Reviews

Storia del nuovo cognome by Elena Ferrante

Only show reviews with written explanations

naarah's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

dembury's review against another edition

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3.0

Reading this is like having someone who is a subpar storyteller catch you up on drama from a different group of friends of theirs: it’s entertaining, and may even teach you something, and you wanna hear how it all ends, but the fact that you’re being held at arms length the hold time creates such a separation from you and the material that it’s impossible to fully become immersed.

juliarose807's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

alicebme's review against another edition

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4.0

The ugliness that festers in friendships is so truthfully and rawly exposed. We’re bound to people who hurt us over and over again.

m00dreads's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

nareads's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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

3.75

I really was not convinced by the first book in this series or quite frankly the first half of this instalment. My grumbles about ‘My Brilliant Friend’ still persist here. Often sentences are still way too long and I don’t know if it’s the translation, but at times it’s written in a way that makes it frustratingly hard to understand. But I think I’m finally starting to understand what all the fuss is about. It’s kind of mundane but at the same time fascinating. The characters in this book made me sooo ANGRY to the point where it was hard to read. The men are pigs, Lila is a spiteful little shrew and Lenu came across rather bland, acting without a shred of logical thought. It’s all so messy and intriguing. I would not say this book is a page-turner by any means but I find myself wondering where the tale will take us to next.