The Woman Upstairs | 
pickThis is a wonderful look inside one woman‘s life as she struggles with the best way to love three members of the same family; a husband, a wife, and their young son. Nora is obsessed with each person in a different way and working out why and if they are as equally obsessed with her is fascinating. A book about art, education, aging, friendship, and deciding your own fate.
pickOooh, this was interesting. Good depiction of the interiority of a person. I appreciated the depiction of single womanhood - as daughter and carer. I LOVED that she at the very very end, got MAD. I was left thinking she is going to take command of her life!
so-soNora is 37, single, a teacher who wanted to be an artist. She often feels unworthy. ‘The woman upstairs‘, for all to see and judge. But she mostly judges herself. Until the Shahid‘s enter her life. Father, mother, 8 year old son. They make her feel like a friend, an artist, a woman and a mother. Before long she depends on them for her happiness and self esteem.
The book began and ended with a bang, but dragged a bit in the middle.
The books I ordered with my Christmas gift card came. 😍📚😍
I can see that it was one small thought among all the other thoughts that drift like dust motes through a cluttered mind. But it was a thought I made an object, and held on to and turned over and over in my hand, as if it were an amulet, as if it gave meaning to what had come before; and holding on to it changed everything again.
“Don‘t ever get yourself stuck like this.” Advice from Nora‘s mother to her daughter about marriage. The protagonist is an angry frustrated single lady. Felt mixed about this book, it did lead to an interesting convo about likeability of characters vs enjoying a book and the difft standards for female characters. #aprella #singleladies (photo credit nyt book review).
so-soI feel about this book the same way I felt after reading The Emperor‘s Children. It kept me engaged for the most part, although there were parts where I felt it dragged on unnecessarily. In the end, I had very little sympathy for Nora, who was gullible in her neediness.
so-soI ... am not sure how I feel about this book. I liked the writing style, and I do love me a pissed off, unlikeable female protagonist. But I also found Nora to be a bit too pathetic at times, and the other main characters to be a bit cartoonish & two-dimensional. And the ending felt unfinished. But I did like the exploration of being a middle aged woman (as I'm approaching) who hasn't given the world what it thinks she should've. So ... eh? 3/5 ⭐️
Above all, in my anger, I was sad. Isn't that always the way, that at the heart of the fire is a frozen kernel of sorrow that the fire is trying--valiantly, fruitlessly--to eradicate.
Hunger of one kind or another--desire, by another name--is the source of almost every sorrow.
LOLOL well hey, this is a good start, at least 🖕🏻😝🖕🏻
I have no idea what this is about other than the vague synopsis on the back, so hopefully it won't totally suck. #nowreading
pickI'd only read about a fifth of this before today (busy month) but raced through the rest of it now I'm on holiday and it's great - anger, love, jealousy - really raw, bitter emotions. Loved it.
And also am sooooo excited about a lie-in tomorrow :-)
Ouch! Bit close to home, ha!
What a first page!
#newbook
#currentlyreading
#Rocktober Nora leads a quiet life at 42 years old, a schoolteacher & part time artist. And then into her life comes a family: Reza Shahid, a beautiful young boy of exotic background joins her class. As Nora becomes infatuated with the boy & his family she finds she's #InTooDeep
pan🤷🏽♀️
I just didn‘t not get it. Started with a bang, but slowed to a snail‘s crawl early. I enjoyed The Emperor‘s Children and The Burning Girl, but this one didn‘t do it for me.
Ended my book-venture with a latte and some of the backlist of 2 renowned authors I have yet to read (shocking I know but Underground Railroad is still waiting on my TBR).
#BookHaul
After this I SERIOUSLY NEED TO GET IN ON THE BOOK BAN BINGO GAME (that's what I'll labor through on Labor Day tomorrow 🤞🏻)
#LitsyPartyOfOne
Evening reading. 📚
"The apartment was entirely, was only, for her: a wall of books, both read and unread, all of them dear to her not only in themselves, their tender spines, but in the moments or periods they evoked… Her self, then, was represented in her books; her times in her records; and the rest of the room she thought of as a pure, blank slate."
#Obsession #MayBookFlowers
bailedTime to admit that I'm probably not coming back to this one...
#ReadJanuary Most of the books I own, I haven't read, so I'm not sure if the covers make sense😒but these two deserve better covers! Is that meant to be a bird cage on An Untamed State?!? Because that would actually make some sense...
panSomeone please explain the point of this book to me, because I clearly didn't get it.
panOof, this was a tiring read. The protagonist was a passenger in her own life looking for outside validation the whole time and became consumed by either real or imagined feelings. The plot was quite thin, but in my opinion didn't have the powerful prose needed when this is the route an author goes down. I now understand why it had such mixed reviews.
This one is getting mixed reviews, hopefully it lives up to some of my expectations! Happy Saturday😍
I enjoyed "The Emperor's Children," so now it's time for the next book in my to-read stack.
so-soThis novel was said to be a "psychological & intellectual thriller".. I didn't find it to be either. Solid writing. I found the plot to be a little thin. Story of a frustrated middle aged school teacher who cannot stand up for herself. I got frustrated with the main character and didn't think much of the others..
so-soThis is not my kind of book. The plot was buried in subtext, and I'm sure the book could have been a chapter long had the author written in third person. I wanted to climb out of the protagonist's head to just find out where the story was going. I found myself skimming just to expedite the pace. The narrator did not endear me to her, and I found myself profoundly saddened by her negativity and disappointment in life. #24in48
"But do you know this idea of the imaginary homeland? Once you set out from shore on your little boat, once you embark, you‘ll never truly be at home again. What you‘ve left behind exists only in your memory, and your ideal place becomes some strange imaginary concoction of all you‘ve left behind at every stop.” #24in48
"...maybe it was about an unconsummated love affair after all, maybe about a flirtatious exchange with a stranger in a train station, or an unanswered letter from a college sweetheart, one of those secret moments when you think that now your life will have to change, only it doesn't."
I don't even remember why I wanted to read this, but it's been on the list forever.
Ever had a paragraph take you straight out of a book? There's a scene where 1 teacher is helping 10 kids making paper mache masks over a bent coat hanger frame. Most 8yo's cannot bend a coat hanger into any kind of mask shape without a lot of help. No way a teacher thinks this is a 45 min deal.
Cassandra Campbell people! So glad I picked up the audio even though I have it in print.
The rest of my birthday book haul. A few from a friend and a few I found when discovering a new used bookstore!!
pickWhoa. As I began this book, I felt myself nodding along, feeling just the way Nora does. For almost the entire book, I felt close to the same types of emotions-- life, potential, all wasted; the need to make something of yourself. Becoming attached to those whom you envy. Brilliant writing!
"Inside, we registered the blow as silence falling, as if outside the world in chorus took a breath, as if a curtain fell upon the scene."
