How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
The name alone, when she'd first learned it, had been enough to seduce her. Dimitri Desjardins. (10.48)
Uh oh. Unlike Gogol, the name "Dimitri Desjardins" is totally sexy. It's got a French, Russian, sophisticated thing going on, like a name from a romance novel. Gogol is a Russian name too, but it's not as romantic sounding as Dimitri.
Quote #11
It reminds her of living in Paris – for a few hours at Dimitri's she is inaccessible, anonymous. (10.65)
You could say Moushumi is in the same place Gogol was in when he was dating Maxine. She sees her affair with Dimitri as an escape from who she is. Frankly, we wish she had just opted for marriage counseling.
Quote #12
They had both acted on the same impulse, that was their mistake. They had both sought comfort in each other, and in their shared world, perhaps for the sake of novelty, or out of the fear that the world is slowly dying. (12.15)
Although Moushumi is the one who had an affair, Gogol knows that their marriage wasn't based on real love, but impulse. He accepts some responsibility for what happened. Do you think this is fair?