The Woman Upstairs

Genre: Fiction

I gave this book **

This is the story of Nora Eldridge, a forty something year old, 3rd grade teacher, unfulfilled artist, unmarried and childless. Nora welcomes a new third grade student, Reza, into her class. Reza is a transplant from Paris, but his family, we learn, is originally from Lebanon. Nora befriends Reza’s mother, Serena, a charming and accomplished artist and his father, Skandar, a professor at Harvard University. The family relocates to Cambridge for the year for Skandar’s work. Nora, who describes herself as the Woman Upstairs, one who keeps quiet, keeps-to-herself and generally an older woman, is convinced by Serena to share an art studio space where she creates miniature homes of famous writers. She also helps Serena with her art project. During this time, Nora’s life becomes heavily entangled with the family. The story ends with the family returning to Paris and Nora questioning the true nature and authenticity of their friendship.

I found the theme of art throughout the story interesting. Nora does a lot of questioning of the art world. What makes a good artist? What value does networking have in the art world? Can a person be an artist if they haven’t shown their work in a gallery? I liked reading the descriptions of Nora’s project and would love to see an exhibit like that at a local museum. Here’s what I didn’t love about this story: Messud describes a woman who is mentally ill, a stalker and someone who suffers from illusions of grandeur. The disturbing thing is that I’m not sure that Messud saw Nora this way. It feels odd to “know” something about a character created by someone else that the author herself doesn’t seem to know. I also didn’t like Messud’s attempt to address the Lebanon-Israel conflict in the story. Skandar is from Lebanon originally and during their long discussions, he lectures Nora about the war but it doesn’t seem to fit into his role in the story or the story itself and seems to be a random insert. Overall, I would say the writing is good, in particular, when Nora discusses her feelings, but otherwise, I would say this wasn’t my favorite book.