A review by estellegodard
The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante

reflective medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

the ending left much to be desired, in my opinion. I did enjoy the majority of the book, but all in all I find the story confused, not providing the proper closure for this decades long friendship. the strongest moments included nino and elena’s relationship with him. I thought it was layered and complex, doing a great job of conveying the toxic love elena felt. i think my main problem with this book (and the series as a whole) is that the characters are too fickle. it is very hard to get understand them (lila in particular) and thus it makes it hard to relate. even in the moments of tragedy I always felt like I was from the outside looking in. nonetheless, I have to give credit to the author for being able to make characters that are so nuanced & creating a fluctuating, realistic female friendship.