My First Elena Ferrante Novel!

The Lying Life of Adults, translated from Italian by Ann Goldstein, is a frightfully effective feminist literary novel, packed with themes concerning family, religion, class, and patriarchy.
*****
*****

[RoxanneM-]

You are a marvelous book reviewer. Thanks for giving us the link to your friend. I delight in every review you make. Thank you, thank you.

[thomaslowry]

A delightful presentation! I just finished Ferrante's Neopolitan Quartet. Those books are also filled with those delicious moments when you suddenly feel the ground shift under your feet and want to scream with joy! Reading her books is such an intense experience that you feel almost as if you are a character in the book you are reading!

[crybabys]

I love the books you talk about in your videos and I´d really like to see your book collection. Could you please film a bookshelf tour ?

[marapacella]

i'm watching the Netflix series and thinking about reading the book, given the excitement I'm getting from the series 😊

[melindajones]

I read The Days of Abandonment earlier this year and absolutely loved it. I have this one but it’s in my TBR pile. Loved hearing your thoughts, as usual. Can’t wait to get to this one soon!

[shrklotte]

so glad you got around to some ferrante! i've not long finished the 2nd book in her neapolitan quartet and it's incredible, would love to hear your thoughts on it. ferrante is such a skilled author and the depth/breadth of the novels in that series is so impressive.

[ygftiui]

I also just finished this book and thought it was outstanding as well. It was also my first Elena Ferrante novel and I think your review is spot on. I thought a little bit different in that the extended dysfunctional family was presented as regular people and not so over the top as you often times see. They are relatable If that makes sense. I look forward to reading the essay you recommended.

[marinamaccagni]

Elena Ferrante è la nostra scrittrice italiana preferita! Elena Ferrante is an amazing writer! Her quadrilogy is outstanding. Every book of hers really! She is a giant of italian literature. Never thought to learn italian in order to read her books in original?

[isabelab]

I have to say that I did not love this book like you did …and maybe it had to do with the fact that I was angry at the characters about the mistreatment of Giiovanna, how it was a dysfunctional family and the patriarchal society that seems so intent in destroying women. Maybe I was not in the right mindset to think about those issues now….but maybe that is what so powerful. Maybe I projected my dislike for wha the book is exposing to the experience of reading it. Will definitely read the essay you mentioned. This was my second book for the series…but I diverted to read MRs Death…now how to get back to my list…this weekend.
I cannot thank you enough for all your great insights…so happy I found your channel!

[sharylgrangaard]

Very nice!You make me want to read a book I would never pick up.

[RoxanneM-]

Just to add this in case it’s helpful, I would say she is certainly a woman because she wrote articles for The Guardian and she described herself as one in them. She also went on to explain why she was allowing Maggie Gyllenhaal direct her movie and only her, it’s precisely because she said she wouldn’t feel confident in allowing a man to try to interpret a woman, meaning her work, as has always been the case in most all artistic creations done by man interpreting or trying to represent a woman but which said representations although have shaped the idea we all have of women, including the idea we women have of ourselves; are erroneous.

[glendaw]

I’m reading My Brilliant Friend for WIT. Loving Magma as much as you said I would. I’m also reading some light books so my WIT may carryover into fall. Have a happy weekend!

[sourcreams]

I have read the famous tetralogy and I can't bring myself to like Ferrante's style. I also found those books quite boring.
What seems to get on my nerves the most is the fact that the Italy she describes only exists in very poor and deprived parts of the country, but most of the booktubers I listen to (and I mainly listen to English-speaking ones) keep saying how it reinforced ideas and impressions they already had about Italy. As an Italian (who hates Italy) this makes me feel so bad, like she revels in the worst possible bias about our nation and writes it as if it were everyday normality. Read something else about Italy. It's old- fashioned and all that, but it's not that bad...

[rosinaforteskiglidden]

You inspired me to give this book a New look. I really did not enjoy It because I couldntl't connect with any character.

[ratgirl]

I feel intrigued by this book but i'm way less smart than you are so now i feel too dumb to read it lol