Standing Heavy

Initially a little intrigued, all babies eventually return the security guard's smile._x000D_
The security guard adores babies. Perhaps because babies do not shoplift._x000D_
Babies adore the security guard. Perhaps because he does not drag babies to the sales._x000D_
The 1960s - Ferdinand arrives in Paris from Côte d'Ivoire, ready to take on the world and become a big somebody._x000D_
The 1990s - It is the Golden Age of immigration, and Ossiri and Kassoum navigate a Paris on the brink of momentous change._x000D_
The 2010s - In a Sephora on the Champs-?lysées, the all-seeing eyes of a security guard observes the habits of those who come to worship at this church to consumerism._x000D_
Amidst the political bickering of the inhabitants of the Residence for Students from Côte d'Ivoire and the ever-changing landscape of French immigration policy, Ferdinand, Ossiri and Kassoum, two generations of Ivoirians, attempt to make their way as undocumented workers, taking shifts as security at a flour mill._x000D_
Sharply satirical, political and poignant, Standing Heavy is a searingly witty deconstruction of colonial legacies and capitalist consumption, an unprecedented and unforgettable account of everything that passes under a security guard's gaze._x000D_
Translated from the French by Frank Wynne