Scaffolding by Lauren Elkin

A Book Review...

The U.S. Publication Day for Scaffolding was yesterday.

I don’t even remember how I found out about this book, but I pre-ordered the UK edition (June 13 release date) from Blackwell’s. When I say Scaffolding is a me book, it is a ME book.

The story of two couples who live in the same apartment in north-east Paris almost fifty years apart.

IN PART ONE…

We first meet new building neighbors, Anna and Clémentine. Anna, a psychoanalyst living apart from her husband David who took a job in London, is processing a recent miscarriage and has started a kitchen remodel project to fill the void. Clémentine, a young woman part of a radical feminist collective, recently moved into the building with her boyfriend Jonathan. Anna and Clémentine begin to build a friendship. Through this friendship, we learn about their challenges and desires with being women, women in committed relationships, and women who have professional aspirations and conflicts.

So that’s my life - working on myself, working on my patients, my apartment. Until we lost the baby and everything stopped except the therapy, which intensified. I went to see Ester, my old psychoanalyst, for what they call a control - a kind of checking-in that is also a cleansing, a means of verifying that the therapist has not completely lost her shit and can go on seeing patients. But it was clear to Ester that everything was far from being under control. She extended my medical leave, I stopped being a therapist, and once again became a patient. I’ve been going four times a week, dutiful.

Desire runs so strong through this entire novel. The desire to be a woman of value, the desire to be treated equally, the desire to be free from and fight the patriarchy, the desire to love who you want when you want, the desire to be a mother, the desire to hold on to past loves and memories, the desire to be desired, and the desire to be your true self.

IN PART TWO

We are introduced to Florence and Henry, a married couple living in the same building as Anna and Clémentine, but 50 years before. Florence is in college working on her psychology degree and desperately wants to have a baby. Henry is reluctant about becoming a father. Ironically, they are redoing their kitchen. Florence and Henry never feel aligned as a unit. There is doubt, insecurity, confusion, and fidelity issues.

Don’t worry, I remember saying to Henry at the bris, we don’t have to circumcise our son, if we have one. Who said we’re having a baby at all? he said. The ring was fresh on my finger, but that was the moment it began to feel like it didn’t quite fit.

I love how some of Part Two is structured. We’d open to a scene with Florence and Henry and get their POVs on the same situation. It was so eye-opening how we have all of these internal thoughts, feelings, and worries about our partners, and the status of our relationships but don’t share it, and instead, keep it to ourselves and continue to let those thoughts fester and eat us alive.

IN PART THREE

We are back with Anna, David, Clémentine, and Jonathan. Elkin shows us how hard it can be to let go of past loves - causing us to question if we ever really get over someone we once loved deeply. Are they ever truly gone from our thoughts and hearts? Is it possible to truly move on and leave those memories behind or do we always carry them with us?

Things have gotten quite complicated with our characters and we are watching them make so many risky decisions and yet, I found it hard to be upset with anyone. The internal struggles of the heart they were facing just made me feel so much empathy for them. They were navigating some rocky waters and what I wanted in the end was for all of these characters to find a place of peace and contentment.

Marriage, feminism, fidelity, and pregnancy are beautifully written about in this novel. Scaffolding will for sure be on my list of 2024 favorites.

Have you read it or do you plan to?