Book Review: The Woman Upstairs

The third book we read for our book club was The Woman Upstairs, by Claire Messud, which we read during January and February of 2014. The illustration originally appeared in the New York Times.

After reading The Marriage Plot, and feeling a bit let down by that book's female lead, we were eager to find a book with more dynamic  female characters. I had heard a little bit about the controversy surrounding The Woman Upstairs and its author, Claire Messud; in an interview, Messud had been asked whether she would be "friends" with her protagonist, and her response was critical of the premise of the question, or the idea that a protagonist, and specifically a female protagonist, would need to be "likable." I was curious to read a novel about a female character who was perhaps unsympathetic, so I suggested the novel to the group, and people seemed interested.

The book is, in essence, a monologue or rant by Nora, the main character; as it unfolds, she tells us about her worldview, her frustrations, and the recent events that led her to become so angry. The story maintains an intimate focus and is told entirely from her subjective point of view, with her interpretation of the story warped by a lifetime of disappointments and her hopes for something better.

At the beginning of the story, Nora is a single 37 year-old elementary school teacher in New England. Though she had hoped to escape her mother's fate and forge a career and independent existence, she has found her artistic aspirations frustrated, and finds herself saddled with the responsibilities of being a teacher and dutiful caretaker to her ailing parents. She presents a facade of agreeableness, but inwardly seethes at the idea that the world expects such behavior from her and other "invisible" women.

Her world seems to brighten when a new family, representing something of the life she desires, comes into her orbit. Nora becomes entranced with the Shahids: Reza, a sensitive boy who joins her class, his father, who is in town on a fellowship at Harvard, and especially Reza's mother Sirena, who has found some success as an artist and has the family life that Nora craves. Nora gradually ingratiates herself with the family, acting as a babysitter for Reza and renting an art studio with Sirena.

While Nora works on self-contained dollhouse style dioramas, Sirena creates an expansive "Wonderland." Nora, entranced with Sirena and the promise she represents, ends up acting as a quasi- assistant, and throughout the story Sirena takes advantage of Nora, ultimately using and betraying her. After a year passes, the fellowship is over, and the Shahids return home, Nora settles back into her life with a fond memory of her time with Sirena; however, Nora later discovers that Sirena had not considered her as a fellow artist or a peer, but had instead used Nora, without her knowledge, as an art subject, exposing her to the art world and profoundly violating her privacy.

In the story, Sirena, and, by extension, her art, are powerful because they provide a blank slate for audiences to project their feelings upon and react to, and Sirena can be callous about exploiting her subjects, including Nora herself. The book raises the question of whether, to create potent art that connects with people, a person must, ironically, abandon some degree of empathy for others and become ruthless (or at least careless) about the individuals they take advantage of. Sirena, who lives selfishly, is in some ways the polar opposite of Nora, who succumbed to the pressure to accommodate others.

I appreciated the singular focus of the book, as well as Messud's dedication to creating a strong voice for her narrator and investigating her motivations and desires. I think I was less invested in the mechanics of the story itself, partially because Sirena, as an artist, seemed more like a symbol than a person, and the art work, as described, didn't seem fantastical enough to inspire Nora's reactions. Of course, perhaps that is part of the point; Sirena's success is less about the intrinsic value of her vision or art, but more about what she represents to other people.

As a whole, I enjoyed the book, and am glad that we chose to read it, and to engage with, and understand, a challenging character.