"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
The other guard--and the man who raised him after his parents died in a zeppelin crash when he was 9--is his Uncle Edward. Edward is certainly not the steadiest fellow employee or familial influence. He devotes his nights to drinking, poker, and charming women at the Lord Nelson, the hotel where both men live, and his days to hangovers, somnolence, and generally harassing museumgoers. DeFoe, at least, is a model employee. Yet his personal life cannot be quite so regulated, and for the last two years he has been frustrated in his relationship with a caretaker at the local Jewish cemetery. He seems to expend most of his energy anticipating Imogen Linny's moods, assessing the power of her headaches, and banging his head against her nocturnal mixed messages and philosophizing. As the novel progresses, Imogen also grows increasingly obsessed with one of the newly arrived paintings, Jewess on a Street in Amsterdam.
Soon, DeFoe puts his career in jeopardy for Imogen, stealing the picture for her--though this is only one of the mysteries at the heart of Howard Norman's strange and startling third novel, The Museum Guard. Through DeFoe's eyes, we, too, begin to understand the allure of the painting, in which a woman pushes a bicycle and holds a loaf of bread, the shop window behind her filled with toothbrushes. "The toothbrushes made me laugh. They quickly put me in a good mood," he recounts. "But then I looked close up at the Jewess's face; I was sunk from that mood in a second. Because it struck me as a face of desperate sadness. Those are my own words. I stood as close to the painting as I could without touching it. Me--a guard. I reached out then and touched the woman's face. And I did not flinch back my hand or warn myself."
Howard Norman's protagonist would probably be able to pull himself back; this is a man who calms himself down by ironing endless white shirts. And he fully intends to keep the same job for the next 30 years. But those around him lack his instinct for order and seem to be pushing him toward the grand, self-destructive gesture. News of Hitler's advances on Europe also make him realize "how small Halifax had become." Imogen, too, feels her life a confinement, but her reaction is more extreme. She literally wills herself to become the woman in the painting. In one bizarre scene--and Norman has a knack for turning the extreme into the everyday--DeFoe finds her filling in for the usual museum guide. Speaking in an unconvincing Dutch accent and dressed as the Jewess, Imogen tells a group of increasingly puzzled women her version of events. "While he painted me, we fell in love. Just weeks before, with my parents' death, I had become estranged from my very soul. My marriage to Joop Heijman helped me to reconcile. And now you know my deepest secrets." Edward's assessment is as wry as ever, and spot-on: "Life in Halifax used to be so simple, didn't it, DeFoe?"
As Imogen's identification grows, she is resolved to go to Amsterdam and "reunite" with the painter. Howard Norman writes with such persuasive oddity that it's no surprise when those closely allied to the Glace Museum find themselves moving this futile, intrusive, and dangerous plan along. The Museum Guard is an unsettling examination of a group of people (with very odd names) who let themselves get too close to art--and perhaps to life. --Kerry Fried
"Deftly mysterious...Norman's new novel fairly glimmers with the originality of his complexly tragic vision." --Richard Bernstein, The New York Times
"An impressive and admirable achievement." --John Banville, The Washington Post Book World
"[Norman's work] proves exquisite, like pieces of folk art whose simplicity postpones a sly impact." --Thomas Mallon, GQ
"The Museum Guard displays magical strengths." --Richard Eder, The Los Angeles Times
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
FREE
Within U.S.A.
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. 1st Edition. Seller Inventory # ABE-1701479534213
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # BK1770
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. First Edition. New. Very little shelfwear. Signed by the author on the title page. The dust jacket is in new mylar. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Signed. Fiction. Seller Inventory # 047143
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Seller Inventory # Wizard0374216495
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_0374216495
Book Description Condition: New. Book is in NEW condition. Seller Inventory # 0374216495-2-1
Book Description Condition: New. New! This book is in the same immaculate condition as when it was published. Seller Inventory # 353-0374216495-new
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think0374216495
Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # FrontCover0374216495
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. Buy for Great customer experience. Seller Inventory # GoldenDragon0374216495