Adèle

October 29, 2018
Slimani’s fascinating follow-up to The Perfect Nanny chronicles the extramarital trysts of 35-year-old Adèle Robinson. Adèle’s oblivious husband, Richard, often works long hours as a surgeon, though he’s growing tired of his job at the hospital in Paris. He often floats the idea of moving with Adèle and their three-year-old son, Lucien, to the deserted countryside. This idea enrages Adèle, who spends her waking hours sating her sexual needs (her sexual life composes most of the story). Her job as a journalist proves handy, since she can come and go as she pleases. She often asks her best friend, Lauren, to cover for her when she goes out at night. Adèle has seduced everyone from her boss, Cyril, to Lauren’s lover to Richard’s unattractive colleague, Xavier. She keeps a second cell phone that’s crammed with the numbers of men she’s willing to bed again. In the meantime, she does the bare minimum at work and will hand off her son at a moment’s notice. The story takes a turn when it focuses on Richard and how he deals with his wife once he finds out about her sex life. Though some readers might feel the novel waits too long to explore why its protagonist feels compelled to behave the way she does, this is nevertheless a skillful character study. Slimani’s ending is the perfect conclusion to this memorable snapshot of sex addiction.

November 1, 2018
A sex-obsessed woman spirals out of control in this artful, edgy novel. On paper, 35-year-old Adèle Robinson has it all: a successful husband, a healthy child, a beautiful Parisian apartment, and a promising career as a newspaper journalist. In reality, though, her nine-year marriage to gastroenterologist Richard is less passionate than perfunctory, her young son, Lucien, is a burden, and she fakes her way through work by fabricating quotes and plagiarizing other reporters. Adèle's sole ambition in life is to be wanted, and the only thing that fulfills her desire is illicit sex. Adèle has slept with countless men, from strangers to co-workers to her best friend's boyfriend. She knows that she should quit, but every time she tries to remain faithful to Richard, she fails, and each new relapse is more debauched than the last. Can Adèle master her urges, or will she lose everything in her quest to "fill" herself? Slimani's staccato, present-tense prose fosters agitation and unease, while the narrative's third-person perspective lends the tale a voyeuristic air. Although some of the secondary characters lack depth, Adèle has it in spades; singularly unlikable but eminently relatable, her actions are considered taboo, but the ennui and anxiety from which they stem are universal. The book's denouement may frustrate readers--but then, that rather seems the point.Franco-Moroccan author Slimani (The Perfect Nanny, 2018) delivers an unflinching exploration of female self-sacrifice and the elusive nature of satisfaction.

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November 15, 2018
U.S. readers embraced Slimani's Prix Goncourt-winning second novel, The Perfect Nanny (2017); this is the first English translation of her debut. Parisian journalist Ad�le is at the mercy of her sex addiction. Although a need for anonymous, generally unpleasant encounters often distracts and physically weakens her, she easily hides her second life from her boring doctor husband, Richard, and their toddler son. Readers will catch glimpses of Slimani's chillingly incisive characterizations, which bolstered The Perfect Nanny's tense psychodrama. As much as this story's narrator reveals, though, Ad�le somehow stays just out of reach. Richard wants Ad�le to quit her job, have their second child, and trade their Paris apartment for a sprawling provincial manse; Ad�le finds this arrangement akin to death. When an accident makes Richard completely dependent on her, she ratchets up her recklessness. French Moroccan Slimani, who also serves as President Macron's representative for the promotion of French language and culture, offers a night-dark, literary portrayal of a woman caught in an abyss between her ultimate freedom and utter self-annihilation.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)