Nicole Abadie

And she made a point that I thought was really interesting.

She said in literature, women who want more are always punished.

And she talks about Anna Karenina.

She talks about Emma Bovary.

Mm-hmm.

One thing she said was that she was asked why Adele was like this.

And I think that was something that really troubled me.

That was something that I really wanted to get to the bottom of.

And I thought it might be revealed towards the end, which to have insights into her childhood.

But I don't think that we ever do get to the bottom of that.

And in fact, Leila Soleimani, when she was asked,

said that she wasn't interested in exploring why Adele is like that.

I think that's a problem in the book because she just has such an urge and she is just so reckless in the way she goes about satisfying her sexual urges that you really, as the reader, are very curious to know what it is in her background or her makeup has made her like that.

And I think that you don't really get an answer to that.

Unsatisfying for the reader.

I agree.

Kate, I've been thinking a lot about the novel as well since I read it for the first time a few weeks ago.

A point that you made earlier, which I think is really important, is that

she is in some ways a creature of paradoxes.

And you always get a hint of that on the first page.