The Lying Life of Adults
Ratings35
Average rating3.6
A clear theme in Ferrante's work is "becoming" like someone else- be it children becoming their parents, someone's narrative or personal magnetism getting inside you and changing from the inside, or escaping or failing to escape our fate. The fact we can never tell if this a fear or paranoia of the narrator, or a reality, makes it even better.
This mysterious power that warps you without your will, changing your nature before you even realize it, is a palpable sticky energy in the book. Do we have our own essence or are we just shaped by the forces that touch us? Can a fate be rejected, can we choose who we are?
This book is about a child becoming an adult. A young girl hears her parents compare her to the aunt they hate, and she becomes with obsessed with what is so bad in her that her parents see her like this, to the point of seeking a closeness with the aunt. The child begin to learn more about the adults her parents are, and over time begins to readjust the simplistic perceptions she has of everyone she knows, including herself.
When I read this book, it took me a little bit, maybe 20-30 pages, to really sink into it. I had already read The Neopolitan novels and The Days of Abandonment by Ferrante and I think I assumed this book would be derivative of those or could not possible be as good. Soon I was hooked though, after which I read through the book very fast. It picked up density, meaning, and as with all Ferrante's work, the meanings added onto and subverted each-other, creating a self-contained world with a richness that rivals reality. My favorite aspect of Ferrante is the moment is plays with the narrator's reliability by giving them an alternative information and perspective that casts the entire narrative into doubt- we could spend chapters building an idea only to have it subverted, but never answered, only leaving us with questions on all sides- these are books that border omniscience but come from a first person point of view, leaving us to doubt not the narrator as unreliable but the world as unreliable, that it may be fundamentally impossible to arrive at truth, and the characters themselves are aware of this feeling of moving through murky and changeable water. It's through the tension created by the contrasting of opposites the feeling of doubt and beauty comes in, and an entire world in all its contradictions in one person.
But I slipped away, and am still slipping away, within these lines that are intended to give me a story, while in fact I am nothing, nothing of my own, nothing that has really begun or really been brought to completion: only a tangled knot, and nobody, not even the one who at this moment is writing, knows if it contains the right thread for a story or is merely a snarled confusion of suffering, without redemption.
One sentence synopsis... An overheard conversation between her parents triggers a chain of events in the angsty adolescence of Ferrante's latest troubled, selfish, insecure female protagonist.
Read it if you like... the Neapolitan novels. This is her first stand alone since the wildly successful series ended and although it doesn't have the same scope it helps fill the empty void.
Dream casting... Gaia Girace is the obvious pick for rebellious teenager Giovanna.
We read this as part of book club, and I'm glad I read it, though I'm not sure I would have picked it up otherwise. This author has been on my radar for a while and the acclaim made me want to read something of hers. This book is well written, but may not have been for me right now with the world feeling so heavy. I had to take my time reading it and can appreciate the author's craft and ability to bring you right into the thoughts of the main character. It's gritty and thought-provoking and uncomfortable and very well done. It also impresses me that a book in translation still reads so well. This may be one of the book club choices I look back on and I'm glad it was chosen because it took me out of my comfort zone.
Feels like it's written by a completely different author. Someone who's trying to imitate Elena Ferrante, but lacks the actual talent. I can't say what's wrong with it, but I just didn't like it and struggled through the last bit.
This is the story of a bracelet and how it's complicated path through interconnected families shines light on multiple relationships build on secrets and lies! ;)Or rather, this is a coming-of-age story where a girl discovers, revolts against and finally tries out for herself - the lies the adults have constructed around her until-then innocent childhood. The catalyst for her transformation is her vulgar aunt Vittoria, whom she apparently starts to ressemble. And Giovanna sets out to discover a part of her family, and a part of her home town, she hadn't known before. It is set in Naples in the 90ies, and yet we don't feel half a decade passed since the adolescent years of the Neapolitan Novels. Older guys still lust after way-too-young girls. We're still in the middle of a tug-of-war between the highbrow world of words and ideas and the low-income world of vulgarity. There are a lot of similarities in setting, in character, and in experiences between this book and Lila and Lenu's early adventures. I wished perhaps Ferrante would have taken us to a place that felt different ([b:The Days of Abandonment 77810 The Days of Abandonment Elena Ferrante https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1412532798l/77810.SY75.jpg 75142] feels different!). But nevertheless I enjoyed this, because her depiction of teenage girls that are simultaneously sensitive and bold, cruel and loving, is still a very good yarn. And I close this book with a sense of elation, as Giovanna manages to break free at the end. From the ties that bind her to her family's past (in the very physical manifestation of the bracelet), the idolisation she feels for her crush (NOT letting it happen), and from her aunt by deliberately disobeying her final advice! And then she goes off into the sunset with the secret favorite (Ida) who's been hiding in the sidelines all along!
Up until the last sixty pages this was the best book I'd read all year. The ending seemed an alternate reality. A sufficient foundation was not laid to make the behaviour of the main characters in the end appear consistent. Felt blindsided in not a good way.