The Paper Museum
Kate S Simpson
For those who love paper and books
When I read a technical paper or a news story, I often find myself wondering, "Why are you telling me this? Where are you going with it?" I felt that way through much of the first half of The Paper Museum. The story is told in the first person by Lydia, whose Uncle Lem is curator of The Paper Museum. Lydia and Lem live in a technological utopia/dystopia from which paper has all but vanished -- only to be found in their museum. Everyone now carries an aer reader (this is essentially an upgraded cell phone) and gets every physical thing they need delivered. (It appears that Amazon's quest for world domination has succeeded in The Paper Museum.)
Lem disappears from the scene almost immediately, to be replaced by Lydia's other uncle, the puzzlingly mean and antagonistic Uncle Renald. Three child interns show up to spend their summer at the Paper Museum: Jane (who is Lydia's friend), Karl, and Florence. There follow several chapters in which the kids and Uncle Renald snipe at each other in a realistic but unentertainingly childish way. This was the part of the book that seemed directionless to me. To be sure, some exposition of the world and characters is necessary, but I wished that the book would have moved on to the real story more swiftly.
The real story, once it gets rolling, is a good one. It begins when Lydia starts snooping around. She makes discoveries, which are interesting, and fun stuff begins to happen. Of course, I can't tell you what any of the discoveries are or what the fun stuff is. You will have to read the book to find out. Once we get past the Era of Pointless Arguments, the story gets better.
To my perception, the heart of The Paper Museum was the library. The Paper Museum has several departments devoted to different paper and paper-related artifacts, but the biggest is the library, a collection of paper books. Kate S. Simpson is a librarian, and her love of books comes through loud and clear. If you, too, love books, you will recognize several of the books that play a role in the story.
Thanks to NetGalley and Union Square Kids for an advance readers' copy of The Paper Museum. This review presents my honest opinions.