美国国家公共电台 NPR When 2 Children Are Murdered, 'The Perfect Nanny' Is Anything But

When 2 Children Are Murdered, 'The Perfect Nanny' Is Anything But

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Leila Slimani's new book "The Perfect Nanny" begins with four haunting words - the baby is dead. The book tells the story of an unspeakable crime and lays bare a fear that is buried in the mind of any mother who has ever left her child in the arms of another. "The Perfect Nanny" is the story of an upscale Parisian family and a nanny who starts to unravel¹.

LEILA SLIMANI: I had the feeling that she was like a plate that you put every day on the table, and she breaks every day a little bit. And one day, you put it on the table, and she breaks into pieces.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: WEEKEND EDITION's books editor, Barrie Hardymon, spoke² with Slimani earlier this week.

BARRIE HARDYMON, BYLINE³: Where did you get the idea for this frame of the murders?

SLIMANI: When I wrote the first version of the book, just about a family and a nanny and their life, it was very boring. And I was like, how am I going to do to build a book that is not boring but a book that is also about our life? The way of a nanny take cares of the children and makes food and feed them and everything.

I read an article in a French magazine about a murder in a family in New York, and I was very shocked, of course, by this tragedy. And I began to make research about all the murders of children by nannies in France and United States. And I kind of do a mix between all those stories, and I had the idea of this particular murder.

HARDYMON: I must say that that murder was so unspeakable. I remember my nanny bringing it up with me, and it was - we stared at each other and could barely talk about it. It's a brave choice (laughter) to have wandered into that, I have to say.

SLIMANI: I think it's a sort of a primitive⁴ fear. I remember the first time I saw my child. Of course, I felt love, but I think that the first feeling that I felt was fear. And I looked at him, and I was like, I'm not alone anymore. My - someone needs me. And if something happens to him, I don't know what is going to happen to me. I don't know if I'm going to survive. So I wanted to speak about this fear.

HARDYMON: It's really unusual to see the intimacy⁵ of the relationship between a mother and their caregiver, their nanny, their babysitter explored so intensely.

SLIMANI: You know, I think that's a very, very complex relationship because this is a relationship of power but not as simple as you can think because the mother is the boss of the nanny, but the nanny has a sort of power, too, because she takes care of the children. They live in the same home, but the home is not the home of the nanny. She's sort of a member of the family. Everyone says, oh, she's one of the family, but actually, she's not. You want your children to love the nanny.

HARDYMON: Yes.

SLIMANI: But at the same times, you want to stay the mother, and you want to be the most loved. Sort of - there is a sort of jealousy⁶ between the mother and the nanny.

HARDYMON: There's a moment at - toward the end of this book where you describe how Louise is feeling about the children. And she says the children's cries irritate her. She's ready to scream. Nagging⁷ whines⁸, foghorn⁹ voices. Louise can't sing a song without them begging her to do it again. They want the eternal repetition of everything. And I - you identify with this person that you know is going to murder these children.

SLIMANI: And, you know, I wanted - I really wanted to write about the work of all those women coming from Philippine (ph), from Africa, from Maghreb, from Russia to take care of the children of the Occidental woman. And I was saying to myself, without those women, other women couldn't work. They make it possible for us to entertain, to have a working life. But at the same times, we don't value them. We don't see them. It's like, you know, Russian dolls. There's a woman inside a woman...

HARDYMON: Yes.

SLIMANI: ...Inside a woman. If you want a woman to work, at...

HARDYMON: Yes.

SLIMANI: ...The end, there is always another woman inside the woman, taking care of the house and of the children. We do as if it was easy, as if we could do everything. But actually, we need help. And those women - they give us a lot of help.

HARDYMON: I want to ask you just quickly about the title. The book is - it's - I'm going to say this terribly, so forgive me. It's "Chanson Douce" in French, and it is "The Perfect Nanny" here in the U.S. edition. One is - sort of is lullaby love song, and the other really gets at this idea of perfection in both motherhood and nannyhood (ph) and child rearing. Did you have input¹⁰ into that title? I'm just curious.

SLIMANI: Yes. You know, my editor, John Siciliano - he asked me, of course, what I thought about the title. And I thought it was a very good title, especially for the American public...

HARDYMON: Yes.

SLIMANI: ...I think, because I watch a lot of, of course, of American movies and American TV shows, and I'm always very fascinated by the image of the perfect mother, the soccer mom as you say, no?

HARDYMON: Yes...

SLIMANI: And maybe our generation is the first generation of woman whose mother told us, you can do everything. You can marry or not marry. You can have children or not. You can do whatever you want. But how can we do everything? Our mother - they didn't tell us how exhausting it was and how much anxiety we were going to feel doing so much thing.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: That was our books editor, Barrie Hardymon, speaking with Leila Slimani. Her new book is "The Perfect Nanny."

1 unravel   

v.弄清楚（秘密）；拆开，解开，松开

参考例句：

• He was good with his hands and could unravel a knot or untangle yarn that others wouldn't even attempt.他的手很灵巧，其他人甚至都不敢尝试的一些难解的绳结或缠在一起的纱线，他都能解开。
• This is the attitude that led him to unravel a mystery that long puzzled Chinese historians.正是这种态度使他解决了长期以来使中国历史学家们大惑不解的谜。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 primitive   

adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物

参考例句：

• It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
• His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。

5 intimacy   

n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行

参考例句：

• His claims to an intimacy with the President are somewhat exaggerated.他声称自己与总统关系密切，这有点言过其实。
• I wish there were a rule book for intimacy.我希望能有个关于亲密的规则。

6 jealousy   

n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌

参考例句：

• Some women have a disposition to jealousy.有些女人生性爱妒忌。
• I can't support your jealousy any longer.我再也无法忍受你的嫉妒了。

7 nagging   

adj.唠叨的，挑剔的；使人不得安宁的v.不断地挑剔或批评（某人）( nag的现在分词 )；不断地烦扰或伤害（某人）；无休止地抱怨；不断指责

参考例句：

• Stop nagging—I'll do it as soon as I can. 别唠叨了—我会尽快做的。
• I've got a nagging pain in my lower back. 我后背下方老是疼。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 whines   

n.悲嗥声( whine的名词复数 )；哀鸣者v.哀号( whine的第三人称单数 )；哀诉，诉怨

参考例句：

• The colony whines a centerless loud drone that vibrates the neighborhood. 蜂群嗡嗡喧闹的哀鸣振动邻里。 来自互联网
• The web whines with the sound of countless mosquitoes and flies trapped in its folds. 蜘蛛网内发出无数只被困在蜘蛛丝间的蚊子与苍蝇所发出来的声音。 来自互联网

9 foghorn   

n..雾号（浓雾信号）

参考例句：

• The foghorn boomed out its warning.雾角鸣声示警。
• The ship foghorn boomed out.船上的浓雾号角发出呜呜声。

10 input   

n.输入(物)；投入；vt.把(数据等)输入计算机

参考例句：

• I will forever be grateful for his considerable input.我将永远感激他的大量投入。
• All this information had to be input onto the computer.所有这些信息都必须输入计算机。