Nora considers herself a "woman upstairs." Although she has a passion for art, she has settled into a life as a third-grade teacher. She takes care of her parents, a model daughter--a model citizen. But she is unsatisfied. She is restless. And, at the beginning of the book, which begins emotionally at the end, she is angry. The Woman Upstairs follows Nora's life as it is shaken up by the presence of Shahid family--young Reza who is in her class, his artist mother Sirena with whom Nora begins and friendship, and Reza's father Skandar. The book follows how interacting with this family shakes up and irrevocably changes Nora's life. 
 This book has a great ending. It punches. It comes right around to the power of the beginning in a very real way. That being said, sometimes the novel itself got a little slow for me. The style fits the story being told. While the prose could feel meandering to me at times, I also appreciated its rawness. Nora does her best to explain her feelings for this family, but often times they are not describable. They fall outside the categories we have created, challenging how we consider our interactions. Most of the circumstances in the novel don't seem extraordinary but they are extraordinary for Nora. The prose style reminds us that these are largely everyday circumstances. But we are also being told the story from Nora's point-of-view and we are subject to her endless examining of the situation. 
 This book put words to a lot of fears I have, even as a young woman just making her start in the world. What if fear settles me? What if I am forced to watch others achieve my goals? What if I end up a woman upstairs?