Standing Heavy

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.

All over the city, they are watching: Black men paid to stand guard, invisible amongst the rich white fl?neurs--and yet the only ones who truly see. From Les Grands Moulins and the sales at Cama?eu to a Sephora on the Champs-?lys?es, Ferdinand, Ossiri, and Kassoum, two generations of Ivoirians, seek their way as undocumented workers amidst political bickering at the Residence for Students from C?te d'Ivoire and the ever-changing landscape of French immigration policy. 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.