Nora Eldridge is a forty something third grade teacher in Cambridge, MA. She's single still, has recently lost her mother, whom she nursed during the later stages of ALS, and she has a father living in a independent living home. Her life revolves around her students, her mother till her death, now her father, yet she desires more, to be an artist, to be known, to be cared about. She makes miniature worlds, literally match book size, of Emily Dickinson's drawing room, for example, painstaking and often mindless. She is not particularly happy with her life or her art though she has a few good friends, dates occasionally, but there is clearly something missing. This sets the stage for the opening, where Nora screams: "How angry am I? You don't want to know. Nobody wants to know about that...and what I really want to shout, and want in big letters on the grave, too, is FUCK YOU ALL."
Well, the rest of the book tries to explain how Nora got to this point, to this anger and frustration. It all begins with the title, THE WOMAN UPSTAIRS, the symbol for Messud of women trapped in the 'good girl syndrome,' straight laced, kind, does what she's told, the good daughter, the patient teacher, the caring adult child, always agreeable, always putting others first, either friends, family, or students. And as we intuit from her early outburst, the kind of person who always gets taken advantage of, either willingly or unknowingly. For Nora, it all begins with a foreign student in her class, Reza, charming, vulnerable, intelligent, and loving, the kind of child she would love. When he gets bullied, she meets Reza's mother, Sirena, exotic, artistic, beautiful, and Italian, married to Skandar, a Lebanese professor on sabbataical from France. Nora gets pulled into this triad, Reza because of his innocence, Sirena because of her art, and Skandar because of his intellect. For their sabbatical year in Cambridge, Nora becomes a fixture in their lives, most importantly, in Sirena's, who is putting together an artistic extravaganza, an exposition entitled Alice in Wonderland, which will later make her famous. Together, they rent a studio, but Nora ends up spending most of her time helping Sirena with her show. And though Nora neglects her art, she does not care because of how Sirena makes her feel, alive and needed and important for once. And the same can be said about Reza and Skandar, the husband, who walks Nora home each night after she helps out by baby sitting for Reza. During these walks, she gets to know Skandar, and he treats her like an adult, opens up new worlds for her. It's a magical year for her in some ways, but as the first few words of the book suggest, it does not end well and the reader, knowing this, dreads turning page after page, wondering what will happen that will make her so angry. The reader certainly knows that Nora is being used though it's not clear till the end that Nora understands this though there are plenty of hints, unanswered emails, phone calls, letters, things like that which mean so much to Nora but apparently very little to Sirena and family.
The year ends and yet Nora cannot get the three out of her mind, building up this year into something grand, almost as if she's in love with all three of them, for different reasons, sure, but love them she does in her own way. The problem is whether the love is requited, something that we, the reader, know is not going to happen but Nora convinces herself that it may be so. She goes to Paris for a week, spends a night with Sirena and family, some of the magic is still there, and she then goes back to her hotel room, knowing they will meet again for lunch later in the week. She notices a gallery has some videos from Sirena's work and Nora decides to go see it. And then it happens...she realizes that she has been used, that she's only been an object to Sirena, who, without asking or telling Nora, uses some compromising videos of Nora in her show. It reminds me of the word 'ruthless,' that Nora mentioned early in the novel, wondering if those who are successful, become famous, must be ruthless. The end answers the question and this revelation changes Nora irrevocably, as the last page of the book suggests: "...I'm angry enough, at last, to stop being afraid of life, and angry enough----finally, God willing, with my mother's anger also on my shoulders, a great boil of rage like the sun's fire in me---before I die to fucking well live. Just watch me,"
This was not an easy book to read, not a page turner, as Messud writes carefully, but also her ideas, her thoughts, are not easy to follow, as she allows us into the workings of Nora's frantic, imaginative, thoughtful but troubled, needy mind. I vacillated between really liking the book and wondering when I would find out why she was so angry. I knew she would be let down, just not sure how. Now I know. What she does with this new found knowledge might be Messud's next book. I am not optimistic.
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