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rokinjaguar's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
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
3.5
I’m torn because this was well-written and discusses some interesting stuff, but also it doesn’t seem to say much at all other than some women are sad and desperately need to work on their own issues, but choose to make it everyone else’s problem instead. I didn’t feel like I gained anything of value in this book, and instead just spent time with a bunch of miserable, selfish people for a while. :/
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Pregnancy, Body shaming, and Child abuse
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Infidelity
jaiari12's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Pregnancy, Child abuse, and Physical abuse
Minor: Sexual content
charlottevarela's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infidelity
Minor: Mental illness
ktkeps's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment
Minor: Infidelity and Injury/Injury detail
owlribbon's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Pregnancy, and Infidelity
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
cady_sass's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-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
3.75
It’s difficult for me to fairly rate this book because I inadvertently watched the film before reading, not realizing it had been a novel first, when I prefer to & always try to read the original work before watching any film. I feel that if I hadn’t watched the movie first I would’ve rated this lower. I was able to invision these characters, who were quite brilliantly portrayed in the movie, and to fill in gaps in description and prose that this translation leaves to be desired. I’m sure that the original Spanish is closer to what I would’ve expected going into this- a painful, cringe inducing, car-crash of a situation between a brilliant but cold academic woman who abandoned her children at a young age to pursue self identity and a young mother struggling with her own daughter and identity. It’s quite remarkable at its core but the English prose (again, I assume due to the translation, which is ironic because the protagonist is a translator by trade) is dry and abrupt.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Infidelity, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse
ukponge's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment
Moderate: Infidelity
kairhone's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I realized long ago that I've held on to little of myself and everything of them [daughters].
A woman's body does a thousand different things, toils, runs, studies, fantasizes, invents, wearies, and meanwhile the breasts enlarge, the lips of the sex swell, the flesh throbs with with round life that is yours, your life, and yet pushes elsewhere, draws away from you although it inhabits your belly, joyful and weighty, felt as a greedy impulse and yet repellent like an insect's poison injected into a vein.
I was screaming with rage like my mother, because of the crushing weight of responsibility, the bond that strangles, and with my free arm, I dragged my firstborn, yelling, you'll pay for this.
How foolish to think you can tell your children about yourself before they're at least fifty. To ask to be seen by them as a person and not a function.
[Idealizing the past] it seemed a way to convince onself that there is always a slender branch of one's life to hang on to, and, by being suspended there, get used to the inevitablility of falling.
A woman's body does a thousand different things, toils, runs, studies, fantasizes, invents, wearies, and meanwhile the breasts enlarge, the lips of the sex swell, the flesh throbs with with round life that is yours, your life, and yet pushes elsewhere, draws away from you although it inhabits your belly, joyful and weighty, felt as a greedy impulse and yet repellent like an insect's poison injected into a vein.
I was screaming with rage like my mother, because of the crushing weight of responsibility, the bond that strangles, and with my free arm, I dragged my firstborn, yelling, you'll pay for this.
How foolish to think you can tell your children about yourself before they're at least fifty. To ask to be seen by them as a person and not a function.
[Idealizing the past] it seemed a way to convince onself that there is always a slender branch of one's life to hang on to, and, by being suspended there, get used to the inevitablility of falling.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, and Pregnancy
lianne_rooney's review against another edition
challenging
dark
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Emotional abuse, and Infidelity
lindseyhall44's review against another edition
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
“You just have to listen. The unspoken says more than the spoken.”
When I set out to read this book, I really didn’t know what to expect. I had heard mixed reviews, but wanted to try a Ferante novel before beginning My Brilliant Friend. While this wasn’t my personal favorite, I would definitely encourage everyone to try it!
The Lost Daughter follows Lena after her two adult daughters finally leave home. Feeling blissfully free, she takes a vacation to the beach, where her obsession with a younger mother draws back to parallels of Lena’s own parenting experiences.
What I loved most about The Lost Daughter was the distinctive narrative voice. Although not much happened plot wise, Lena’s perspective never ceased to enrapture me, keeping me reading well into the night. I think her character arc fit well with the themes of complex mother-daughter relationships and the yearning to discover yourself as an individual without your children.
Overall It is truly a thought provoking read about desire, family, and indenitity, which highlights an extremely talented author in the contemporary literature of today.
When I set out to read this book, I really didn’t know what to expect. I had heard mixed reviews, but wanted to try a Ferante novel before beginning My Brilliant Friend. While this wasn’t my personal favorite, I would definitely encourage everyone to try it!
The Lost Daughter follows Lena after her two adult daughters finally leave home. Feeling blissfully free, she takes a vacation to the beach, where her obsession with a younger mother draws back to parallels of Lena’s own parenting experiences.
What I loved most about The Lost Daughter was the distinctive narrative voice. Although not much happened plot wise, Lena’s perspective never ceased to enrapture me, keeping me reading well into the night. I think her character arc fit well with the themes of complex mother-daughter relationships and the yearning to discover yourself as an individual without your children.
Overall It is truly a thought provoking read about desire, family, and indenitity, which highlights an extremely talented author in the contemporary literature of today.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Pregnancy, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Infidelity, Ableism, Body horror, and Fatphobia