Standing Heavy

Standing Heavy is a novel by Ivorian author GauZ'. Originally published in 2014 in French (as Debout-Payé), it was translated into English by Frank Wynne and published in 2022.

It was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2023.

Plot
The novel follows a series of undocumented Ivorian immigrants in Paris who find work as security guards. Their constant observations provides a cutting commentary on colonial legacies, Western capitalism and Franco-African history.

The title refers to "all the various professions that require the employee to remain standing in order to earn a pittance.”

Critical Response
Standing Heavy was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2023.

Writing in the Guardian, John Self said "This inventive and very funny debut novel offers a whistle-stop, whizz-bang tour of Franco-African history."

Berny Sèbe, in the Conversation, said Standing Heavy offers a "refreshing and often caustic take on the cultural and economic consequences of an encounter between western consumerism and capitalism and the acute African sense of observation and derision."