Museum Pieces

by Elizabeth Tallent

When Peter, an archaeologist, and Clarissa, a painter of Chinese heritage, decide to dissolve their marriage, they and their thirteen-year-old daughter, Tara, encounter the strange world of child-custody, lawyers, and therapists

Genres: Novels, Literature, Fiction

233 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Elizabeth Tallent's short stories have been published in literary magazines and journals such as The New Yorker, Esquire, Harper's Magazine, The Threepenny Review, and North American Review, and her stories have been reprinted in the O. Henry Prize Stories, Best American Short Stories, and Pushcart Prize collections.

She has taught literature and creative writing at the University of California, Irvine, the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and the University of California, Davis. She has been a faculty member at Stanford University since 1994.

Reviews

[Vincent Scarpa · Rating 5 out of 5]

more like Elizabeth Tallented

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A period piece of a novel because of how well the author details the time and place - which is Santa Fe in the 80s - among modestly artsy types. It's a very well done story of a marriage falling apart and the partners moving on, done obliquely, some of it through the eyes of the couple's daughter and her best friend. I really liked what a good job it did of staying true to the complicated, mixed emotions of such a transition, as well as the inevitable messiness of it, most of which the author doesn't tidy up. There are insights to be had, but they're small, and not particularly "useful," which I appreciated as it all felt that much more like life, if a dated version of it, what with the phones and cars and clothes and food and certain attitudes current at that time. The author tells the story, about very believable people - she doesn't explain it. Which is praiseworthy, in my view.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looking forward to reading more by this author.

Besst part: the pulling up the stakes. Revealed much about victimhood.