Book Review: The Museum of Ordinary People by Mike Gayle

 My Rating: 4.5⭐

“How to explain? How to explain to my partner and my best friend that this task, the clearing of Mum’s house, was my last opportunity to say goodbye? How to explain that I needed to show this final kindness to her? How to explain that I needed to sort through each of her belongings alone? That I wanted to make every last decision to do with dismantling her life from the biggest to the smallest without the help or hindrance of others? How to explain that I wanted to put as much love and care into the taking apart of my wonderful mum’s home as had been poured into bringing it all together in the first place?”

Almost a year has passed since Jessica “Jess” Baxter lost her mother to cancer. Jess is in the process of clearing her mother's home before putting it up for sale – a difficult task, emotionally draining, and heartbreaking but Jess manages to clear out most of her belongings selecting a few significant items that hold a special place in her heart. However, there seems to be no place to keep her precious set of encyclopedias in the home she shares with her partner, Guy, which they are also putting on the market with plans to move into a ‘forever home”. Her best friend, Luce, tells her about a place she has heard about - the “Museum of Ordinary People”- a space in the warehouse of a home clearance company where the now deceased owner looked after the belongings of those unable to find space for it – letters, furniture, suitcases and much more - tagged and detailed with how and when it was acquired by the said museum. The new owner, Alex, initially clueless about the existence of said space, allows Jess to explore the space and though initially reluctant grants Jess’s request to open the museum to the public with Jess, who is qualified in Museum Sciences, as Curator, but only for a duration six months after which the property in which the museum is located is to be sold.

As the story progresses and the Museum is opened to the public, Alex and Jess try their hardest to garner public interest in their museum and Jes tries to explore possibilities of finding a new location to keep the museum open. As Jess’s dreams of working in a museum begin to take shape, there are other aspects of her life that she needs to take into account– her friendship with Alex, the cracks in her relationship with Guy, a revelation about her identity of her father that could fracture some of the most important relationships in her life – a lot is going on in Jess’s life and we feel invested in her journey as tries to navigate her way through the changes in her life.

The grief Mike Gayle describes is not unknown to me. At times I had to put the book down because it reminded me of how I’ve avoided stepping foot into my parents' home since I lost my mother to cancer over four years ago. Living halfway across the world and the pandemic (and the international travel restrictions that followed) made for a good excuse to not travel. It broke my heart to have to go through my father’s things after his demise some years earlier and neither my brother nor I have been able to do more than the bare minimum after our mother passed. I can relate to how the most seemingly insignificant and mundane things can evoke sorrow and nostalgia and open a floodgate of memories.

“ And although the objects themselves are no replacement for the people we ache for, they are a reminder of the fact that those people were here, and they mattered and will be missed.”

The Museum of Ordinary Things by Mike Gayle is a beautifully written novel that revolves around themes of loss, grief, memories, kindness, love and friendship. The writing is beautiful as is the concept. The characterizations are on point ( even the unlikable Guy) and realistic. Needless to say, I felt a personal connection to Jess and all she was going through. I could also understand how the loss of her mother triggered Jess to take stock of other aspects of her life – her personal relationships, professional aspirations and dreams. What kept me from giving this book a 5 rating was the unnecessary and forced (in my opinion) subplot revolving around Jess’s father. I felt that adding this complication to Jess’s story distracted from the primary narrative. The pace is on the slower side, but I felt it suited the story.

Overall, The Museum of Ordinary People is a moving story that I would definitely recommend. I believe we could all use a “museum of ordinary people” to keep the memories and the stories alive.

“We give value to the overlooked, to the ordinary, to that which the world thinks of as commonplace. And we do this in the hope that the lives and the stories of the people these seemingly unremarkable things once belonged to will be treasured and remembered long after they’re gone.”