Hi! I saw that you read Alice Network and I was hoping you wouldn't mind if I asked you a question about it, cause I don't know many others who've read it. I was wondering what you thought of René's depiction. Quinn writes him so slimy and despicable, but then she really emphasizes his suaveness and idk sexiness - the way Eve remembers her nights with him, it's much more than Quinn gives to the actual VIABLE romantic interests in the book. Why is that? Or does this just say a lot about me haha

To get this first out of the way, I did some research on Kate Quinn before I read and a little after, to see if I could find her process while writing TAN, or anything like it, and I didn't find much, other than plenty of history fiction books. So, she's an author that does A LOT of research and she thinks her stories through - so mind you, I could be very wrong - but the vibes I get from Rene is that of a character who wasn't entirely planned the way he came out, from the start.

When we meet him, he's put right off the bat as the enemy, the antagonist, someone who sees past Eve's doe eyes and stutter, he doesn't underestimate her based on these things. Not that we can forget he's a devious, wicked man, but the narrator, going through Eve's perspective, shows us Rene as someone to loathe and fear, Eve is constantly terrified that he might see through her façade. However, Rene is also reasonable, logical, understanding even, he portions scraps of good food between his employees (mind, this is horrible yes, but considering he DIDN'T HAVE TO do that, it's quite something that he does so), he is even I daresay thoughtful in some ways He's very complex, as one expect from normal human characters, but we are introduced to him as someone terrible, slimy, loathsome. This is because it's how Eve shows us her first impressions of him, again he is The Enemy, so the text focus on showing us a stern man, sitting in a room full of luxury, purely ostentatious, after we see (through Eve) a city starving, sieged by the Germans who kill, steal and violate them at will. We're supposed to see the contrast of starvation and gluttony, luxury and poverty, and we're supposed to understand that man is someone who enables that.

As the story moves on, Eve began to add new layers to Rene: at first we have a scene where he is shown to appreciate art and poetry, he shows off by quoting Baudelaire (then he never stops LMAO); then we have him confronting her lie because he can tell different French accents apart, which is both a nod to him being a snob and petty, as well as a very well-travelled and educated man. This adds to him elegance, makes him appealing to the target audience as well as Eve, because the closer the story gets to the point where they engage in a sexual relationship, the more Eve perceives him as someone who would be desirable to the right people. She doesn't feel attracted to him because she sees him as a traitor, she's a spy in enemy territory, she's under stress a lot and he is living the easiest life on Earth by throwing everyone else under the bus. All of this conflicts with her personality, she's headstrong and righteous, so he's unappealing, but cut her disfavored perspective and you can see he's appealing from the start, she just doesn't let us see it because of course she hates him. But even Eve slowly began to notice these details, for example, when Violette suggests he might be interested in her, Eve says she's "not sophisticated enough" which shows us she considered that possibility, even if it was just for a moment. And after Violette suggests that, Eve began to avoid Rene at all costs, and when she talks to her she tries her best to keep the conversation as respectable as she can because she notices now his flirting/courting and it makes her uncomfortable, because suddenly he's very shave and cult (she even starts to remark on his scent). She of course, always end up in an obscene Baudelaire quote because that's Rene's game, so she's always trying to avoid that at all costs.

As he makes a move, Eve begins to notice him as someone appealing, and she's a wee prude so she's embarrassed, mortified with his presence. It's not that I don't think Quinn couldn't have planned this transition from the start, if she did, good for her, great storytelling, but this feels more like she realised the potential a sexual relationship between Eve and Rene, but she realised how he wasn't initially an attractive or suitable "partner", so she slowly begins to make him more palatable. As a first time reader, I didn't think him appealing at all, because like Eve, all I saw was the layer of luxury and lack of morals, that hindered the rest. He's a cultured man, educated, an art lover, there's a lot of appeal in him, that we take a long time to see because Eve resents him at first (righteously of course). Suave is the tip of the iceberg concerning Rene.

And it's easier to sexualise a relationship between a woman and a man if the man is appealing and handsome. Most female authors do that, because women already experience complicated sexual lives; we like the idea that a female character engages in a relationship with someone attractive, appealing. Eve having sex with an ugly, slimy, hideous man who is selfish and who collaborates with the enemy, just so she can have information to report? Distasteful, and this is why Rene checks all the boxes for an appropriate suitor. He's even described as "not un-handsome" which is English for "he's handsome but let us pretend he isn't too handsome cause otherwise I'm pushing my luck", and there's a whole section of the story that deals with Eve feeling horrible for taking pleasure in her time with Rene. Not only because she's a lil biased due to her upbringing, but also because he is a horrible man supporting the Germans while people die and starve. She doesn't understand how can she have any pleasure with someone like that, because she's very tormented by conservatives views as well as the conflict caused by the knowledge Rene is her Enemy.

So all of this contributes to Rene being, not likable, but perceived as attractive and sexy. Their relationship makes it hard not to perceive him like that; it's consented, and he's very thoughtful towards Eve and while she hates his guts, she enjoys the situation even though she feels guilty about it. We're just so used to associating villainy and evil with ugliness and disgust, that when we're presented evil characters we have to be explicitly told they're attractive cause otherwise we just imagine them as ugly and disgusting as possible. Such examples are Mrs. Coulter, who is beautiful and we know that from the start, while she does horrible things; or even Cersei Lannister; (there is also Count Olaf in ASOUE, who we are constantly reminded that he is unattractive, dirty, with poor hygiene habits and in contrast to him, we have Esme Squalor, who is described as attractive and fashionable, while she's just as cruel as Olaf).

Rene goes very easily from slimy to smooth as the story progresses. To us, compared to Eve, it's easier to feel lust for him (even if we question the morality of it) because we are not living that situation closely. We don't experience the same things as Eve does, we're merely observers, while Eve has to deal with starvation, poverty, fear and lack of freedom, and those are things she sees when she looks at Rene, which is why she feels such a shame. But personally I think there's nothing wrong in thinking he is a sexy character; I've seen much worse situations, and as long as you don't brush off the bad things he does to make him more likable, I suppose there's nothing wrong to feel attracted to him. (as I am, guilty as charged, Anon lmao)

I usually tend to stay away from sexualised female protagonists, but in this case I enjoy the whole dynamic because it's a powerful and very rare dynamic. They don't fall in love, or at least Eve doesn't, he fulfill his role as a "villain" by torturing her, but their dynamic is good because it puts under perspective lots of things. Especially considering it's a history fiction, so at that time women had very different views on sex, especially pre-marital sex, and we see Eve struggle with the idea of "how can I have pleasure with someone I don't love?", And it's interesting because, at least from my experience, sex and love are two very different points of relationship. And Eve spends a lot more time with Rene, especially because I think with her viable romantic options, there are no conflicts and that's fuel to the story. Her time with Rene doesn't change her experience someone else, but it changes a lot of her concepts and connects them through something frivolous, which is refreshing. Most situations like this end up with the woman falling in love, so this twist on the trope is very yummy.