Claire Messud’s “The Woman Upstairs” introduces the reader to Nora Eldridge.  Nora narrates the story and portrays herself as an angry and disappointed almost-forty-something.  She dreamed of being a successful artist and instead finds herself as a never-married, third grade teacher with little excitement in her life.  She then gains a new student in her classroom, Reza Shadid and his parents Skandar and Sirena.  Nora almost instantly sees Reza as her son and his parents as her family/potential lovers.  She believes she is in love with each of them and becomes hungry for what they have:  Reza, a beautiful boy, Sirena, an Italian artist and Skandar, a Harvard academic.  Nora’s false reality causes her to distance herself from her friends and sick father.  She becomes ferocious with a lust for life.  She rediscovers the artist within her.  Unfortunately, her dream reality is shattered when the ultimate betrayal happens.

Messud’s book is hypnotic.  She writes with emotion and a storyline full of metaphors.  I could feel the passion and anger of Messud’s characters.  Messud’s skillful writing, coupled with a compelling story that hinted of disaster at the end, kept this me reading late into the night.   I tried reading Messud’s “The Emperor’s Children” a few years ago and could not get through it but I am motivated to give it another shot, since I loved this recent book so much.