The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud

As I read this book I felt like I was reading the diary of an unfulfilled woman who had deeply felt emotions and the total inability to act on those. Maybe that is why the book opens with I am angry. How Angry? You don’t want to know!  In all honesty I really did not see the anger until the very end and then I thought “And…”.

Nora Eldridge is the Woman Upstairs.  She is, for most of the book, 37 years old, lives alone after the death of her mother. She is unmarried, partly because her mother wanted more for her.  What was never taken into serious consideration is what Nora wanted.  She wanted to be an artist, even showed some early promise as one.  Her mother insisted she study something in college that would enable her to earn enough money to never have to rely on a man/husband for anything.  That could be the beginning of many things in Nora’s life. 

The woman upstairs indicates a spinster who does not quite fit into society but really isn’t apart from it either. She is invited to events, sometimes out of pity. She lives a good life but not one everyone is sure is full.  She wants to be a part of the world. She often holds a good job, is well liked and has friends.  Nora is such a person. I truly believe she has lived a solitary existence for most of her life.  She neither likes nor cares to know well her older brother and his family. She cared for her mother during her long health battles.  Her mother was not positive toward men—felt she had failed to realize her own dreams.  Nora’s father is alive and she visits him often. Does she love him or is she doing so out of duty?  She has a spinster aunt who goes by the name “Baby”.  She wants a family but has no boyfriend. Her best friend has found love and happiness in a lesbian relationship.  Is Nora gay?  I don’t think so even though she professes love for Sirena.

Several questions come to mind for discussion of this book.

Reza—yes a teacher sees many cute kids come through their classrooms. However, what 37 year old falls for an eight year old so much that she strikes up a friendship with the family, essentially inserting herself into the family. She evens becomes his babysitter!  Also, if he was so close then why did he seem so indifferent when she saw him in Paris?
Sirena—was she a substitute for her mother? Did she represent the person Nora wanted to be? Was her relationship really one of sexual attraction or did Nora see Sirena the artist as the less repressed version of herself?
Skandar—did she have sex with him or was it just a brief stolen moment that was not consummated?  Was he the equivalent of the male version of Nora—misunderstood, solitary figure even in the midst of many?
Sirena and her art—did she take advantage of Nora’s need to be a part of something to enhance and extend her own art?  Why did she not tell Nora about the video.  (I really thought she would have used the photos left lying about!)
Wonderland—was it just a work of art to be interpreted or was it a metaphor for Nora’s life. What appears one way to one is different to another.  Did the photos use reflect the stages of Nora’s life? 
Nora’s art—were her miniatures a reflection of her stagnated life?  Did she choose the rooms of artists (poets, playwrights, etc.) who also lived or wrote of lonely lives?
Anger—how angry was she?  I must say that even at the end of the book I did not fully know how angry she was!  She should have seen that art consumed Sirena and it was art at any cost. Betrayed, yes she was. Did her anger serve to cleanse her soul of the Shadids? I am not certain. Since the book ends there we have many unanswered questions about the rest of her life.  She does go out with a variety of men but hasn’t found the one yet.  Maybe she will simply adopt a child to fill her life.

I look forward to our discussions about this book.  Hope you enjoyed it!