2.5 stars

When I first read the premise of Mike Gayle’s latest novel The Museum of Ordinary People, I was quite intrigued by the idea of a museum that collected keepsakes and mementos — things that people didn’t want to throw away, but also weren’t able to keep either. This story arc was definitely an interesting one and indeed, the chapters that talked about the museum — how it came about, the history behind some of the items, the backstories of the people who donated the items, etc. — were the strongest. Unfortunately though, much of the rest of the story was bogged down by various threads that I felt were irrelevant, unnecessary and distracted from the main arc — for example, all of the chapters devoted to the main protagonist Jess Baxter clearing out her mum’s house, room by room — which had the effect of dragging out the already slow-paced story to the point of being nearly unbearable.

I also was annoyed by the thread involving Jess’s relationship with her boyfriend Guy. Right from the start, the dynamics of their relationship felt off and it was already pretty obvious the direction that the relationship was headed (that they wouldn’t be together in the end) — which was why, as the story progressed, I got increasingly frustrated with how their relationship continued to drag on, with both Jess and Guy coming up with one “justification” after another for why they should remain together. And then when the split finally happened, it was done in a way that honestly made no sense (not to mention it ticked me off how Jess was portrayed throughout that entire scene — specifically having her grovel and take all the blame with no mention of the role that Guy’s atrocious behavior played in the whole mess).

Speaking of Jess, I felt like the way her character was written was very inconsistent throughout the story, to the point that it was hard for me to connect with her at all. It seemed like one minute, she would exude confidence and stand up for herself but then the next minute she would become a doormat and second guess herself at every turn. Basically, she came across as being all over the place due to her behavior and actions being contradictory throughout various parts of the story.

In addition to the characters being problematic, the writing was also repetitive in places (for example - the word “anyway” was repeated at so many points in the story that I lost count after the first couple chapters), there was way too much “telling” rather than “showing” (the writing actually came off awkward in places), and the plot was a bit too contrived for my liking (there were some “twists” added near the end that were convenient but unnecessary in my opinion).

Overall, I would say that this was an okay read that I think would’ve been a more effective story if it had focused on the original premise of the museum rather than branching off into other tangents. The narrative meandered too much and there were too many instances where I felt like I had to skim through tedious bits in order to get back to the parts that mattered (the scenes involving the museum). As I seem to be an outlier on this one though, I would recommend checking out other reviews as well, just in case.

Received ARC from Grand Central Publishing via NetGalley.

It’s been a year since Jess’s mom passed, and she is still trying to figure out how to go on without her. When she decides she just doesnt have the space to keep the set of old encyclopedias her mom gifted her, she is ready to throw them out. Her best friend Luce calls at the last minute and tells her of a place that will take and keep your old treasured items. When Jess arrives to drop them off she finds hundreds of treasures and knows she needs to turn this into a museum. Long story short, The Museum of Ordinary People is born.

If you know me at all, you know I love a book with heart. This book, had all the heart! I did kind of hate Guy. I started thinking of him as not an actual person but just the “Guy” that kind of stinks and doesn’t support the things that are most important to his girlfriend. I did however, fall deeply in love with the crazy cast of characters that came together to make this museum come together. I was fascinated with all the items and found myself rooting for Jess to make this museum a success every step of the way! This is a beautifully written story of a group of people just trying to find their way, and I adored it.

Wonderful read. Very easy to get through and perfect for a rainy day on the couch. I love this author’s work. I’m excited for the next one.

The Museum of Ordinary People is a unique, honest portrayal of love and loss. Jess Baxter lost her mother to cancer and must assume the difficult (often gut-wrenching task) of going through her belongings.

<b><i>And although the objects themselves are no replacement for the people we ache for, they are a reminder of the fact that those people were here, and they mattered and will be missed </b></i>

. She clears up almost everything but holds on to a few things close to her heart. A set of encyclopedias lingers, and she doesn't know where to put it in the place she shares with her boyfriend, Guy.

Her friend, Luce tells her about a place called ''Museum of Ordinary People.' A warehouse where people leave things of their decent, unsure what else to do--not wanting to give it away or continue to hold on. Alex, the man who's currently running the place after the original owner died, doesn't know what to do. Jess has always been drawn to museums and wanted to work in one before her mother got sick--she decides to take over running the museum.

The story has a few big surprises and interesting characters with their own dilemmas. I was drawn to Jess's desire to keep her mother's memory alive. It felt relatable.

Many parts of the story were predictable, like Jess's relationship with her boyfriend and the new owner of the Museum, but what made the predictably tolerable was Jess'' dialogue and how she chooses to navigate those moments.

Overall, a heartwarming.

3.75/5

Mike Gayle's newest novel is based on a really interesting concept, that of a museum devoted to the treasured items of ordinary people. Unfortunately, this core story is dragged down by multiple storylines, some underwhelming reveals, and flat characters. The main character, Jess, is struggling with the untimely loss of her beloved mother, floating along in a thankless admin job, and allowing her boyfriend to run roughshod over her. When she discovers the makeshift museum in a warehouse while looking for somewhere to donate her set of old encyclopedias, she meets Alex, whose only defining character trait appears to be the massive burn scars on his face. Jess convinces Alex to let her become the unpaid curator of the museum, and she comes to life as the museum comes to life, Alex faithfully helping at her side, along with a few other stock side characters. The bones of this story are great, but it doesn't achieve the heart and warmth of "All the Lonely People", which I adored. As well, I was hugely disappointed in the way both of the mysteries in the story were answered. Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for a digital review copy.

This was a super sweet book about the good in people. I enjoyed the characters and the storyline. I loved the feeling after finishing this book, especially how all of the storylines wrapped up.

A novel in the vein of Frederik Bachman and the like. Meant to be a feel good, comfort read. It is an easy and warm hearted book but not as nuanced or deep as others out there.

If a book was a warm hug, this would be the book.

Perfect comfort read.

Be prepared to feel a range of emotions but most of all this book will make you smile and hopeful.

Lots of unexpected twists.

You'll be rooting for the characters for days to come.

thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

this book had sooo much potential and was not hard to get through but overall just did not do it for me. the story follows jess, who's dealing with a lot of grief after her mother unexpectedly passed away, and stumbles upon the museum of ordinary people. the idea of the museum is to hold onto things that hold value to everyday ordinary people, things that wouldn't likely be in a museum to begin with. this is what hooked me to want to read this story, as someone who has an attachment to small mundane things that hold meaning to me, but the story had a lot of other things going on that the museum kind of got lost ..?

the relationship drama was also so upsetting and felt really misplaced, jess's boyfriend was AWFUL and I know that was the point but even within jess's narration you could see her notice how awful he was and it just felt like their relationship dragged on wayyyyy too long to even make the other relationship in the story plausible. the romance between her and Alex felt really off too, it felt like jess just agreed she liked him because he said he liked her. there was just no chemistry there.

also absolutely hated the fact that alex's entire personality and character arc revolved around his facial scars :/ it felt weird and even within jess, she brought up his scars SO MUCH that it felt ... odd. he (and every other character but he as a main side character) lacked so much depth.

this entire book felt very rushed and just like a bunch of things tossed together to make the plot work and to give shock value to the story, including the paternity stuff. actually, ESPECIALLY the paternity stuff. that felt so misplaced in the story and just added too much to what was already such a busy plot that it made it hard to develop every single plot point well and the characters all just fell really flat and 2-dimensional.

overall, I guess I would recommend this if you want a quick read? but it wasn't my favorite and I probably won't gravitate towards it again.

This was a decent read. A bit underwhelming and predictable but not bad. The characters were interesting but I could have done without the Then chapters, I didn’t feel they added much to the current story outside of the first included chapter. I would have preferred if there were more item stories included about the donations, that part was lacking.

After loving "All the Lonely People" by Mike Gayle I was excited to receive an early review copy of The Museum of Ordinary People.

This book is about a woman named Jess who is inspired to curate a museum of ordinary objects that hold sentimental value to people. The first 80% of this book is about Jess opening the museum while her relationship with her boyfriend deteriorates. This isn't a spoiler as the reader knows these two don't make a good pair pretty much as soon as he is introduced. In between those two plot points we have random flashbacks of Jess emptying her late mother's home after she passed one year before. These chapters do little for the storyline unless you like grief ridden descriptions of mundane home items.

In the last 20% of the book Mike Gayle reveals some past secrets about both Jess and the museum owner, Alex. These plot twists have enough action to get readers to stop skimming. The book would have been way more interesting if these facts were revealed 20% in and the story built from there.

My last issue with the book is that without the epilogue the book does not have a true ending. The epilogue gives the reader some resolution but also adds back in a plot point that hadn't been mentioned since the very beginning of the book. I had completely forgotten about it and then it was randomly thrust into the forefront only to have the book end.

If you like reading books with lengthy descriptions of antique items this book could be for you but unfortunately for me reading it felt like a true chore.

We all hope that our lives and our stories will be remembered, maybe even treasured, long after we’re gone. We want to live on. We want to know we mattered. That is what this book is about. It’s filled with warmth and emotion, and I just really recommend you read it – perhaps with a tissue.

My thanks to @grandcentralpub and @netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book before its publication date.

This was an absolutely lovely story. The characters were so relatable and their stories so honest and authentic. I loved the friendship between Luce and Jess. I found the plot to move along at a nice pace. the museum is such a fantastic idea and I loved the stories involved with the items. This was a 5 star read for me... until the end. There are a couple twists and one of them was completely unnecessary to the story. It really detracted from the plot and came out of left field. I can see what the author was trying to accomplish but it was completely unnecessary. It came too late in the story and was wrapped up way too quickly. It just didn't vibe with the rest of the book and detracted from the experience. Overall though, this was a heartwarming read and I loved it.

I absolutely loved All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle but unfortunately this title fell a little short. The premise was very interesting and I loved reading about the actual Museum of Ordinary People, but the main character's decision making and her interactions with her boyfriend seemed juvenile to me. I know some people act that way, I just wasn't very invested in reading about it. I will keep this author on my radar but most likely pass on recommending this book.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this ARC!

I was really excited for this one. The premise sounded right up my alley, with a side of melancholy.

I think for this story, it was a case of wrong place wrong time for me. The writing was great but I didn’t have much connection with the characters.

If you enjoy books about life’s lessons and over looked happenings pick this one up.

I read All the Lonely People back in July 2021 and I remember really loving it. So much so that when I saw a new one by him on #netgalley I immediately requested it.⁣
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Brief Summary⁣
Inspired by a box of mementos found abandoned in a skip following a house clearance, The Museum of Ordinary People is a thought-provoking and poignant story of memory, grief, loss and the things we leave behind.⁣
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The characters in this one are absolutely fabulous -- they pulled me right in and although it is being described as character driven, the plot has just the right amount of secrets and twists to keep you turning the pages! ⁣
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Thank you so much @netgalley for this review copy.⁣
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The Museum of Ordinary People is out on May 30th.

The Museum of Ordinary People is an interesting way of preserving things which were important but didn’t have or lost a home. Are memories enough or do people need things to help nourish these memories? This all came into being because of Jess, whose mother recently died. She cleaned out her mother’s house but was left with something she wanted to keep but had no space to house it. She meets an interesting and supportive group of new friends and begins to grow and believe in herself in spite of unsettling and surprising new discoveries.

I loved this book! Another beautifully moving reflection on the power of connection, loneliness and finding joys in the ordinary things in life that bring people joy.

Jess is dealing with the recent death of her mother, cleaning up her house and disposing of her things. When she comes to a set of encyclopedias she can't bear to just throw them away and stumbles on "The museum of ordinary people" which collects people's things. Unfortunately the building is about to be sold but Jess can't bear to see it close and begs the owner, Alex to let her try to revive it.

Jess quickly becomes obsessed with making the museum a success, to the detriment of her job and relationship (something I could relate to on a deep level). It's so easy these days to get caught up in social media or any other kinds of time consuming vices to the detriment of every day life.

While things did end up working out for Jess there were a lot of life lessons in this book full of flawed characters. Alex's story in particular was touching, having been disfigured in the house fire that his parents didn't survive. Rather than face the cruelty of society, Alex isolates himself until Jess and the museum give him a new reason to open up.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review. This may be a slower read for some but it was a book that found me at the right time and struck a poignant chord. Much like the author's last book, All the lonely people, this is very character driven in the best way.

Gayle’s well written novel, while definitely a feel-good offering is much more. Jess has recently lost her mother and while endeavoring to clean out her home she just can’t seem to throw out the outdated battered set of encyclopedias her mother gave her as a child to inspire her, and yet she cannot keep them. She finds a quirky collection of similar artifacts in which to deposit the books. Jess is trained as a professional curator but has never practiced that dream. She begins to develop The Museum of Ordinary People using the castoff articles as the collection. Just as important as the museum, are the resulting changes in her life and loves as well as to those around her.

This is definitely one of my favorite books of this year already.

A book that deals with loss and grief, and how pain can consume us if we let it. But this isn't just a story about pain, it's also about new beginnings, self-discovery, and new opportunities.

Through some encyclopedias given to her by her mother, Jess, she discovers a wonderful place that renews her hope and awakens her passion for museums and antiquities once again. A place where things are kept, objects that have stories, that keep past moments and memories, not for their economic value, but for their sentimental value. and the history they have. From a love letter or a jacket to a violin whose design is unique.

From Jess's point of view we get to know different characters with their stories and their struggles. Endearing characters that leave you with a feeling of longing at the end of the book. I cannot fail to mention Alex, who has suffered discrimination and rejection because of his physical appearance after an accident. He has lived his entire life in isolation to avoid being hurt, until he meets Jess and her project. The kindest, most empathetic and understandable character despite everything he has experienced.
I also can't stop mentioning Luce, the best friend we all wish we had. Luce and her mother accompany Jess on this journey and without them this book would not have been so special.