Scaffolding

Critic Elkin (Art Monsters) explores themes of change and desire in this stylish parallel narrative about two women who occupy the same Paris apartment decades apart. Anna, who’s dealing with depression following a miscarriage, stays in present-day Paris after her husband moves to London for a career opportunity. While considering Lacan’s theory of desire and reminiscing about past relationships, she meets Clémentine, a younger woman who has moved into the building with her boyfriend, and the two women become close. Their building is undergoing renovations, and Anna elects to update her kitchen, “a minefield of other people’s choices” that makes her feel like she’s “fighting with the past.” After a surprise encounter pushes Anna to a breaking point, Elkin shifts focus to another couple living in the apartment in the 1970s. The woman, Florence, who inherited the apartment from her grandmother and redesigned it (in the way Anna dislikes), is having an affair, and she, too, weighs Lacan’s theory while considering her choices. The links between Florence and Anna feel a bit forced, but there’s a great deal of depth and intelligence to the descriptions of their feelings around desire. Readers will find much to sink their teeth into. Agent: Sarah Chalfant, Wylie Agency. (Sept.)