Adèle is a Parisian journalist who is married to a doctor, Richard, and has a young son, Lucien. Outwardly her life is comfortable, but she is secretly a sex addict who seeks out brief encounters with strangers and feels shame and emptiness afterwards. She lies to her husband, neglects her work, and is cut off from the people around her, while living in constant fear of being found out. Leïla Slimani writes in short, cold sentences, following Adèle's compulsion and the damage it does to her family.
Readers interested in contemporary French fiction and unflinching portraits of women's desire will find a disturbing, controlled novel. It suits those who liked Slimani's later book Lullaby and wish to read her earlier work.
Inward-looking and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Empathetic Explorer. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2014
- Publisher
- Gallimard
- ISBN
- 9782070146239
- Language
- FR
