An Amazon Editors' Best Book of December 2018
"Art will wake you up. Art will break your heart. There will be glorious days. If you want eternity you must be fearless." -from The Museum of Modern Love
Arky Levin has reached a dead end. Unexpectedly separated from his wife, he suddenly has the space he needs to work composing film scores-but none of the peace of mind he needs to create. As he wanders the city, guilty and restless, it's almost by chance that he stumbles upon an exhibition that will change his life.
The installation the fictional Arky discovers-which is based on a real piece of performance art that took place in 2010-is inexplicably powerful. Visitors to the Museum of Modern Art sit across a table from the performance artist Marina Abramović, for as short or long a period as they choose. Although some go in skeptical, almost all leave moved. And the participants are not the only ones to find themselves changed by this unusual experience: Arky finds himself drawn to the exhibit. He returns day after day to watch other people sit with Abramović-and as he does, he begins to understand what might be missing in his life and what he must do. Heather Rose was born in Australia in 1964. Her novels have been shortlisted or have won awards for literary fiction, crime fiction, and children's fantasy. In 2017, The Museum of Modern Love, her seventh novel, won the Christina Stead Prize and the Stella Prize. It is her first novel for adults to be published in the United States. She lives by the sea on the island of Tasmania. A Goodreads "Hot Book" November Selection
A BookPage Top Pick for December
"Framing a love story around a long-durational performance work, where the passage of time is essential, is a profoundly original idea. I loved this book."
-Marina Abramović
"The Museum of Modern Love s a light, easy novel, but it does shed insight into the mysterious Abramović, her personal life, and her artistic vision, as well as the fictionalized characters whose struggles mirror everyday realities."
-Vanity Fair
"Rose celebrates the transformative power of art with an artful construct of her own . . . [Rose] displays a deep appreciation of art and a deft ability to blend fact, fiction, abstract ideas, and sentiment that recalls Ali Smith's How to Be Both."
-NPR
"Rose uses Levin to explore the profound ways in which art impacts life, grapples with questions about the purpose of art, and reveals the intense ways in which art and love and life intersect, and how that beautiful convergence is at the heart of what it means to be human."
-Nylon
"This is a captivating story on the improbability of life, the power of art to transform our pain, a meditation on the fluidity of time, and the ruse of human separation."
-Marlene Kelly, Amazon.com
"Over the centuries, few things have been written about as much or as often as art and love. In her profound new novel, Australian author Heather Rose becomes the latest in a long line of writers, thinkers, philosophers, and artists to explore the uniquely human topics . . . The Museum of Modern Love is a tender meditation on art, love, grief, and life."
-Bustle
"Rose has woven a rich tapestry of plot and characters . . . The result is an unusual and lively work of fiction."
-Newsday
"The Museum of Modern Love interrogates what it is that drives artists to create-and the power of their creations on those who allow themselves to truly look at them."
-Book Reporter
"Intensely introspective . . . acts as both a compassionate biography of Abramović and a probing look at the nature of art, love and humanity."
-amNewYork
"This captivating work explores the meaning of art in our lives and the ways in which it deepens our understanding of ourselves. As Hannah Rothschild did in The Improbability of Love, Australia
