A review by nahyan
The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante

5.0

I read this as if I was in a trance.. there was so much heartbreak bitterness on each page I felt like I was violating someone’s privacy by reading their diary where all their deepest darkest thoughts and desires reside. Even though Ferrante’s writing is clear and decisive, it’s able to evoke so much emotion within the reader because you feel like you’re really inside the narrators psyche. In this book we follow the two friends through their adolescence and beginning of their adulthood and watch (in horror) how they navigate love, betrayal and heartbreak. Although in the past I’ve disliked Lenu’s whining and insecurities, in this book I was surprised by how much I related to her - especially her feelings of inadequacy and imposter syndrome in an academic setting. No matter how the series ends, I am in it for the long run now.