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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Sexual content
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4.42 stars
This started slow for me—this is not my life now, this wild devastation and unraveling, this troubled mothering—but things certainly escalated, and I found myself pulled in, somewhat against my will. Grotesque and full of dread, parts of this reminded me of the claustrophobic scene in The Recognitions with the little girl who continuously asks for sleeping pills at the party (a scene that still haunts me). But the writing here is a peculiar mix of melodramatic and measured.
"As for me, if all the features that I had assimilated from him had once seemed to me lovable, how, now that they no longer seemed lovable, was I going to tear them out of me? How could I scrape them definitively off of my body, my mind, without finding that I had in the process scraped away myself? [...] I wanted to be me. If that formulation even made sense. Or at least I wanted to see what remained of me, once he was removed."
You've felt that. Or am I confusing you with me?
This started slow for me—this is not my life now, this wild devastation and unraveling, this troubled mothering—but things certainly escalated, and I found myself pulled in, somewhat against my will. Grotesque and full of dread, parts of this reminded me of the claustrophobic scene in The Recognitions with the little girl who continuously asks for sleeping pills at the party (a scene that still haunts me). But the writing here is a peculiar mix of melodramatic and measured.
"As for me, if all the features that I had assimilated from him had once seemed to me lovable, how, now that they no longer seemed lovable, was I going to tear them out of me? How could I scrape them definitively off of my body, my mind, without finding that I had in the process scraped away myself? [...] I wanted to be me. If that formulation even made sense. Or at least I wanted to see what remained of me, once he was removed."
You've felt that. Or am I confusing you with me?
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The usual good writing you expect from Elena Ferrante.
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes