Having some trauma was called being alive.~ from The Party Upstairs by Lee Conell
In one day, the lives of the residents of a New York City apartment building are forever changed.
Caroline lived in the penthouse and had fancy dolls and a beautiful view and a distant, unreliable, father.
The superintendent's daughter Ruby grew up in the basement apartment down the hall from the garbage and laundry and boiler rooms.
Caroline and Ruby played dolls and make-believe as kids. They both studied art in college and graduated during the recession in 2008.
Caroline is supported by her parents as she creates marble sporks.
Ruby must support herself and takes the only job available, working in a coffee shop, her childhood dream of creating dioramas on hold.
When Ruby's boyfriend decides she isn't ambitious enough, they part ways and Ruby has nowhere to go but home, knowing her dad Martin will fume over the waste of an expensive education.
I graduated in 1978 with an English major. Jobs were scarce and I had to work at a department store before 'stepping up' to customer service in insurance and then moving into sales. Our son graduated in 2008 with a creative writing major. It was two years before he got a job, $9/hr work from home in customer service. Ten years later, he is doing well as a data analyst. We do what we have to do. Ruby's predicament resonated with me!
What would Martin's dream job be? He never had one. He had jobs for getting by.~ from The Party Upstairs by Lee Conell
Martin is hard working, stressed, and frankly, bitter. He uses meditation to tamp down the stress. But he is on-call 24-7, asked to do all the dirty jobs. Pull out hair clogs in the bathroom drain, killing the pigeons that nest on the window ledges, kicking the homeless out of the hallway. He hates what he does, but he does it to keep his home. It reminded my of my father-in-law; his dad died of TB when he was a boy and he could not afford college. He worked for the CCC to support his mom. He ended up in a job at Buick in Flint in scheduling. He hated his job. But he supported three boys through college.
Hard times--depression, recession, natural disaster, pandemic--hit most of us in ways that the wealthy don't experience.
People believe they are friendly and supportive with their gifts of Starbucks and MetroCard gift cards, but who needs coffee house gift cards when you are living in a windowless basement apartment with a discarded 1980s couch with cows on it and your bed is a repurposed elevator box?
It reminded me of all the Christmas cookies we received over the years from parishioners. We needed cold, hard cash, not calories. We wanted parsonage upgrades so I could fit a turkey in the wall oven or a replacement for the kitchen floor that permanently stained when our son dropped a strawberry.
There is nothing worse than living in provided housing, dependent on your job performance and keeping people happy, knowing at any time you could be asked to leave. Knowing how it would disrupt your family's life if you fail.
The tenants pretend to be friends with the super and his family. Noblesse oblige is alive and well. The people upstairs realize their power.
And it is making Martin crazy.
Tensions mount between Martin and Ruby, each desperately seeking the other's approval. They both go a little crazy. Bad things happen.
In the end, Ruby and Martin discover that the worst that can happen can lead to a better life.
The Party Upstairs pries open the doors to reveal the class divide, how the poor hobble themselves to unfulfilled lives out of fear. It is the story of breaking free and allowing oneself to make life choices that may not align with predominate values.
I was given a free ebook by the publisher through Edelweiss. My review is fair and unbiased.
The Party Upstairs
by Lee Conell
Penguin Press
Publication Date: July 7, 2020
ISBN: 9781984880277, 1984880276
Hardcover $26.00 USD, $35.00 CAD
