METROPOLITAN STORIES — PRESS & PRAISE
A National Bestseller
Click here to listen to Christine Coulson discussing Metropolitan Stories on NPR’s “All Things Considered”
“Coulson worked at the Met for 25 years…Now, she is writing in her own voice—and sometimes, in the voice of the artworks themselves. Her debut novel, Metropolitan Stories, goes behind the scenes at the museum. It’s a series of loosely connected stories about the people and objects that fill the galleries.”
—NPR, “All Things Considered”
“A love letter to the monumental institution…[Metropolitan Stories] reads like a work by John Cheever…[Coulson] captured the spirit of the place and brought it magically to life.”
— The Wall Street Journal
“Every painting, every tapestry, every fragile, gilded chair in the Met not only has a story, but gets to tell it, in Christine Coulson’s magical book. The history, humor, wonder, and—perhaps above all—beauty that Coulson absorbed in her twenty-five years at the museum burst forth from these pages, in her wry and imaginative tales of the people and objects that make the Met all that it is.”
— Ariel Levy, staff writer for The New Yorker and New York Times bestselling author of The Rules Do Not Apply
“A vivid, comedic, tender, and episodic debut…Coulson is emotionally keen, acerbically witty, fleetly imaginative, and lyrically resonant, her love for the Met, for humanness, and for beauty radiant on each surprising page.”
— BOOKLIST, Starred Review
“Delightful and sharply observed…Coulson’s erudition is worn lightly, and any worry that the Met’s self-importance has rubbed off on her is quickly banished by the author’s sly wit.”
— New Criterion
“A true insider’s POV...an enchanting novel that shows us the Met that the public doesn’t see. Oh thrills!”
— Sarah Jessica Parker on Instagram
“[A] sly, whimsical debut…Those who think they know [the Met] will be beguiled by the look behind the scenes; those unfamiliar with it will be prompted to make its acquaintance.”
— Publishers Weekly
“Written with elegance, wit, and a flair for comic genius, Metropolitan Stories describes the museum world as it is and as it strives to be. Coulson is a brilliant narrator of the fantastical and the all-too-plausible excesses of curators and museum directors. Her infectious sense of fun, her steady flow of insights into the human heart and its foibles, her wanton but beady-eyed attention to blind ambition, her passion for art itself, and most of all her deep sense of human character make this not only a delightful book, but also a deeply rewarding one. It marks the emergence of a major new talent”
— Andrew Soloman, New York Times bestselling author of The Noonday Demon and Far from the Tree
“Only someone who deeply loves and understands the Metropolitan Museum could deliver such madcap, funny, magical, tender, intimate fables and stories. We are swept away in the museum. Beauty abounds. Yearning too. The art literally comes to life. And it makes perfect sense.”
— Maira Kalman, artist and bestselling author of The Principles of Uncertainty
“With Metropolitan Stories, Christine Coulson gives us a book as kaleidoscopic and enchanting as the museum it brings so imaginatively to life. Witty, enthralling, and utterly original, this novel is a treasure.”
— Caroline Weber, Pulitzer Prize finalist for Proust’s Duchess and author of Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution
“This book—which is about art but really about life, and the afterlife of art—is a wonder. Coulson reverses the currency between spectator and spectacle, and in the process explodes the idea of how art lives. She accordions time, history, art theory, and the sub-sub culture of a massive public institution into 245 pages of mischievous, heart-tugging, and surreal fancy. My visits to the Met will never be the same.”
— Leanne Shapton, National Book Critics Circle Award–winning author of Swimming Studies
“Melding fact and fiction, art history and autobiography, Coulson’s strange tales of mutually dependent artworks and caretakers beat with a pulse that oscillates between the real and the unreal, the ordinary and the extraordinary. More than any scholar or connoisseur, Coulson’s exquisite book captures the essence of the Met—its ability to delight, surprise, astonish, and, ultimately, to dream.”
— Andrew Bolton, Curator in Charge, the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute
“This series of vignettes goes beyond what a casual visitor to the museum might see and offers a witty, enjoyable look at the elegant and sometimes unhinged world that exists within its walls.”
— Town & Country, "Must Read Books of Fall 2019"
“In this series of loosely linked surreal vignettes, Coulson takes us on a tour of the hidden world that tourists never see…an alternative guidebook to [the Met’s] rich treasures.”
— Kirkus Reviews
PRESS
31 Aug 2020
Lit Hub, Essay
31 Aug 2020
The Proust Questionnaire, Podcast Interview
8 Aug 2020
Penn Book Center, Round Up
27 Apr 2020
ArtNet, Editor’s Pick
17 Mar 2020
Architectural Digest, Round Up
28 Feb 2020
NPR Museum Confidential, Interview
7 Jan 2020
Book Riot, Round Up
2 Jan 2020
AuthorLink, Interview
1 Jan 2020
A Bookish Type, Round Up
23 Dec 2019
ArtNet, Review
16 Dec 2019
WORT FM, A Public Affair, Round Up
16 Dec 2019
Tech and Book Talk at SSCL, Radio Mention
13 Dec 2019
Paper City Magazine, Interview
12 Dec 2019
Trident Books Café, Round Up
8 Dec 2019
Poisoned Pen, Gift Guide
4 Dec 2019
Woman Around Town, Gift Guide
3 Dec 2019
Root and Press, Review
28 Nov 2019
Illinois Times, Gift Guide
25 Nov 2019
Necessary Fiction, Review
16 Nov 2019
Wall Street Journal, Review
16 Nov 2019
The Boston Calendar, Round Up
14 Nov 2019
Inside the ICE House, Interview
11 Nov 2019
The Howl, Review
9 Nov 2019
Habitually Chic, Gift Guide
8 Nov 2019
Houston Chronicle, Mention
7 Nov 2019
Just the Right Book! Bookseller Recommends
7 Nov 2019
New City Lit, Review
6 Nov 2019
Mississippi Books Page, Round Up
5 Nov 2019
RJ Julia Booksellers, Review
1 Nov 2019
Booklist Reader, Round Up
31 Oct 2019
A Scholarly Skater, Review
29 Oct 2019
Write the Book, Interview
28 Oct 2019
Entertainment Realm, Review
28 Oct 2019
Mississippi Public Broadcasting, Radio Mention
22 Oct 2019
Library Aware, Round Up
21 Oct 2019
WNYC, All Of It, Interview
17 Oct 2019
Christian Science Monitor,
10 Best Books of October, Review
17 Oct 2019
Library Journal, Round Up
16 Oct 2019
NPR All Things Considered, Interview
14 Oct 2019
ArtNet, Excerpt
13 Oct 2019
T: The New York Times
Style Magazine, Instagram
11 Oct 2019
Better, Round Up
10 Oct 2019
Slate Political Gabfest, Podcast Mention
10 Oct 2019
The New Criterion, Review
10 Oct 2019
Book Riot, Round Up
8 Oct 2019
Architectural Digest, Interview
8 Oct 2019
Book Riot, Round Up
8 Oct 2019
Woman Around Town, Review
8 Oct 2019
The Armchair Observer, Round Up
5 Oct 2019
GDN Online, Round Up
4 Oct 2019
Ivory Owl Reviews, Review
1 Oct 2019
Book Reporter, Round Up
15 Sep 2019
A Bookish Type, Review
5 Sep 2019
Town & Country, Review
12 Aug 2019
Killin' Time Reading, Review
8 Aug 2019
Publishers Weekly, Review
1 Aug 2019
Kirkus Reviews, Review
30 Jul 2019
Richmond Public Library, Round Up
4 Jul 2019
Artsy, Excerpt
15 May 2019
It's All About the Book, Review
8 May 2019
NYCityWoman, Round Up