This is a hard book to review. It's a fascinating look at life in a museum in a day, but the cast is SPRAWLING. I think this would make an interesting tv show and perhaps that is what it's written for in the end? It was just too difficult to keep up with the characters and the plot simultaneously and I SAT with this book to give it it's best chance. I did enjoy the writing, and if it were optioned for television I think I'd watch it!

The concept is great - 24 hours chronicling the behind-the-scenes drama at an art museum in NYC. I liked the structure too, with short scenes moving the action along. However, there were dozens of characters and I found myself flipping to the cast of characters to figure out who was who and this detracted from the overall story for me as not all of the people were compelling enough to follow. Still, I appreciate what the author was aiming to do. If you're in the mood for a zany, complex drama that requires a lot of attention, you may enjoy!

Thank you to Atria and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.

Heather McGowan’s newest novel takes place over a 24-hour period at a New York City art museum, exploring the dynamics between the staff and administration. The story is structured into sections that focus on different characters, with time frames that shift from hour to hour, sometimes longer, and occasionally shorter. Central to the plot is the tension surrounding an upcoming Gala event that has everyone on high alert. There were way too many characters and not enough was happening in the 24 hour period this book covered to keep me entertained. I had trouble following the plot and also had an issue with how the author wrote about fat people. I came very close to DNF this one but ultimately pushed through. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

2/5

This was incredibly difficult to decipher. There is no quotes around the dialog, as well as no indication of who is saying it. It is a big mumbo-jumbo of confusion. I had to dnf since I had no idea what was going on.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

This book is impossible to read given the way the author does not use quotation marks. There’s no way of telling who is speaking at any certain point and I had to DNF after not even finishing the first chapter. Hopefully the editor reads these comments because this book will flop if it goes unedited.

I had high hopes for Friends of the Museum, but this one just didn’t quite land for me. At nearly 500 pages, it introduces a sprawling cast of characters orbiting Diane Schwebe, the embattled director of a troubled New York City museum. While the premise had all the right ingredients for a tense and darkly funny read, the sheer number of characters made it hard to stay invested in any one storyline.

There are moments of sharp wit and clever commentary on the chaos of institutional survival, but the pacing dragged at times, and the narrative felt scattered. If you enjoy ensemble stories with a ticking-clock structure, this might be worth checking out. It just didn’t fully click for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC.

Had a really hard time with the way this book was written. There are so many characters and no quotation marks. It makes it really hard to follow

At first, I was convinced this book was not for me. The first 100 pages were tough to get through while trying to navigate the dialogue format and organize the characters in my head. After I was able to pick apart different characters and I understood what was happening I was able to enjoy the story. Because it was so jarring to begin with, I have to give this story three stars instead of four. I would say this book is best suited for individuals who can be patient while reading.

I was unable to read this through the app and I have no idea why, since it isn't archived yet. I have marked this a 3 star, only because I can't make an objective opinion

I really enjoyed this book, although as soon as I wrapped my head around the format--it's written almost like a script, with a ton of dialogue, and the dialogue is not set off in quotation marks--I knew it would be divisive. And it was admittedly hard to get into the flow of this novel. The cover copy compares it to White Lotus, but what it reminded me of was the scenes in Succession where Geri and the other C-Suite suits crack wise between conference calls. When I started to treat the book as a chorus instead of trying to differentiate characters it began to flow more.

Friends of the Museum reads quickly once you get into it. It's extremely witty, sometimes in a mean way, and there were occasional images that had me laughing out loud. It presents a series of misadventures happening to mostly neurotic and not-very-nice people (a few of them aren't quite as bad) throughout the course of one very long day.

I can fully understand why someone might toss this one aside after reading a couple of pages, but I also think readers who stick with it will be rewarded.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Such a promising premise, but, unfortunately, the execution fell flat to me. Anchored in dialogue which was presented without attribution and led by dashes, making it difficult to follow, to say the least. The extremely long cast of characters at the beginning is a hint that there are too many people to keep track of through the writing.

I enjoyed a lot of this. It's a great read in the lead up to the new season of The White Lotus. I struggled a bit, like several others, with the way the dialogue was written. I think it lacked clarity in some places, but overall a fun read with a great cast of characters,

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

I really wanted to love this one—the premise had so much promise—but it just didn’t click for me. There were way too many characters to keep track of, and while I usually don’t mind paying close attention, the writing style made it more frustrating than rewarding. The dialogue was especially tricky to follow, and the lack of quotation marks didn’t help. I kept feeling like I was missing something important, which pulled me out of the story. I can see how others might enjoy it, but it wasn’t for me.

I wanted to like this a lot more but there were too many characters and the dialogue was hard to follow. I felt kind of in the dark the first few pages and it was slightly difficulty to read. Maybe it was the formatting or maybe I’m dumb.

While I appreciate and know that this book is pleasing to others who care about the subject, I personally did not. I found it honestly a little dull and the way the dialogue was written made it feel very flat. I wanted to like it more.

Thank you to Atria Books and Washington Square Press for providing this ARC for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Friends of the Museum by Heather McGowan follows the motley assortment of characters working at a storied but downtrodden museum in New York. The book takes place over a single twenty-four hour day. Shifting narration between several characters, it blends the day’s hectic events in vignettes, never resting on one character for too long. Major players include Diane, the museum’s director, Shay, the chief of security, and Benjamin, a newly hired film curator.

This book does a wonderful job at creating a sense of frenetic energy—the choice of punctuation framing, the quick vignettes that switch between character, and the way that individual flashbacks blend together creates a picture of a very frenzied day. Admittedly, the punctuation choices do make it somewhat difficult to read on an eReader, but after a few pages the style becomes more intuitive. It enhances the sense of chaos.

This book also does a pretty clear job of lambasting the status quo in the museum industry; sucking up to the Uber wealthy, lack of diversity, mistreatment of employees. The scenarios of the plot, and more directly, some of the characters make some salient points about the dark side of prestigious art institutions as inefficient, elitist, corporate machines that alienate common viewers.

The thing that the book did slightly less successfully was land on whether or not it was a plot-driven work or one that was more character-driven. While certain characters are more important to the main plot arc, they were given equal weight to the more atmospheric characters. It seemed like some of the story lines existed only to add chaos and suggest more problems with the organization. Certain stories seemed to never braid in to the main narrative, and yet seemed to get overly weighty sections of the story. The sections with Clive and Iona, for example, didn’t really seem to have as much plot values for the 24-hour cycle, and seemed like they were added to have more intrigue without payout.

Ultimately, I did think that the book was pretty engaging and that the characters did have a really interesting plot lines. At time the pacing was a little inconsistent, and the background could be given too much weight compared to more central issues. 3/5!

For starters, thank you so much for the arc!

I unfortunately did not connect with this book. The blurb was so intriguing to me which is why I requested the arc in the first place. I just think that it was a bit all over the place. To me, it didn't live up to my expectations. I felt nothing for these characters. I feel like I had to pay extra attention which sometimes isn't bad but I just didn't want to with this one. I'm giving it a 3 stars because I feel like someone else might like it. Maybe I wasn't in the right headspace.

While I enjoyed reading this, I felt it wasn’t an easy read. There are a lot of characters. I had to reference the list of characters a lot. I enjoyed this, but I’m not sure most will. It was funny at times and thought provoking.

I'd like to thank NetGalley for the ARC for this book.

However, it just was not for me. I had to DNF this at 10%. I personally do not like the way the dialogue was written. In the first chapter, I was a bit confused when trying to distinguish when dialogue was happening or narration was happening. Then, a complete shift in how dialogue is presented in the next chapter. I don't understand why some authors don't use quotation marks to outline dialogue? It's far less confusing for the reader that way.

I tried to push through it because the premise seemed really interesting, but I could not connect to the characters. I had trouble following the plot, and I did not enjoy how it was written. I also had issues with how the author wrote fat characters. The brief mentions of them rubbed me the wrong way. All in all, while I appreciate the opportunity, I had to DNF.

This book had so much potential. The story itself is so interesting, but there is SO MUCH going on. There are a lot of characters (thankful for the list up front), but then we go through all of those characters hour by hour. The style itself is hard to read. You need to pay attention, but if you don’t pay attention closely you’ll miss something or else forget the small details if you wait too long.