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Loading... The Hound in the Left-hand Corner: A Novelby Giles Waterfield
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. The scathing and very entertaining story of the machinations of the staff and board of a large museum in London. This fictional Museum of British History (trendily rebranded as BRIT) is staging a spectacular exhibition - but what will prevail when scholarship wilts and Mammon rules? (  )triscuit | Jun 19, 2008 |   A highly enjoyable read. This comic novel follows twenty four hours in the life of a fictional London museum leading up to the launch of a major exhibition concerning eighteenth century "Elegance". The author clearly draws on his own background in the gallery world, but the choreography of the relationship between Chairman and Chief Executive (Director in this case), and the ambitions and motivations of board members and staff are likely to touch a cord with those who have witnessed the internal politics of any organisation. For fans to TV cookery shows there is a temperamental chef thrown into the mix (almost literally), and those who like gentle romance will be touched by the blossoming relationship between two of the junior security staff. (  )dsc73277 | Apr 21, 2008 | If you work in or are passionate about the arts and haven’t read Giles Waterfield’s The Hound in the Left-hand Corner, you should. Immediately. You may not yet know it, but this is the book you have been waiting for, notwithstanding that it was first published five years ago. (We know: the Times didn’t review it, so it never made your list.) Waterfield’s comedy of manners about “BRIT: The Museum of British History” is a defining volume in the too-thin realm of museum-focused novels. Just as Molière skewered French bourgeois society of the 17th century, Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 defined the absurdities of life in the military, and Philip Roth’s Portnoy’s Complaint made it that much more difficult to be a Jewish-American male, Waterfield captures the rollicking insularity of the museum world. Well, maybe Waterfield isn’t Molière, Heller, or Roth, and maybe we don’t need more contributions to the realm of museum-focused novels – but this book is still great fun. Read more of this review here: http://www.resnicowschroeder.com/abou... (  )TTAISI-Editor | Nov 5, 2007 | I enjoyed this book from start to finish. On the surface it's the story behind a particular Gainsborough painting and the mystery behind the hound in the left hand corner of the painting which does look quite right. On another level it is a spoof very loosely based on Shakespeare's Midsummer's Night Dream - all frame by the Gainsborough which portrays an 18th century Lady St John dressed as Puck! There are multiple layers of deception both within the painting and the plot. The action takes place over the course of a single day, giving the book a very satisifying roundness. It's a light and easy read but full of black humour, wry and witty asides and ascerbic commentary on one particular aspect of the musuem world. At times, even, there are elements of slapstick humour - waiters and cheese come to mind. The characterisation is superb; a little stereotypical, but I'm sure that's intentional: for such a short book, the reader gets to know a remarkable number of characters very well and very quickly. Highly recommended. (  )Rivercassini | Sep 1, 2006 | 1  0.135 seconds to build listing
Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0743475534, Paperback)In this brilliantly witty satire -- a bestseller in the UK -- a prestigious British museum launches an ambitious new exhibit...which quickly becomes a seasonal nightmare.Think that a day in the life of a London museum director is cold, quiet, and austere? Think again. Giles Waterfield brings a combination of intellectual comedy and knockabout farce to the subject in this story of one long day in a museum full of scandals, screw-ups?and more than a few scalawags. At the beginning of The Hound in the Left-hand Corner, Auberon, the brilliant but troubled director of the Museum of British History, is preparing one midsummer's day for the opening of the most spectacular exhibition his museum has ever staged. The centerpiece is a painting of the intriguing Lady St. John strikingly attired as Puck, which hasn't been shown in London in a hundred years. As the day passes, the portrait arouses disquieting questions, jealousies, rivalries -- and more than a few strange affections -- in the minds of the museum staff. As guests and employees pour in, the tension rises -- and Auberon himself has the hilariously ridiculous task of keeping the peace, without losing his own sense of reality as well. For everyone who loves the farce of David Lodge and Michael Frayn, or even the Antiques Roadshow, the fast-paced, hilarious satire of The Hound in the Left-hand Corner is sure to delight and entertain. (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:24 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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