book STAT!
what a dazzling, funny, at times emotional, love letter to the MET.
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if there is one place on earth where i can spend my endless days roaming and never leaving, it's the MET.
i am going to need wes anderson to make a movie based on this book STAT!
what a dazzling, funny, at times emotional, love letter to the MET.
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if there is one place on earth where i can spend my endless days roaming and never leaving, it's the MET.
June 19, 2019
I’m not a huge television watcher, but I do enjoy watching the behind-the-scenes shows at zoos. Watchers get to take a peek behind the curtain at what it takes to care for the thousands of animals in their care. Fascinating stuff.
I feel the same way about Christine Coulson’s new novel, “Metropolitian Stories.” From a writer who worked at that renown institution for more than 25 years, reads are taken through to the offices, the storage rooms, the cafeteria and what seems to a million-mile labyrinth of hallways that connect the myriad of buildings, galleries and studios. On the down side, I had no real idea of where the vignettes were actually happening, and that confused me a bit. But it didn’t stop me from reading.
I loved all the stories, but my favorite is “Meats and Cheeses.” It involves a 4,000-year-old leg of lamb. The narrator, Kate, is on a mission of a different kind, but winds up in a room full of hats---all types from pith helmets to straw boaters. Hebe and Helen, who work in the room, are a
riot. It seems that Kate’s, who has only been with the Met about a year, main job is to deliver the yellow interoffice envelopes known as “cheeses.” She is following a hand-drawn map and trying to get a sign off for a China exhibition’s title wall. I won’t write anymore as I may give it away, but Kate’s adventures through the maze of hallways looking for a blue door is the perfect story for readers to understand the complexity of working at the Met.
Light-hearted, full of whimsy and just plain fun, I give “Metropolitan Stories” 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.
I feel the same way about Christine Coulson’s new novel, “Metropolitian Stories.” From a writer who worked at that renown institution for more than 25 years, reads are taken through to the offices, the storage rooms, the cafeteria and what seems to a million-mile labyrinth of hallways that connect the myriad of buildings, galleries and studios. On the down side, I had no real idea of where the vignettes were actually happening, and that confused me a bit. But it didn’t stop me from reading.
I loved all the stories, but my favorite is “Meats and Cheeses.” It involves a 4,000-year-old leg of lamb. The narrator, Kate, is on a mission of a different kind, but winds up in a room full of hats---all types from pith helmets to straw boaters. Hebe and Helen, who work in the room, are a
riot. It seems that Kate’s, who has only been with the Met about a year, main job is to deliver the yellow interoffice envelopes known as “cheeses.” She is following a hand-drawn map and trying to get a sign off for a China exhibition’s title wall. I won’t write anymore as I may give it away, but Kate’s adventures through the maze of hallways looking for a blue door is the perfect story for readers to understand the complexity of working at the Met.
Light-hearted, full of whimsy and just plain fun, I give “Metropolitan Stories” 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.
August 2, 2021
5 stars
Evoking the quirkiness of Wes Anderson, and perfectly spliced between fantasy and reality, Metropolitan Stories is a charming, magical realism love letter to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, one that can only be written by someone who have had personal experience of its ins and outs (the author was on staff for over 2 decades).
The collection of short stories pivots between candid observations (people-watching at the staff cafeteria), and fantastical musings (an audition for a 'personal muse' among the museum's collection); and the overall tone feels suitably joyous with a hint of melancholy, complimenting the aging setting and its collection. I was even more enamored when characters and scenes started to reappear in later stories, weaving an even more holistic vision of this museum, where statue moves and more than just human visitors wander its halls.
As someone who has been to the Met multiple times, this is a great way to revisit the place from a completely different perspective; I learned some new factoids (did not know the main facade is still unfinished, with stack of stone sitting on top of columns), and enjoyed a series of engrossing stories on the symbiosis between space, art and humanity.
Evoking the quirkiness of Wes Anderson, and perfectly spliced between fantasy and reality, Metropolitan Stories is a charming, magical realism love letter to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, one that can only be written by someone who have had personal experience of its ins and outs (the author was on staff for over 2 decades).
The collection of short stories pivots between candid observations (people-watching at the staff cafeteria), and fantastical musings (an audition for a 'personal muse' among the museum's collection); and the overall tone feels suitably joyous with a hint of melancholy, complimenting the aging setting and its collection. I was even more enamored when characters and scenes started to reappear in later stories, weaving an even more holistic vision of this museum, where statue moves and more than just human visitors wander its halls.
As someone who has been to the Met multiple times, this is a great way to revisit the place from a completely different perspective; I learned some new factoids (did not know the main facade is still unfinished, with stack of stone sitting on top of columns), and enjoyed a series of engrossing stories on the symbiosis between space, art and humanity.
April 5, 2024
Histórias de quem viveu e trabalhou num grande museu, misturando realidade, fantasia, doadores, trabalhadores, curadores e as verdadeiras obras de arte. Já lá vão uns anos que trabalhei num museu, mas quase que conseguia dar nome às mesmas personagens!
September 22, 2021
By rights I should have loved this book when you consider the subject matter but I had several problems with it. The writing was at times poetic but I found it monotonous in its lyrical airy fairy style.
I have never been a fan of short stories and although this is billed as a novel, the piecemeal nature of the separate chapters was annoying. Another gripe I had was the magical fantasy aspect, ghosts and what have you.... too farfetched for me.
It was a clever idea though, it just didn't work for me.
I have never been a fan of short stories and although this is billed as a novel, the piecemeal nature of the separate chapters was annoying. Another gripe I had was the magical fantasy aspect, ghosts and what have you.... too farfetched for me.
It was a clever idea though, it just didn't work for me.
August 24, 2020
So, I just lost my whole review by accidentally swiping down fml. I guess I’ll try to rewrite it?
~
Probably closer to 3.5 stars.
I actually finished a book club book with two days to spare! W o w. (Maybe now I’ll move on to my other book club book? Time will tell.)
Things I loved:
- The magical realism which brought the Met to life. Secret passageways, ghosts, objects telling their own stories... Amazing.
- I’m now realizing that the book’s treatment of objects is meant to be parallel to the people discussed — both are a part of the collection. The president’s remark in the last chapter made me think of this, when she said that she’d been there so long she needed her own accession number. The chapters at the beginning and end — with differing interpretations of who “we” are — also point to this conclusion.
- Some of the stories are standout. As is some of the writing. I loved the different perspectives and especially the indulgent people watching.
Things I didn’t love:
- Rampant yet half-hidden elitism. The higher-ups are not outright critiqued for their odd entitled eccentricity, but rather are only laughed at behind a hand and discretely pointed at. I just think the ‘average’ people were almost more strange and meant to be pitied? (Like, oh, wow, look at them, enjoying art! Love of art is universal, even for them.) Maybe it’s also that this book was obviously not meant for an ‘emerging museum professional’ like me (I REALLY don’t like that term and I can’t even quite explain why, but alas, I suppose the shoe fits). Like, she’s not setting out to critique her workplace for over a quarter of a century. (Besides, if she made it, why couldn’t any lowly person — like the character Melvin that melts into a sofa in a depression, but dies (?) happy among art?!)
- Weird treatment of topics like death, age, body image, sex, etc. I don’t know. Some of it just didn’t sit right with me.
- No cohesion in the stories. Some were too long (often the ones I didn’t like due to being bored!). Others were really good but ended abruptly... They also didn’t connect too much. The last story didn’t feel like the right conclusion (despite it being about death...)
Things I would love to see:
- A Canadian version (at the ROM?) that includes lowly summer students and post-grad interns instead of the Development Office and the Mezz Girls.
- More from the perspective of the visitors, including locals rather than silly tourists. And not just the rich donor types, either.
- Also, perhaps something from the perspective of the education department? (They’re more or less scorned in one of the first few chapters iirc)
- More time-bending and magical realism!
- More critiques, but I guess that’s obvious by my rant above.
I suppose I may have more to add after discussing the book! I may also include some of my favourite stories, once I have another flip through and look at my notes from earlier in the month.
~
Probably closer to 3.5 stars.
I actually finished a book club book with two days to spare! W o w. (Maybe now I’ll move on to my other book club book? Time will tell.)
Things I loved:
- The magical realism which brought the Met to life. Secret passageways, ghosts, objects telling their own stories... Amazing.
- I’m now realizing that the book’s treatment of objects is meant to be parallel to the people discussed — both are a part of the collection. The president’s remark in the last chapter made me think of this, when she said that she’d been there so long she needed her own accession number. The chapters at the beginning and end — with differing interpretations of who “we” are — also point to this conclusion.
- Some of the stories are standout. As is some of the writing. I loved the different perspectives and especially the indulgent people watching.
Things I didn’t love:
- Rampant yet half-hidden elitism. The higher-ups are not outright critiqued for their odd entitled eccentricity, but rather are only laughed at behind a hand and discretely pointed at. I just think the ‘average’ people were almost more strange and meant to be pitied? (Like, oh, wow, look at them, enjoying art! Love of art is universal, even for them.) Maybe it’s also that this book was obviously not meant for an ‘emerging museum professional’ like me (I REALLY don’t like that term and I can’t even quite explain why, but alas, I suppose the shoe fits). Like, she’s not setting out to critique her workplace for over a quarter of a century. (Besides, if she made it, why couldn’t any lowly person — like the character Melvin that melts into a sofa in a depression, but dies (?) happy among art?!)
- Weird treatment of topics like death, age, body image, sex, etc. I don’t know. Some of it just didn’t sit right with me.
- No cohesion in the stories. Some were too long (often the ones I didn’t like due to being bored!). Others were really good but ended abruptly... They also didn’t connect too much. The last story didn’t feel like the right conclusion (despite it being about death...)
Things I would love to see:
- A Canadian version (at the ROM?) that includes lowly summer students and post-grad interns instead of the Development Office and the Mezz Girls.
- More from the perspective of the visitors, including locals rather than silly tourists. And not just the rich donor types, either.
- Also, perhaps something from the perspective of the education department? (They’re more or less scorned in one of the first few chapters iirc)
- More time-bending and magical realism!
- More critiques, but I guess that’s obvious by my rant above.
I suppose I may have more to add after discussing the book! I may also include some of my favourite stories, once I have another flip through and look at my notes from earlier in the month.
December 15, 2019
A friend told me about an interview on NPR with Coulson because she knows I love ekphrastic poetry (poetry about art). I’m also in an ekphrastic book club, so we chose this book as our next selection. I can’t see why the cover calls it a novel. It is short stories united by theme: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. I expected most of the stories to be like “Chair as Hero,” in which an 18th c. chair, proud to still have its original upholstery, looks back on her life, watches visitors, and wishes a toddler running toward her could take a seat in her lap. She misses that.
However, the stories are quite varied. Some are more about visitors, staff, or the operation of a museum, others do let the art speak for itself. Coulson combines creativity, humor, and magical realism to make it anyone’s guess where a story will lead. I thoroughly enjoyed her originality and think this is an excellent read for any museum lover.
I love the book’s opening, “We,” which works like a Foreword. It begins:
“We protect them and save them
and study them[works of art]. After a time, we
realize – some of us slower than
others – that they are protecting
us, saving us, studying us.”
However, the stories are quite varied. Some are more about visitors, staff, or the operation of a museum, others do let the art speak for itself. Coulson combines creativity, humor, and magical realism to make it anyone’s guess where a story will lead. I thoroughly enjoyed her originality and think this is an excellent read for any museum lover.
I love the book’s opening, “We,” which works like a Foreword. It begins:
“We protect them and save them
and study them[works of art]. After a time, we
realize – some of us slower than
others – that they are protecting
us, saving us, studying us.”
August 2, 2019
A love letter to the artwork, staff, and benefactors of the incredible Metropolitan Museum of Art. Christine Coulson shares a bit of the secret life of the museum that she was privy to while she worked there but the stories are told in a fanciful way. We learn of the chair that longs for the touch of a young child even a wayward toddler, the guard and the statue who loves him and the incredible Mezz Girls who work the events as well as the people who keep the show on the road. A bit of whimsy with a taste of real-life makes this collection of character sketches so inviting you want to sneak in after-hours and lurk in the galleries. My own love affair with the Met began as a child reading "The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiller" and that love has been rekindled in this slight but heartfelt novel. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.
November 26, 2019
I may have loved this so much because I worked at the Met for 6 years (2 of them in Development with Chris) but it really is a magical book about a magical place. Beautiful writing, clever tales — an artful book (pun intended). She brings the museum, its people and objects to life in a truly memorable way. And I’m pretty sure I recognized some thinly disguised characters 😉
December 11, 2019
Uneven collection of short stories about the Metropolitan Museum of Art: its personnel, some of its art works, patrons. Some I liked better than others. The author worked there for many years; I could feel her love for it shine through. Some stories included fantasy, involving a ghost or two.
My favorites:
"Adam": a statue of Adam and how he tries to help a guard, with devastating results to the statue.
"Lost": Melvin, a man who has been laid off and wants to give the impression to his doorman he is still working, enters a room in the museum kept the way the wealthy original owner had left it, sits down on a sofa, and...
"Found": Melvin's lonely briefcase, stuffed with blank sheets of paper, sparks a panic among staff and visitors.
"Papercuts": After the death of the unobtrusive humble sorter of paper bags with the Met logo, known only to the staff as the Rubber Band Man, Edith, a staff member discovers his secret life involving paper.
Many of the characters appear in several stories.
My favorites:
"Adam": a statue of Adam and how he tries to help a guard, with devastating results to the statue.
"Lost": Melvin, a man who has been laid off and wants to give the impression to his doorman he is still working, enters a room in the museum kept the way the wealthy original owner had left it, sits down on a sofa, and...
"Found": Melvin's lonely briefcase, stuffed with blank sheets of paper, sparks a panic among staff and visitors.
"Papercuts": After the death of the unobtrusive humble sorter of paper bags with the Met logo, known only to the staff as the Rubber Band Man, Edith, a staff member discovers his secret life involving paper.
Many of the characters appear in several stories.
May 30, 2023
This book is fantastic but it’s a DNF for now. The stories get right to the heart of what makes museums magical but as a recently graduated curator looking for a job, that wonder and fantasy is too hard to sit through while in limbo waiting to start a career in the arts
May 1, 2024
⇝
3.5 stars
December 7, 2024
This was soooo bad. Like a high schooler who's never read a book in their life wrote it. I got tricked by the cool cover and serif title
March 14, 2024
Adorei. Realidade e fantasia em doses iguais. Não sei se quem não trabalha em
Museus terá a mesma opinião mas quem conhece a área vai identificar-se.
Museus terá a mesma opinião mas quem conhece a área vai identificar-se.
April 25, 2023
Meat & Cheeses and Big-Boned were my fav tidbits here.
March 7, 2023
A sweet, charming, and well written book that sheds light into the inner workings of one of my favorite places. Would recommend
January 30, 2022
This is the dream. To stand before the weight and heft of the real things, not reproductions or high definition scans but the objects themselves, touched by the artist's hands, made by human effort, skill and ambition....
•
We protect them and save them and study them. After a time we realize, some of us slower than others, that they are protecting us, saving us, studying us....
Metropolitan Stories
Christine Coulson
•
Now this is my type of palate cleanser.
•
Metropolitan Stories is a must read for anyone who loves fine art, but more importantly, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. This book is a little (250 page) treasure - a behind the scenes look at the inner workings of the museum -- its collection, its staff, its galleries, its conservation studios... and all the hidden places we as tourists could only dream of seeing.
•
This book can be read in one sitting (I have to admit that I downloaded the audio AND bought the hardcover - if that shows you how much I loved it- and if you are an @audible member it is included)!
•
The author worked at the MET for 25 years in a variety of roles and this book is her love letter to a very special museum. She gives voice to the art, the history and the people that make the MET an unparalleled destination. From curators to docents, conservators to guards; from the Temple of Dendur, to the Vermeers and Picassos that call the MET their home, I absolutely adored this book.
•
Museums and bookstores are in the same category for me - I could wander through them aimlessly forever. I love finding books that pay homage to how important these receptacles of beauty and information are to our lives. This book is wildly deserved of my 5 stars.
•
We protect them and save them and study them. After a time we realize, some of us slower than others, that they are protecting us, saving us, studying us....
Metropolitan Stories
Christine Coulson
•
Now this is my type of palate cleanser.
•
Metropolitan Stories is a must read for anyone who loves fine art, but more importantly, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. This book is a little (250 page) treasure - a behind the scenes look at the inner workings of the museum -- its collection, its staff, its galleries, its conservation studios... and all the hidden places we as tourists could only dream of seeing.
•
This book can be read in one sitting (I have to admit that I downloaded the audio AND bought the hardcover - if that shows you how much I loved it- and if you are an @audible member it is included)!
•
The author worked at the MET for 25 years in a variety of roles and this book is her love letter to a very special museum. She gives voice to the art, the history and the people that make the MET an unparalleled destination. From curators to docents, conservators to guards; from the Temple of Dendur, to the Vermeers and Picassos that call the MET their home, I absolutely adored this book.
•
Museums and bookstores are in the same category for me - I could wander through them aimlessly forever. I love finding books that pay homage to how important these receptacles of beauty and information are to our lives. This book is wildly deserved of my 5 stars.
January 9, 2023
January 2023: rereading: 4 stars ⭐
I too would like to become a part of a museum where chairs go to support groups and paintings come to life and sculptures take the fall, quite literally, to save their favourite employees.
I think the most beautiful part was how the author was able to connect the stories of different characters to each other, it's a nice little surprise whenever you realise how so and so happening was connected to that and that character. It was actually a pretty easy read - maybe during my first read I was trying to look way too deep between the lines, but it's actually fine as it is.
I love it.
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Nov 2021: 3 stars ⭐
Taking us inside the private side of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this Christine Coulson novel is a collection of short stories ranging from the point of views of the art, the muses, and the workers that make and have made the museum what it is today.
I will be honest, I really didn't understand fragments of some stories. It's maybe cause I am not artistic enough to understand, or I am not familiar with the lingo used in the art world. Nevertheless, I did enjoy reading it. Some stories struck a chord, and since I am interested in history it was fun looking through Wikipedia pages to find more context with the short stories. But I also feel the author tried too hard to be distinct, making some parts utterly un-decipherable. And since it's a pretty obscure novel, surfing about them didn't help either. Nevertheless, for a fun, light read- this might be a good choice for some.
I too would like to become a part of a museum where chairs go to support groups and paintings come to life and sculptures take the fall, quite literally, to save their favourite employees.
I think the most beautiful part was how the author was able to connect the stories of different characters to each other, it's a nice little surprise whenever you realise how so and so happening was connected to that and that character. It was actually a pretty easy read - maybe during my first read I was trying to look way too deep between the lines, but it's actually fine as it is.
I love it.
———————————————————————————
Nov 2021: 3 stars ⭐
Taking us inside the private side of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this Christine Coulson novel is a collection of short stories ranging from the point of views of the art, the muses, and the workers that make and have made the museum what it is today.
I will be honest, I really didn't understand fragments of some stories. It's maybe cause I am not artistic enough to understand, or I am not familiar with the lingo used in the art world. Nevertheless, I did enjoy reading it. Some stories struck a chord, and since I am interested in history it was fun looking through Wikipedia pages to find more context with the short stories. But I also feel the author tried too hard to be distinct, making some parts utterly un-decipherable. And since it's a pretty obscure novel, surfing about them didn't help either. Nevertheless, for a fun, light read- this might be a good choice for some.
December 16, 2019
This subject matter sounded right up my alley but I didn't end up loving this. The author should have expanded on the last story as a novel and left the rest of the stories go. The final short story has Da Vinci Code vibes and could have been a thrilling tale of missing artwork but it was 10 pages long and too short to be intriguing. I didn't love the fantastical elements (ghosts, time travel, etc) because they didn't add anything to the stories. I think the stories could have been an opportunity to learn a lot more about certain pieces or inner workings of museum but she hardly touched on the history of artworks. I thought it ended up being an overly romanticized cast of characters that I guess we were supposed to find endearing or charmingly quirky because perhaps the author had known versions of these people personally. Maybe it's because I've also worked in a huge encyclopedic art museum that hearing the stories of people doing their jobs didn't dazzle me.
September 18, 2022
I recommend reading this in one or two sittings to appreciate the narrative flow. I did not do this and found it choppy until I finally read the remaining portion of the book in one session. The stories are a mix of magical, quirky, and factual. Sometimes its hard to sort. The best way to describe the experience is to think of it as a romp through The Met as the author creates characters around actual works and settings in the building. Once I tried to stop figuring out what was real or not, I thoroughly enjoyed the magical and imaginary happenings.
It's a short read, a series of vignettes, that will either work for the reader or not. I particularly loved the first and the last, but others may find favorites throughout the collection.
It's a short read, a series of vignettes, that will either work for the reader or not. I particularly loved the first and the last, but others may find favorites throughout the collection.
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