I was informed that Maman was manic-depressive. The words all ran together—your-mother-is-manic-depressive—a sentence pronounced by one adult or another, one of those useless grown-up sentences that only added to my distress.
-- Violaine (narration) (Part I)

Importance: This line of narration refers to Violaine's struggles to understand her mother's mental health issues when Violaine was a child. The overall project of the novel appears to be the deeper exploration of Catherine's life and struggles, beyond the surface-level explanation of a simple diagnosis that offers little actual information.

Even though she had remarried after their separation, Maman had never stopped loving out father—adoring him, adulating him, idolizing him—to the point where this passion dominated her daily life.
-- Violaine (narration) (Part I)

Importance: This line of narration refers to the fact that Catherine apparently still had some strong romantic attachments to Antoine even after divorcing him. The novel later gives more in-depth accounts of Catherine's complicated love life. Like...