As someone who works in a cultural heritage institution, I was excited to read Friends of the Museum, by Heather McGowan. I'm a pretty tenacious reader with a high tolerance for experimental prose, but this book unfortunately was a DNF for me. I love the idea of a 24 hour look at the life of a museum, but the plot didn't pull me in and the multitude of characters without any context just left me feeling unmoored. If I could see that the story would be worth it, I would have stuck with it, but there didn't seem to be much plot to this book. Maybe I gave up too soon?

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book as an eARC; all opinions are my own.

Ehhhh, I had a lot of issues with Friends of the Museum. As a lover of Russian literature, I generally don't have an issue trying to learn an entire cast of characters, but the dialogue and very uninteresting plot made it nearly impossible to care. This book put me in a massive reading slump which is unfortunate because the premise had so much potential.

I've never encountered prose like this, it was mystifying and addictive, I was enthralled by these characters and their plights.

A Joyce-ian novel exploring the intricacies of connection and where we are at any moment as humans, against the backdrop of a museum, is such an intriguing premise. I found the sheer amount of characters a bit dizzying, but I also recognize the necessity of having quite a menagerie.

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my review.

Going minute by minute over the course of 24 hours, taking you into office politics and the deep personal struggles of an entire cast of characters, this book was truly an emotional rollercoaster!

Anyone who has ever has a job can probably relate to the petty squabbles and seemingly unnecessary chaos from all those meetings that could have been emails that the novel starts out with. I definitely had a few laughs myself! But it isn't just a look at how crazy American work culture can be, as we learn about the backstories, personal woes, and motivations of all the characters pretty quickly. To me, Friends of the Museum really excelled here, showing us that everyone has their own sh*t going on - not a groundbreaking revelation but one we all too often seem to forget.

Diane's day begins at 4:28 am when she gets a phone call-she had to come to the museum ASAP. When she arrived at 5:30 she meets with counsel who told her that several artifacts in the India collection were looted, and the authorities were already sniffing around. The director of a NYC art museum (no, NOT the Met, even though they share the same collections and specialties,) Diane certainly doesn't need that kind of trouble, especially today. Tonight is the Gala and the museum will be under the microscope. This is the night everything has to be perfect-the food, the entertainment, the glamorous atmosphere, as it is the best chance to woo the press and the high rolling donors. Times are getting tough at the museum and Diane needs new costly exhibits and flashy collections to get the public's attention. It certainly doesn't help that several of the employees have called in sick, perhaps from that shrimp served at the staff party last night. They can't afford to close to the public so the Gala is being set up in the midst of viewing traffic. What makes it worse is, the new wing is under construction, and to impress the Japanese ambassador in charge of the amazing money-making spectacle, Diane gives him a behind the scenes tour. Who knew a toolbox would fall on his arm?

As the day progresses, everything that can possibly go wrong, does. The director and her assistant run interference with the logistic and personality problems that are just another day to them. A dying donor who has been dangling his private collection for years to competing museums still needs pampering. The remaining employees must cover their responsibilities as well as those of their sick co-workers for the gala, expertise be damned. Even hair, make-up, and gowns become mini-crises. And of course the Gala just might not go as planned.

I love books that give me the unexpected, and McGowan really delivers. There are no chapters in the novel, but passage of time is noted by recording the time each event happens. Beginning with "four twenty-something," the day progresses into the night from hell and ends at a Rockaway beach after five am. Bad things happen, really bad things happen, and a few good things happen too. The characters are complicated, but the reader will feel for them as we get a window on their motivations. Certainly I now have a new perspective on how a museum must fight for its existence every day and what looks like a smoothly run organization can also be a study in controlled chaos.

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.