The Woman Upstairs - Claire Messud

A guest post by Jayne White

I think I may have mentioned this book once too often in the Workshy Fop's hearing. At any rate, I received a kind invitation to give my middle-aged woman's perspective on it. The middle-aged tag is relevant here as the novel is a character study of a woman charting her own experiences drawing towards middle-age. I think it was inevitable that I would identify with Nora Eldridge. She teaches young children, as I once did.  She's single, as am I. She's childless, as am I. She lives alone, as do I. She hasn't stayed true to the dreams of her younger days; but then how many of us have?

Nora has been a 'good girl'. She was sensible about her dreams of being an artist and kept them as a hobby in her spare bedroom. She's had boyfriends, but no great love. She has friends and family but they're not there for her every day. After a stint nursing her mother through her final illness she's worn down and going through the motions.

Her life begins to change when she befriends a charismatic couple who are the parents of a child in her class. Sirena, is an Italian artist on the verge of her professional breakthrough and Skandar, a visiting professor originally from The Lebanon. The friendship rapidly becomes the most important thing in Nora's life. She shares a rented studio with Sirena and they begin to take an interest in each other's work. Nora is inspired by them whilst at the same time they increase her awareness of what her life lacks. This very intense friendship experience leads Nora to question her life choices, her future, her talent and even her sexuality.

Nora is the narrator of her own story. We see the friendship almost exclusively from her perspective apart from when she chooses to report the comments of others. In some respects we wonder how reliable a narrator she is, but there's no 'cheating' in terms of her knowing things that she couldn't have known. Her feelings are laid bare and some of her emotions are 'ugly' ones. Much of the early buzz around this book has been generated because some interviewers at launches have a problem with a woman owning up to being angry and frustrated. Apparently grown women are always supposed to be good girls, even in books, just in case some random person 'everyone' might not like us.

The narrative voice is very open. There is no deliberate attempt to conceal. This makes the character extremely vulnerable. On the one hand we can worry for her when her emotions are running high; on the other hand we can be very critical. I caught myself tutting when she had a second glass of wine before dinner on one page, trying to note a clue to her imminent descent into alcoholism.

Nora learns lessons in this book. She learns that the qualities which breed success are not those which are encouraged in girls - single-mindedness, ruthlessness, risk-taking. She'd previously thought that simply not living her mother's life was the recipe for happiness. However, avoiding one set of choices isn't enough to create a life on its own. Nora's first real risk is this friendship and sadly it doesn't get her much in the way of reward.

I learned lessons from this book too. Sometimes when you make sensible choices it can benefit those around you, much more than it benefits you. Sometimes your life needs stirring up - so accept that things will be disturbed when it happens. Also - it's never too late to learn.

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