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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I didn't find this beautiful, evocative etc at all. I actually feel duped by reviews and the summary I read. I did not find a description of womanhood or the complicated nature of mother-daughter relationships in this novella.
I'm not a mother so I connected to the daughter characters who were blamed for their personalities and traits by the woman who raised them and providing both nature and nurture to these 2 people.
Leda is constantly jealous and resentful of, but also relating to a woman who is spending a lot of time with her young daughter and she hates them for playing together at the beach with a toy.
The scenes that depicted abuse by Leda toward her daughters were extremely upsetting and hard to read. I really don't understand how slapping your child over and over, dragging your child outside and shutting them there then shattering a glass door in her face, flirting with your child's crush/bf/love interest, stealing a random child's favourite doll, blaming your daughters for not wanting to hear excuses about why you left them in childhood can be seen as complicated nature of motherhood. That is not complicated at all.
There's also plenty of complaining about children who are acting like children and complaining about seeing a pregnant belly in a bikini.
For me, this story was peeling back layers on a woman where the next revelation is even more gross than the previous.
Maybe if I was expecting to go into a creepy character study of a cruel and unhinged woman, I would feel differently. Unfortunately that's not the image I was given.
Not for me at all.
2 stars because it was extremely unsettling and unpleasant but not boring.
I'm not a mother so I connected to the daughter characters who were blamed for their personalities and traits by the woman who raised them and providing both nature and nurture to these 2 people.
Leda is constantly jealous and resentful of, but also relating to a woman who is spending a lot of time with her young daughter and she hates them for playing together at the beach with a toy.
The
There's also plenty of complaining about children who are acting like children and complaining about seeing a pregnant belly in a bikini.
For me, this story was peeling back layers on a woman where the next revelation is even more gross than the previous.
Maybe if I was expecting to go into a creepy character study of a cruel and unhinged woman, I would feel differently. Unfortunately that's not the image I was given.
Not for me at all.
2 stars because it was extremely unsettling and unpleasant but not boring.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was bored, I really wanted to like this book, I’ve heard great things about Elena Ferrante. It felt really lacklustre, I felt no emotion towards any of the characters and most of the time I didn’t care.
emotional
tense
medium-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
Un libro igual de descarnado que los primeros dos de Ferrante, la misma belleza furiosa. Sin embargo, este es más calmado, más sutil, tiene un ritmo más lento. Por eso, los golpes que da son más pesados y profundos. Ferrante es extraordinaria.
Olivia Colman really found a way to make this character likable enough that I cared about her and THAT is acting. I did enjoy the book, it’s very similar to the movie, but the character of Leda is so unlikable and cruel, at time borderline abusive to her kids, that I had a hard time investing in this character the way I did in the movie.
“Mas eu não invento nada, só escuto, o não dito fala mais do que o dito.”
I wanted to recommend the Neapolitan novels to my mother, who rarely reads, but am now considering otherwise.
Mothers are scary, you know.
Mothers are scary, you know.
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
If this wasn't a book club read, I would've ditched it halfway through. The protagonist is miserable and drags those around her into her misery. I don't read to feel miserable.