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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
challenging
inspiring
reflective
sad
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
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-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
Oh my, I’ve just found my favourite writer.
Raw, poignant and ruthless, this novel is based on a cliché plot: a husband abandons his aging wife Olga with two children for his former student, a 20-year old Carla with smooth skin, thin waist, and other gifts of youth.
The protagonist and narrator, Olga, is initially depicted as a conventional housewife, dutiful and reserved, yet disconnected from her inner self. The abandonment triggers a profound transformation from despair to self-discovery. It gets much worse before it gets any better, and through a disturbing psychotic episode, brilliantly captured by Ferrante on paper, Olga disintegrates to become whole.
The novel presents a stark and unromanticised portrayal of motherhood, which is often glossed over in popular culture. It underscores its emotional and physical toll, especially when a woman is left to navigate it alone. Ferrante also explores the societal pressure on women to conform to certain roles and expectations, brilliantly portrayed by the story of ‘poverella’, which engrained in Olga the belief that a woman without a husband is dead.
Ferrante's writing style is pure stream of consciousness, intense, confessional and rich with vivid symbolism. From first-person POV she delves deep into Olga's psyche, experiencing her raw emotions and tumultuous thoughts, making her journey relatable and deeply human.
But the concept of abandonment in the novel extends beyond the physical. Olga not only experiences the abandonment of her husband but also confronts the ways in which she has abandoned herself, her aspirations, identity and even her children during her breakdown.
Overall, a profound exploration of one woman’s soul. Note that the novel is fairly slow, especially towards the end - the hallucinatory episode scene took Olga over 20 pages of going back and forth within the same setting; and it’s mostly focussed on internal conflict and the mental turmoil of the heroine.
Raw, poignant and ruthless, this novel is based on a cliché plot: a husband abandons his aging wife Olga with two children for his former student, a 20-year old Carla with smooth skin, thin waist, and other gifts of youth.
The protagonist and narrator, Olga, is initially depicted as a conventional housewife, dutiful and reserved, yet disconnected from her inner self. The abandonment triggers a profound transformation from despair to self-discovery. It gets much worse before it gets any better, and through a disturbing psychotic episode, brilliantly captured by Ferrante on paper, Olga disintegrates to become whole.
The novel presents a stark and unromanticised portrayal of motherhood, which is often glossed over in popular culture. It underscores its emotional and physical toll, especially when a woman is left to navigate it alone. Ferrante also explores the societal pressure on women to conform to certain roles and expectations, brilliantly portrayed by the story of ‘poverella’, which engrained in Olga the belief that a woman without a husband is dead.
Ferrante's writing style is pure stream of consciousness, intense, confessional and rich with vivid symbolism. From first-person POV she delves deep into Olga's psyche, experiencing her raw emotions and tumultuous thoughts, making her journey relatable and deeply human.
But the concept of abandonment in the novel extends beyond the physical. Olga not only experiences the abandonment of her husband but also confronts the ways in which she has abandoned herself, her aspirations, identity and even her children during her breakdown.
Overall, a profound exploration of one woman’s soul. Note that the novel is fairly slow, especially towards the end - the hallucinatory episode scene took Olga over 20 pages of going back and forth within the same setting; and it’s mostly focussed on internal conflict and the mental turmoil of the heroine.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Imagine being married for 15 years, have 2 children and put of nowhere, the partner expressed to be separated. Totally out of the blue.
“One April afternoon, right after lunch, my husband announced that he wanted to leave me. He did it while we were clearing the table; the children were quarreling as usual in the next room, the dog was dreaming, growling beside the radiator. “
The way Olga, the woman handled the separation with Mario seems composed enough at first. She pondered for hints of things go wrong, any clue, and Mario has been awardee the free out-of-relationship before. When she learned that Mario left her for much, much younger woman (imagine the husband gotta take care of kids while the new woman had an exam), her demeanor changed. The growing bitterness and pettiness continues as she tried so hard to get a grip on her life again.
“Something in my senses wasn’t working. An interruption of feeling, of feelings. Sometimes I abandoned myself to it, at times I was frightened…I didn’t know how to find answers to the question marks, every possible answer seemed absurd. I was lost in the where am I, in the what am I doing.”
In her process, she fell into deep depression, a long tunnel, lost in the abyss, costs a lot of smiles, including her children’s.
A short read, less than 200 pages, but yet it punched me in the heart. Thanks Fadhilah for pushing me to finish this because now, we can punch the wall together.
“One April afternoon, right after lunch, my husband announced that he wanted to leave me. He did it while we were clearing the table; the children were quarreling as usual in the next room, the dog was dreaming, growling beside the radiator. “
The way Olga, the woman handled the separation with Mario seems composed enough at first. She pondered for hints of things go wrong, any clue, and Mario has been awardee the free out-of-relationship before. When she learned that Mario left her for much, much younger woman (imagine the husband gotta take care of kids while the new woman had an exam), her demeanor changed. The growing bitterness and pettiness continues as she tried so hard to get a grip on her life again.
“Something in my senses wasn’t working. An interruption of feeling, of feelings. Sometimes I abandoned myself to it, at times I was frightened…I didn’t know how to find answers to the question marks, every possible answer seemed absurd. I was lost in the where am I, in the what am I doing.”
In her process, she fell into deep depression, a long tunnel, lost in the abyss, costs a lot of smiles, including her children’s.
A short read, less than 200 pages, but yet it punched me in the heart. Thanks Fadhilah for pushing me to finish this because now, we can punch the wall together.
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes