Reviews - The Days of Abandonment

The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante

2.87k reviews for:

I just finished the audio edition and my head is whirling. There's a part of me that wants to call this brilliant and another that wants to scream in frustration. I am not Olga; or at least I don't think I could be. I don't know what it would be like to deal with children while their father decides to leave for a younger woman, putting his needs before his family, annoyed when the mother of his children demands equality and support. I don't know what state I would be in if my Husband choose to leave and never look back. I would like to think that I wouldn't enter the depressive state that Olga finds herself but I don't know and that's the scary thing about this book.

This could be considered a horror story for women. What do we become when we are abandoned by our loves and the world that follows afterwards? I would like to think that I could push past expectations and go beyond the archetype of what we perceive woman should react, but would I? Would I really?

I appreciate Ferrante's honesty about life and children. This was a rough audio but worth it in the end.

emmahamley's review against another edition

4.0

Despite being a different protagonist and set in Turin instead of Naples, this reads like an alternate storyline for Lenu in the Neaoplitan Series. The book chronicles the mental anguish and emotional/psychological undoing of a woman whose husband suddenly leaves her. An incredibly personal and intimate read which was often quite challenging.