… he cast his spell on us by reading aloud, and the way that he read thrummed with sex. He was an almost indecently riveting reader: husky, restrained, oddly sullen. He read like an actor displeased with his part, Brando muffing his lines in the unlikely hope he’d be fired.
-- Narration (Regina) (1992 - Section 1, Part 1)

Importance: This quote describes one of the key ways in which Regina finds Brodeur attractive, the reference to implied sexuality applying to many other aspects of his apparent identity. "Brando" is a reference to actor Marlon Brando, who was known for often mumbling his dialogue, onstage or in films, in a way that passed for realism but which was, at times, a carefully disguised disrespect and self-indulgence.

[Martha] had an inverse effect to her husband, whose romantically sinister aura dissolved with each step nearer to him one took … Martha, by contrast, grew stranger to me with each viewing.”
-- Narration (Regina) (1992 - Section 1, Part 2)

Importance: This quote sums...