Reviews

In the Margins: On the Pleasures of Reading and Writing by Elena Ferrante

leeuhhhh's review against another edition

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4.0

LOVED. the writing kind of reminds me of joan didion so i ofc ate it up - “we tell ourselves stories in order to live” <3

lfurness1993's review against another edition

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This was free on audible but my subscription ran out.

laeti's review against another edition

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inspiring reflective

5.0

lena_k's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective

3.25

dembury's review against another edition

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3.0

Very cerebral and faintly philosophical, with lots of juicy little thoughts about writing that I enjoyed thinking about. The first two essays in particular I found myself really meditating on. To be honest, there were parts where I didn't understand some of what was said (there was a lot of talking in circles that made me have to reread parts) so maybe this will be something I'd revisit in the future after I've read some of Ferrante's fiction. Also, in my opinion, skip the last essay in this book unless you either LOVE thoughts on Dante or Dante's work- otherwise that essay is kinda dry.

gabija's review against another edition

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informative fast-paced

3.0

alinabkl's review against another edition

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challenging inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

5.0

penguinpuffin's review against another edition

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4.0

Definitely will be revisiting for the inspo. I’ve been feeling the itch to write

ellie_spinelli's review against another edition

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informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.25

literarycrushes's review against another edition

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3.0

"Writing is, rather, entering an immense cemetery where every tomb is waiting to be profaned. Writing is getting comfortable with everything that has already been written – great literature and commercial literature, if useful, the novel-essay and the screenplay- and in turn becoming, within the limits of one’s own dizzying, crowded individuality, something written."

*rating this as three stars only because I probably hadn't had enough coffee yet to digest the density of some of her essays