MJV, who is one of the readiest persons I know, sent me a great book (thanks MJV!) and kindly included her notes. In her notes she writes "Teresa was enjoying this book, so she ordered it for me. What a gem. Just what I needed after recent 'Dark Literature' reads. This is a book that had its genesis in grief, but it's not grief obsessed like some current fiction:..." I, too was ready for such a book. Have either of you guessed the book yet?
All The Beauty In The World: The Metropolitan Museum Of Art And Me, Patrick Bringley, is the book. After the death of his 26 year old brother, Bringley, steps out of the rat race of work at The New Yorker. He does this by taking a job as a guard at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he works for ten years. This work gives him the space he needs to grieve as he contemplates the Museum's treasured art. When he leaves this work it's because family life, he and his wife have two young children, and the wider world beckons. But the book provides a loving look at the inner workings of the institution and its collections plus profound reflections on the art. Modern technology came to my aid. As he described various items of art, I Googled them to see that which he was describing.
Bringley is transparent about his personal life and occasionally drops pearls of wisdom about grief. Here are a couple of examples. "Grief is among other things a loss of rhythm. You lose someone, it puts a hole in your life, and for a time you huddle down in that hole. In coming to the Met, I saw an opportunity to conflate my hole with a grand cathedral, to linger in a place that seemed untouched by the rhythms of the everyday." P. 102 Or, "Strangely I think I am grieving for the end of my acute grief. The loss that made a hole at the center of my life is less on my mind than the sundry concerns that have filled the hole in. And I suppose that is right and natural, but its hard to accept." P. 142 Both of these observations ring true of my experience but I had not thought of grief like that.
Yes, I recommend it!
Takk for alt,
Al
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