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Claire Messud

Born

in Greenwich, The United States

October 08, 1966

Website

http://clairemessud.com/

Genre

Literature & Fiction

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Claire Messud is an American novelist and literature and creative writing professor. She is best known as the author of the 2006 novel The Emperor's Children. She lives with her husband and family in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Born in Greenwich, Connecticut, Messud grew up in the United States, Australia, and Canada, returning to the United States as a teenager. Messud's mother is Canadian, and her father is French from French Algeria. She was educated at Milton Academy, Yale University, and Cambridge University, where she met her spouse, the British literary critic James Wood. Messud also briefly attended the MFA program at Syracuse University.
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Claire Messud’s books

Average rating: 3.21 · 70,411 ratings · 9,212 reviews · 47 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Woman Upstairs 3.31 avg rating — 32,461 ratings — published 2013 — 47 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Emperor's Children 2.97 avg rating — 20,677 ratings — published 2006 — 71 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Burning Girl 3.25 avg rating — 11,833 ratings — published 2017 — 32 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Last Life 3.54 avg rating — 1,828 ratings — published 1999 — 34 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	When the World Was Steady 3.15 avg rating — 964 ratings — published 1994 — 34 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Hunters: Teo Novellas 3.44 avg rating — 602 ratings — published 2001 — 23 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Dream Life (Short Books by Great Women Writers) 3.25 avg rating — 595 ratings — published 2021 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Kant's Little Prussian Head and Other Reasons Why I Write: An Autobiography in Essays 3.76 avg rating — 163 ratings — published 2020 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Professor's History 3.79 avg rating — 28 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	My Town: Writers on American Cities by Claire Messud, David Bottoms, Jonathan Yardley 3.24 avg rating — 21 ratings — published 2011	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Claire Messud…

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Quotes by Claire Messud (?)

“Above all, in my anger, I was sad. Isn't that always the way, that at the heart of the fire is a frozen kernel of sorrow that the fire is trying -- valiantly, fruitlessly -- to eradicate.”
― Claire Messud, The Woman Upstairs

63 likes

“It's the strangest thing about being human: to know so much, to communicate so much, and yet always to fall so drastically short of clarity, to be, in the end, so isolate and inadequate. Even when people try to say things, they say them poorly or obliquely, or they outright lie, sometimes because they're lying to you, but as often because they're lying to themselves.”
― Claire Messud, The Woman Upstairs

51 likes

“I'm a good girl. I'm a nice girl. I'm a straight-A, strait-laced, good daughter, good career girl, and I never stole anybody's boyfriend and I never ran out on a girlfriend, and I put up with my parents' shit and brother's shit and I'm not a girl anyhow, I'm over forty fucking years old, and I'm good at my job and I'm great with kids and I held my mother's hand when she died,after four years of holding her hand while she was dying, and I speak to my father ever day on the telephone -- every day, mind you, and what kind of weather do you have on your side of the river, because here it's pretty gray and a big muggy too? It was supposed to say "Great Artist" on my tombstone, but if I died right now it would say "Such a good teacher/daughter/friend" instead; and what I really want to shout, and want in big letters on that grave, too, is FUCK YOU ALL.”
― Claire Messud, The Woman Upstairs

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See all Claire Messud's quotes »

Polls

What shall we read in May?
Again, please note, by voting you are committing to reading along if your book wins.

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

26 votes, 38.2%

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

12 votes, 17.6%

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

8 votes, 11.8%

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

8 votes, 11.8%

A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines by Janna Levin

7 votes, 10.3%

The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud

4 votes, 5.9%

Sweet Home by Carys Bray

3 votes, 4.4%

68 total votes

4 comments

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