It's the strangest thing about being human: to know so much, to communicate so much and yet always to fall so drastically short of clarity, to be, in the end, so desolate and inadequate. Even when people try to say things, they say them poorly, or obliquely, or they outright lie, sometimes because they're lying to you, but as often because they're lying to themselves.
~ Claire Messud
The Woman Upstairs
I finished this novel over the weekend. It's been a long time since I've dog eared pages and even longer since I've gone back to reread the beginning after finishing a book. This speaks to Messud's masterful storytelling. She is also skilled at character development. Being inside Nora Eldridge's mind is illuminating and uncomfortable and captivating. I found the themes that were explored to be relevant especially in this season of my life. At the end, I felt raw and unnerved, but also grateful for a work that left me thinking and feeling about my life and human nature.
