Reviews - All the Beauty in the World

As someone who is pursuing museum work and loves The Met, I had really high hopes for this book. Getting access to the behind-the-scenes of one of the world's greatest art museums is such an interesting premise as a reader, and I enjoyed hearing about the operations. However, where the book loses me slightly is with its storytelling. Bringley tries to do so much with this book, and it all becomes slightly underdeveloped. Are we focusing on grief or on the day-to-day life of a security guard? He tries to balance these topics, but the connection grows thinner and thinner throughout the book. That's definitely the point––Bringley's grief evolves, so his relationship with The Met also changes––but I'm just not so sure about the execution. The writing is also quite repetitive and self-indulgent. I wish that Bringley made himself a more interesting character to follow, too. He loves writing about other people, but in the end, I really don't know much about him. Granted, I still enjoyed the book and would love to read more from this kind of perspective in the collections world. I think I was just hoping for a slightly different story.

lavendarash's review against another edition

3.75

hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad slow-paced

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