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4.47 AVERAGE
4.47 AVERAGE
Enjoyed it though not as much as the first. Hopelessly addicted to the series. Can’t wait to find out what’s next.
challenging
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The characters really frustrated me in this one! But it’s so well written.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
...that her life was full of varied and foolish adventures as much as mine, and that time simply slipped away without any meaning, and it was good just to see each other every so often to hear the mad sound of the brain of one echo in the mad sound of the brain of the other.
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
the relationship between lenu and lila makes me think of me & one of my friends, which was nice at first, but eventually maybe it influenced how i came to feel about it; i started to get frustrated with how complicated their relationship was and how it has always seemed so one-sided. but ultimately i kept reading despite the frustration and want to read the next so idk take from that what you will. though, naturally, like the last book, it ends on a cliffhanger. which i find annoying, manipulative and cheap
TW- SA and abuse
Elena Ferrante creates a world of her own- one that holds, at its heart, the ever-present relationship between a woman and her intellect. The intellectual similarities and differences between Lina and Elena are present on each page and every plot point comes back to Elena finding a new way to express her amazement of Lina. Ferrante finds words for the female desire to be considered smart by those around us as well as ourselves.
Elena craves intellectual approval in its rawest form and nothing, not physical affection or familial love, comes close to that feeling for her. Through Ferrante's eyes you see what is important to Elena and why, even if in the moment she doesn't see it herself.
Ferrante refers to the neighborhood that is home to most of the primary characters as, "the neighborhood that watched and committed to memory and still remembers". The whole book is a testament to memory. Forgetting something for the sake of moving forward, clinging onto something with the goal of hurting someone else with it. This world holds a lot of pain, a lot of it (if not all) directed at the women in the story.
The book also manages to continuously explain the brutal existence of physical and emotional abuse in this world, and gives the women both inner and outer expressions of the impact of abuse. At one point the book reads, "Especially at night she was afraid of waking up and finding him formless in the bed, transformed into excrescences that burst and become too much fluid, the flesh melted and dripping...and she herself, his wife, broken, sucked into that stream polluted by living matter".
Ferrante puts into words so many fears and hopes that inhabit the female mind, subconsciously or not. Who am I in relationship to my male partner, who are they to me vs who am I to them.
This story is one of two women finding the ways they need to be intellectually stimulated, the ways they want to expand their minds and the things that help and hinder them. It's beautiful, moving, and able to cover years and years of life in 470 pages without feeling overwhelming.
I don't think I'll read this book again because to me, personally, Ferrante's stories are best read with no knowledge of what's to come. However, excerpts from this book will live in my head forever!
Elena Ferrante creates a world of her own- one that holds, at its heart, the ever-present relationship between a woman and her intellect. The intellectual similarities and differences between Lina and Elena are present on each page and every plot point comes back to Elena finding a new way to express her amazement of Lina. Ferrante finds words for the female desire to be considered smart by those around us as well as ourselves.
Elena craves intellectual approval in its rawest form and nothing, not physical affection or familial love, comes close to that feeling for her. Through Ferrante's eyes you see what is important to Elena and why, even if in the moment she doesn't see it herself.
Ferrante refers to the neighborhood that is home to most of the primary characters as, "the neighborhood that watched and committed to memory and still remembers". The whole book is a testament to memory. Forgetting something for the sake of moving forward, clinging onto something with the goal of hurting someone else with it. This world holds a lot of pain, a lot of it (if not all) directed at the women in the story.
The book also manages to continuously explain the brutal existence of physical and emotional abuse in this world, and gives the women both inner and outer expressions of the impact of abuse. At one point the book reads, "Especially at night she was afraid of waking up and finding him formless in the bed, transformed into excrescences that burst and become too much fluid, the flesh melted and dripping...and she herself, his wife, broken, sucked into that stream polluted by living matter".
Ferrante puts into words so many fears and hopes that inhabit the female mind, subconsciously or not. Who am I in relationship to my male partner, who are they to me vs who am I to them.
This story is one of two women finding the ways they need to be intellectually stimulated, the ways they want to expand their minds and the things that help and hinder them. It's beautiful, moving, and able to cover years and years of life in 470 pages without feeling overwhelming.
I don't think I'll read this book again because to me, personally, Ferrante's stories are best read with no knowledge of what's to come. However, excerpts from this book will live in my head forever!
emotional
tense
slow-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