A review by maeenads
The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book took me a long time to finish, not just because I was annotating it (ran out of tabs twice), but it was a hard and painful read. 
Elena Ferrante writes grief like no other; she is fierce, she is vulgar, she is angry, she makes you feel the pain through her sentences. The themes of this book was similar to my brilliant friend, however this mainly explored the concept of “absence of self” that appears in the face of abandonment. 
This follows Olga, our protagonist, who suddenly learns that her husband has decided to leave her for another woman, who she later finds out is much younger. This sends her down a spiral of rage, sadness, self pity, anxiety, depression, and everything borderline madness.
I would recommend this if you like books with no major plot, mostly character-based as it can be a tad bit repetitive.