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blueberry31's review against another edition
2.0
Despite my love of Ferrante's style, her exceptional talent for telling stories of female coming of age and identity crisis, her recurring themes on social class, adolescence, and the way relationships shape us... this one is still just a 2 stars for me.
This book feels like a perfect theater play with beautiful detailed painted set elements, accessories, an incredible cast of complex and vividly realistic characters... and yet no play actually happens on stage. This book simply lacks a plot, in my opinion. It feels like a succession of events - which could have been fine - except those events don't feel like they led me to any kind of conclusion, emotion, or even just food for thought. It was like reading someone's pretty ordinary diary talking about their relatively ordinary life, and while it was at times entertaining and relatable... it left me saying "so what?". Eventually, I realized nothing was going to really happen, which made the end of the book an ordeal to read somehow (it felt a thousand years long).
This book feels like a perfect theater play with beautiful detailed painted set elements, accessories, an incredible cast of complex and vividly realistic characters... and yet no play actually happens on stage. This book simply lacks a plot, in my opinion. It feels like a succession of events - which could have been fine - except those events don't feel like they led me to any kind of conclusion, emotion, or even just food for thought. It was like reading someone's pretty ordinary diary talking about their relatively ordinary life, and while it was at times entertaining and relatable... it left me saying "so what?". Eventually, I realized nothing was going to really happen, which made the end of the book an ordeal to read somehow (it felt a thousand years long).
cerilla's review against another edition
1.0
No tengo ni idea de que me ha querido contar o enseñar. La trama cambia radicalmente a partir del primer tercio, así que la sinopsis no tiene sentido, y los temas que trata se retuercen tanto que uno se pierde. Todo el aspecto religioso es muy innecesario y, en mi opinión, incluso aburrido.
Los personajes me parecieron todos egoístas, infantiles y molestos, muchos son poco creíbles y no se salva ni la mujer que se supone que trastoca el mundo de la protagonista para bien, ni el chaval que se presenta como salvador moral. Y, además, siento que la protagonista es incluso más irritante al final que al principio porque el desarrollo de personaje es tan convulso que al final acaba sin aprender nada. No hay cierre de ciclos, no soluciona nada, no mejora en absoluto. Esta niña acaba el libro creyendo que es adulta cuando no ha hecho nada más que tomar decisiones pésimas y autocomplacientes.
Y, para rematar, en toda la historia subyace una apología de las cosas hechas rápido y mal, del amor obsesivo y turbio, de la actitud soez y de la normalización de la violencia y la manipulación. Y la liberación sexual de la protagonista me pareció romantizada de una forma muy misógina. Todo es bastante sexista, de hecho.
Quería que me gustara porque fue un regalo, pero nah.
Los personajes me parecieron todos egoístas, infantiles y molestos, muchos son poco creíbles y no se salva ni la mujer que se supone que trastoca el mundo de la protagonista para bien, ni el chaval que se presenta como salvador moral. Y, además, siento que la protagonista es incluso más irritante al final que al principio porque el desarrollo de personaje es tan convulso que al final acaba sin aprender nada. No hay cierre de ciclos, no soluciona nada, no mejora en absoluto. Esta niña acaba el libro creyendo que es adulta cuando no ha hecho nada más que tomar decisiones pésimas y autocomplacientes.
Y, para rematar, en toda la historia subyace una apología de las cosas hechas rápido y mal, del amor obsesivo y turbio, de la actitud soez y de la normalización de la violencia y la manipulación. Y la liberación sexual de la protagonista me pareció romantizada de una forma muy misógina. Todo es bastante sexista, de hecho.
Quería que me gustara porque fue un regalo, pero nah.
soapie33's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Coming of age tale of a young girl. Moving and earnest in it’s portrayal of the emotional passions and fragility of a young girl who is going through the process of casting off the soft hazy filter of childhood and seeing her family and the world in her own way.
acmarinho3's review against another edition
4.0
Adoro Elena Ferrante e neste livro é evidente a revolta nas suas palavras. A ira. A crítica. É genial a forma como cria narrativas com personagens conflituosas, com pensamentos bastante complexos e intensos, verdadeiramente (e cruamente) humanos.
lizzyqd's review
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
gr_23's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
cocoabrown's review against another edition
5.0
The book begins with a pre-teen Giovanni overhearing her father call her ugly. He didn’t say it outright but instead compared her maturing features to that of his sister’s, Vittoria. All that Giovanna knew of her Aunt Vittoria was that she was to hate her and to never become her. Giovanni decided that she needed to confront the ugliness that was her aunt so that she could somehow save herself from it.
This is the first book that I have read from Elena Ferrante and it definitely will not be the last. I thought that I would just barrel through the novel, cry a bit and then mark it as read on Goodreads but NO! Giovanna’s (Elena Ferrante) words and descent into pages and pages of questioning the adults around her had me in a chokehold. The writing was so beautiful and so raw. Throughout the book Giovanna learned that she too could hurt people and I enjoyed hearing her reasoning before she decided to shake the table or spare the adults in her life. This reminded me of a quote from the book Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca - “People like to eat other people. I spent so many years forgetting I had teeth too.” I live for these two sentences. I really think about them often.
Some thoughts that came to me as I read:
Children really are listening but their understanding of the world is so limited. When issues between parents aren’t communicated honestly or go unaddressed they can build up so much resentment without ever fully understanding - even in their adulthood. I understand this.
I was wondering how we become who we become. I kept thinking: You either become what you are exposed to or what has exposed what you are used to.
I would recommend this to someone who was considered an obedient child.
This is the first book that I have read from Elena Ferrante and it definitely will not be the last. I thought that I would just barrel through the novel, cry a bit and then mark it as read on Goodreads but NO! Giovanna’s (Elena Ferrante) words and descent into pages and pages of questioning the adults around her had me in a chokehold. The writing was so beautiful and so raw. Throughout the book Giovanna learned that she too could hurt people and I enjoyed hearing her reasoning before she decided to shake the table or spare the adults in her life. This reminded me of a quote from the book Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca - “People like to eat other people. I spent so many years forgetting I had teeth too.” I live for these two sentences. I really think about them often.
Some thoughts that came to me as I read:
Children really are listening but their understanding of the world is so limited. When issues between parents aren’t communicated honestly or go unaddressed they can build up so much resentment without ever fully understanding - even in their adulthood. I understand this.
I was wondering how we become who we become. I kept thinking: You either become what you are exposed to or what has exposed what you are used to.
I would recommend this to someone who was considered an obedient child.