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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-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
A study of adolescence in a city - and family - divided.
“A long time has gone by.”
“Not even a minute has gone by.”
“Not even a minute has gone by.”
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
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
emotional
reflective
medium-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
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Coming of age in the middle of parental messiness, broken family ties, and (un)happy ignorance. I first came across this story in a mini TV serie form, which captured even better the main character's transformation from an obedient daughter into a rebellious, suspicious and slightly insufferable teenager. But I loved it. Not much happens in this book, but the feelings are strong, the characters are believable and the Neapolitan buzz nicely rounds up the general chaos that we find ourselves in.
The Neopolitan Novels mean so much to me, so it was extra disappointing that I didn't love this book. It has all the things I've come to know and love so much about Ferrante (complex inner mind of a teenage girl, sex / obsession / worship, adults with fatal flaws, brusque writing), but it wasn't nearly as satisfying. Can't say much really happened, and I didn't find Giovanna's story a fraction as interesting as Elena's.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Ferrante masterfully writes the pain of adolescence!
Elena Ferrante is always a compelling writer. The book is written in first person about the onset of adolescence: An only child, apple of her parents' eye, always self-confident and a willing member of her small family band, begins the book with two blows to her self-confidence: First, she is for the first time struggling in school, to her academic parents' great concern. Second, she overhears her father compare her to his estranged sister, and fixates on the idea that her father, who has always spoken affectionately and positively of her physical attributes, actually thinks--knows--that she is ugly. These blows to her self-confidence cause her to look at her family as an outsider, and to distrust everything her parents say. She begins a rebellion that is told from within the miasma of displacement and individuation. It is this narrative style that drives the book: the young woman can't see the next steps, she is focused on what is now; she can't believe any one version of her life, she is constantly comparing alternative versions of her family and her place within it. Perhaps the most compelling aspect of her self discovery is her journey in sexuality: the discovery of overwhelming desire, the discovery of how her own consent to sexual experiences gives her power; the choices around sexual betrayal and its consequences.
But as with Ferrante's other books, the narrative style is very flat; it's hard to tell if this is her own choice or if this is more due to being a book in translation. It is not a book I *enjoyed* so much as a book that I found compelling and thought-provoking.
But as with Ferrante's other books, the narrative style is very flat; it's hard to tell if this is her own choice or if this is more due to being a book in translation. It is not a book I *enjoyed* so much as a book that I found compelling and thought-provoking.