Shortlisted for the 2023 International Booker Prize A funny, fast-paced, and poignant take on Franco-African history, as told through the eyes of three African security guards in Paris.
Fast-paced and funny, poignant and sharply satirical, Standing Heavy is a searingly witty deconstruction of colonial legacies and capitalist consumption and an unforgettable, unprecedented account of everything that passes under the security guards\' all-seeing eyes..
From Les Grands Moulins and the sales at Camaïeu to a Sephora on the Champs-Élysées, Ferdinand, Ossiri, and Kassoum, two generations of Ivoirians, seek their way as undocumented workers amidst political bickering at the Residence for Students from Côte d\'Ivoire and the ever-changing landscape of French immigration policy.
All over the city, they are watching: Black men paid to stand guard, invisible amongst the rich white flâneurs--and yet the only ones who truly see.
Shortlisted for the 2023 International Booker Prize A funny, fast-paced, and poignant take on Franco-African history, as told through the eyes of three African security guards in Paris
