Reviews

Better than the first one, but I still think the series is overrated. Ironically, at the end of the story, the protagonist writes and publishes her first book to critical acclaim. Smh.

alessandral's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

mrs_bonaventure's review against another edition

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4.0

Ok, I’m hooked. The second book is still very detailed, probably overly long in its protagonist’s introspective recount of every single thought, feeling and action in a few brief years. However, I keep trying to step back in two ways, firstly to how self absorbed I was at that early age (late teens and early twenties), and also how at a distance you are able to see how in the context of extremely chauvinistic 1960s Southern Italy, the two girls’ obsession with relationships is the only way they know how to get on in life, and although the narrator is pushed down a more academic route, she lacks the awareness of the world to understand or act on that advantage.

It is therefore satisfying to see the narrator begin to achieve some self awareness and raised consciousness towards the end of the book as she becomes aware of her class ignorance and limitations and relates them to wealth and politics; begins to find her own voice and publishes a novel; and lives alone in another city.

The momentum and mystery is sustained, however, in her relationship with Lila, who in the course of the book (five years at most), lives through an abusive marriage, an affair, a baby, an estrangement, a retail career and then a factory job, whilst trying to live intellectually vicariously through her various men, concluding at the end of the novel with a glimpse of the potential of the new computer age. My curiosity is piqued for Part 3.