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A review by jaikney
The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
There is a point in every book where the ending begins to come into focus. True in the writing, maybe, because the author is the arbiter (mostly). True in the reading, more tangibly, to have so many pages held in the left hand and so few in the right.
This is a book of empty aches. The systems and rituals in which we engage are only theatre; daughters are named for their grandmothers; we are repulsed by our origins and seduced by them all the same. But for all the repetitions, there's something worse: a lack of end. And to impose a cycle on something is arbitrary, cowardly, mean: "Unlike stories, real life, when it has passed, inclines toward obscurity, not clarity."
I think I put off finishing this book for so long because of that impulse, an aversion to confronting a conclusion. It's a good ending, but endings themselves are phony. But, still, things end.
This is a book of empty aches. The systems and rituals in which we engage are only theatre; daughters are named for their grandmothers; we are repulsed by our origins and seduced by them all the same. But for all the repetitions, there's something worse: a lack of end. And to impose a cycle on something is arbitrary, cowardly, mean: "Unlike stories, real life, when it has passed, inclines toward obscurity, not clarity."
I think I put off finishing this book for so long because of that impulse, an aversion to confronting a conclusion. It's a good ending, but endings themselves are phony. But, still, things end.