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lysserday 's review for:
The Days of Abandonment
by Elena Ferrante
i thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed this book !
‘the days of abandonment’ follows our protagonist Olga, as she struggles to stay afloat after Mario, her husband of fifteen years, leaves her. Olga’s personality is so consumed and intertwined in her husbands that when he leaves her, she feels like a part of her has died aswell. this novel follows the subsequent months after, as she tries to piece together her life while everything seems to be unravelling around her.
i loved the exploration of grief in this book, olga’s grief of her marriage is tumultuous, she feels so overcome with emotion, hardly able to keep up with the demands of everyday life. this book touches on what it’s like to be a woman, to be expected to still be the perfect mother and to be put together, to not show emotion and go insane. but love is known to make us insane, olga’s outbursts are real and emotive, we are exposed to her behaviour and how at times, she is cruel and relentless, but we empathise with her, we as women, feel her pain as our own. i loved the exploration of her muddled brain, her fears of no longer being able to parent, her selfishness. this story is grounded in the mundane, as she discovers that without her husband, the small things she never thought about now seem overbearing. like how now that he’s gone she has to be the one to walk the dog.
i loved the exploration on how she no longer felt desirable, how she sought out affection to prove that she was still beautiful. everything about this felt so real and felt like something i would totally do if someone left me so unravelled. watching olga try so hard to be better, to stay alert, she’s so afraid of being unfit to go on. her relationship with everyone suffers, her children begin to despise the person she has become.
the exploration at the end, as she begins to find a way to navigate her own life, as she realises that the man she previously loved is actually not the guy she ever thought he was. it’s all so heartbreaking. she can never get that time back. AHHH i have so much to say but also nothing to say at all, amazing.
‘the days of abandonment’ follows our protagonist Olga, as she struggles to stay afloat after Mario, her husband of fifteen years, leaves her. Olga’s personality is so consumed and intertwined in her husbands that when he leaves her, she feels like a part of her has died aswell. this novel follows the subsequent months after, as she tries to piece together her life while everything seems to be unravelling around her.
i loved the exploration of grief in this book, olga’s grief of her marriage is tumultuous, she feels so overcome with emotion, hardly able to keep up with the demands of everyday life. this book touches on what it’s like to be a woman, to be expected to still be the perfect mother and to be put together, to not show emotion and go insane. but love is known to make us insane, olga’s outbursts are real and emotive, we are exposed to her behaviour and how at times, she is cruel and relentless, but we empathise with her, we as women, feel her pain as our own. i loved the exploration of her muddled brain, her fears of no longer being able to parent, her selfishness. this story is grounded in the mundane, as she discovers that without her husband, the small things she never thought about now seem overbearing. like how now that he’s gone she has to be the one to walk the dog.
i loved the exploration on how she no longer felt desirable, how she sought out affection to prove that she was still beautiful. everything about this felt so real and felt like something i would totally do if someone left me so unravelled. watching olga try so hard to be better, to stay alert, she’s so afraid of being unfit to go on. her relationship with everyone suffers, her children begin to despise the person she has become.
the exploration at the end, as she begins to find a way to navigate her own life, as she realises that the man she previously loved is actually not the guy she ever thought he was. it’s all so heartbreaking. she can never get that time back. AHHH i have so much to say but also nothing to say at all, amazing.