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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
This book was so amazing. Anything I say about it can't help but be trite. It was overwhelming and perfect. Read it forever.
the raw emotions captured in this thought process driven narrative portray nothing but the truth. this is my first ferrante book, and i picked it up because of the praises for her writing that i’ve seen a lot of times online. the descent of a woman into the depths of loss and despair is so realistic it hurts.
the lies, the distractions, the violence, the omissions—olga feeling herself slip through her fingers as her husband flaunts his new and younger woman around. i don’t think i can come up with the right words to describe what i felt as i read every bit of olga’s thoughts and the actions she does when she becomes an entirely different person in the midst of abandonment.
it’s so painful to go through someone’s mind as tangled and sorrowful as olga’s. a single act of infidelity, and sends another person into a downward spiral, their grip on reality loosening with every day that passes by. looks like i’ll be needing about 14 business days to recover. thank you.
the lies, the distractions, the violence, the omissions—olga feeling herself slip through her fingers as her husband flaunts his new and younger woman around. i don’t think i can come up with the right words to describe what i felt as i read every bit of olga’s thoughts and the actions she does when she becomes an entirely different person in the midst of abandonment.
it’s so painful to go through someone’s mind as tangled and sorrowful as olga’s. a single act of infidelity, and sends another person into a downward spiral, their grip on reality loosening with every day that passes by. looks like i’ll be needing about 14 business days to recover. thank you.
Boring, didn’t connect with the main character, a sad woman
When I look back, I’m pleasantly surprised to see how many women authors I’ve discovered and then went on to love this year. Elena Ferrante was one such author whose words swallowed me whole. Just a couple of months ago I read her The Lost Daughter and was blown away by the simplicity her characters carry. Yet they convey something deeply moving through their actions. And two days ago after I read The Days of Abandonment, I felt something change within me. What was this feeling? This sense of sisterhood that comes when you read her books? Where you feel like stretching out your arms to help pull them up from a deep abyss. This, I realised, only Ferrante is capable of doing.
We see Olga, a woman in her forties suddenly left with no husband. No, he’s not dead but simply chose to abandon her. Olga feels lost, trying to comprehend what went wrong in their marriage of more than a decade. She forgets for days that she has two children and a dog to look after. She’s bereft of her senses, oscillating between pain and rage as she falls down the rabbit hole. The honesty with which Olga’s character is built is spectacular. We see a grown woman so encompassed in grief that she lets go of everything and everyone around her. But you do see glimpses of her trying to hold it together, to make up for her husband’s absence in the family. It’s like a perfect jigsaw puzzle that doesn’t fit anymore.
The language is crass, like sandpaper but you feel Olga has earned the right to use it. You see a man who walks away with ease, not giving a second thought about his family while the wife writhes in loneliness and despair. There’s absolutely no sugar coating this but this book did leave me quite disturbed. You can’t put it down once you’re in a couple of pages. Ferrante writes brilliantly and I’m going to spend the next year reading all of her books.
I highly highly recommend this one. It obviously comes with a lot of TWs (including animal death) so please do go in prepared.
We see Olga, a woman in her forties suddenly left with no husband. No, he’s not dead but simply chose to abandon her. Olga feels lost, trying to comprehend what went wrong in their marriage of more than a decade. She forgets for days that she has two children and a dog to look after. She’s bereft of her senses, oscillating between pain and rage as she falls down the rabbit hole. The honesty with which Olga’s character is built is spectacular. We see a grown woman so encompassed in grief that she lets go of everything and everyone around her. But you do see glimpses of her trying to hold it together, to make up for her husband’s absence in the family. It’s like a perfect jigsaw puzzle that doesn’t fit anymore.
The language is crass, like sandpaper but you feel Olga has earned the right to use it. You see a man who walks away with ease, not giving a second thought about his family while the wife writhes in loneliness and despair. There’s absolutely no sugar coating this but this book did leave me quite disturbed. You can’t put it down once you’re in a couple of pages. Ferrante writes brilliantly and I’m going to spend the next year reading all of her books.
I highly highly recommend this one. It obviously comes with a lot of TWs (including animal death) so please do go in prepared.
just because a book is short doesn’t mean it’s not heavy. i need this would be a sad read but going through my own personal issues and reading this made it so much harder. i thought it would be easy to read this in a day but here i am finally finish after 6 days.
i really loved the writing and emotion. as i write this, I think about “all cried out” by allure. how it encompasses what olga is feeling.
i do plan on reading all of ferrante’s work.
i really loved the writing and emotion. as i write this, I think about “all cried out” by allure. how it encompasses what olga is feeling.
i do plan on reading all of ferrante’s work.
challenging
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“The universe of good reasons that I had been given after adolescence was narrowing. No matter how much I had tried to be slow, to have thoughtful gestures, that world over the years had nevertheless moved in too great a whirl, and it’s globelike figure was reduced to a thin round tablet, so thin that, as fragments splintered off, it appeared to be pierced in the middle, soon it would become like a wedding ring, finally it would dissolve.”
128
128
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated