A review by sophieperi
The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante

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

2.0

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.