Wednesday, September 18, 2013

The woman upstairs

The woman upstairs/Claire Messud 253 pgs.

Nora Eldridge is one of those utterly dependable women who does her job (elementary school teacher), never causes any trouble and who has completely lost touch with all of her dreams.  She is stagnant and giving up when a special family moves to town and she ends up with the child in her class, then builds a relationship with his mother and then a very different relationship with his father.  I don't mean that to sound odd, she has very separate relationship with each of them interacting occasionally with the whole family.  These people get Nora thinking about her life and possibilities.  She starts working on her art again (she originally wanted to be an artist), she starts thinking a better more interesting life if possible.  Then, they move away. Nora shuts down again, a bit but then a few years later is ready to resume a more interesting life and to visit the family that she had obsessed over. It is on this trip that a betrayal comes to light and anger follows.  Will this be the spark that puts life back on track for Nora?

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