I like writers who talk about the act of writing and constantly quote from other authors. Slimani’s book is full of reflections about writing. “I don’t think writers write to gain relief,” she says. I agree. “A writer has an unhealthy attachment to their sufferings, their nightmares. Nothing would be more terrible than being cured of this attachment.” I’m not sure. It’s true that you don’t write when you’re happy, or write about happy characters. Tension and conflict are like beats in music, they are indispensable, they give the story a sort of framework, a structure and a rhythm.