November 13, 2023 7:07 PM
‘Standing Heavy’ by GauZ (2014) – 167 pages Translated from the French by Frank Wynne #NOVNOV23
‘Standing Heavy’ is a fun humorous novella about black men from Africa working as security guards in the posh clothing and perfume shops in the Champs-Elysee in Paris, France. This novella was shortlisted for the 2023 International Booker Prize but did not win.
It is the 1990s, and the fashion shops in Paris are looking for somebody they hardly have to pay any money to to stand in their stores and intimidate the customers so they don’t shoplift.
“Training is absolutely minimal. No experience is required. Employers are all too willing to overlook official status.”
The morphological profile for the job of security guard makes black men very much appropriate for the job:
“Black men are heavy set. Black men are tall; black men are strong; black men are deferential; black men are scary.”
The author GauZ can make fun of black Africans because he is a black African himself.
So the job mostly requires the security guard to “stand heavy” to intimidate the customers to not shoplift, although occasionally he must confront a customer he suspects of stealing merchandise or when the customer’s shopping bag sets off the metal detector when he or she leaves the store.
Most of ‘Standing Heavy consists of short witty vignettes describing various facets of these black security guards’ jobs. Since these Paris fashion shops attract customers from all over the world, some of the vignettes show how customers from various countries behave. For example, one explains the difference between Chinese shoppers and Japanese shoppers. In another, the Camaieu axiom is presented:
“In a clothing store, a customer without a bag is a customer who will not shoplift.”
However after 9/11/2001, everything changed. Kassoum, one of the black security guards, watches as 9/11 takes place on TV :
“White people, as Kassoum knew, always did things by the book. Not like this. Not without debates in Congress, round tables at the UN, press conferences, solemn declarations and a bunch of hoopla to prove they were civilized people before they went out and slaughtered each other like savages.”
Soon all the black security guards in these Paris fashion shops were let go, replaced by white security guards. However, after a few years, there was such a huge demand for low-waged baggage checker security guards due to 9/11, many of these black men were hired for that purpose.
‘Standing Heavy’ was a very pleasant interlude for my reading.
Grade: A
#NOVNOV23
Posted by Anokatony
Categories: Book Reviews
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On my shelves to read. Glad it was fun.
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By Annabel (AnnaBookBel) on November 13, 2023 at 7:22 PM
Hi Annabel,
‘Standing Heavy’ is a quick read, and I’m pretty sure you will enjoy it. Quite original too.
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By Anokatony on November 13, 2023 at 7:27 PM
I was hoping to get to this during November, but it’s looking unlikely. I love Frank Wynne’s translations so glad you enjoyed this.
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By Cathy746books on November 14, 2023 at 4:30 PM
Hi Cathy,
Frank Wynne, I’ll keep his name in mind. I hadn’t noticed his name before as one of the really good French translators, but ‘Standing Heavy’ is very well done.
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By Anokatony on November 14, 2023 at 4:36 PM
He’s fantastic – always translates really interesting work and I think he is doing the new work from GauZ
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By Cathy746books on November 14, 2023 at 7:40 PM