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3,5/5⭐
Poca trama e molta introspezione nei disagi della protagonista, che proietta il suo senso di inadeguatezza su chi le sta intorno. Ben scritto, ma per me non al livello di altri libri di Elena Ferrante.

I finished my first book of 2023 yesterday! I enjoyed Ferrante‘s My Brilliant Friend, but I was not compelled to continue the series. I read Days of Abandonment and loved it. She is excellent at writing brief, incisive, insular novels that convey the intense emotions of the protagonist. The protagonist in this novel is a middle-aged woman who is grappling with the decisions she made when parenting her now grown children. Tense and brutal.

A good, quick read. It gets you thinking about different perspectives.

Rented this one on a whim, after Libby suggested it. I was instantly attracted to the cover bc I love Olivia Colman. I can‘t imagine what this movie is all abt, but the book was gibberish lol. To me, at this time, obvs. It was dark and poetic at times but i was not enjoying it, so I bailed. It‘s not too long and I made it to just over 50%, I‘m sure it has many layers and meaning and whatnot… but it‘s not a genre I was looking for atm 🤷🏽‍♀️

I saw the movie few months ago and I loved it so much that I have decided to read the short novel too. And it's even better than the movie! Has few layers of meaning that are not present in a film. I love all Elena Ferrante's novel but could say this is my favourite. She writes about motherhood in a way that is so unique, so rare and so true😍

A strange little nouvelle , I watched the film on Netflix when it first came out , which was brilliantly acted and directed. The film focuses more on Ledas obsession with Nina , her daughter Elena & husband Toni and his Dubious extended family. However to me the book is 95% about Leda‘s struggles with motherhood when she‘s a young mum in her 20s, now in her late 40s she‘s looking back onthat time. Aquick easyread but nowhere near asgood as others

I‘m noticing a pattern of my enjoyment when I read these very ‘literary fiction‘ novels!
I start off in awe; beautiful writing, such complex characters, oh the observations on life are spot on….then I get restless waiting for something to happen…then I get impatient with the characters… I want to bail but feel obligated to finish….I stumble to the end, feel a sigh of bewildered relief and think, that was as satisfying as a rice cake!! 🤷‍♀️

I read this because I‘m getting #MyBrilliantFriend for Easter 🐣 and Olivia Coleman can do no wrong.

I didn‘t expect it to be so dark! It‘s about a mother who left her children for 3 years, used that time to really become a person again and doesn‘t regret it. This topic is still a big taboo, so I‘m glad it was used here.

#ElenaFerrante

I was looking for a more thought-provoking book to read and then I stumbled upon this and it indeed satisfies my need for more complex ideas. I always saw the world through black and white when it came to whether things were wrong but yet this tries to teach you that people have a reason for doing bad things. However there is a eerie sense throughout the book which should not be overlooked. #14 read a book from author using a pseudonym.

A review of the book and film.

I love how Elena Ferrante gets to the darkness inside her characters. I find it really compelling. I read this, loved it, and immediately watched the film. The film is really faithful to the book - it completely nails it.

This is the only Ferrante that I have read other than the Neapolitan Quartet and it was just as fraught and intense as those books. She examines the pull between the desire for a woman to be a “good mother” and to hold onto her own personal goals and needs. I am curious to see how this will be in the Netflix adaptation as it is very character driven with lots of interior monologues but I know that if anyone is up to the task it is Olivia Colman.

Really don't know why I've never read Ferrante before...some vague notion that she wasn't for me. Well, I loved this. The writing, tone, characterization, etc. all pleased me, so if this is representative of her work, I've got some catching up to do! Thanks for adapting this book, Maggie Gyllenhaal, because of course wanting to watch the film is what got me to check it out.

Nothing happened. I couldn‘t put it down.

A strange moody book about a woman vacationing alone. When her path crosses with a brash family she is flooded with memories of her own mother and the time when she had two young daughters at home. It's sharply descriptive and intense, though not much actually happens. The weight & exhaustion of motherhood and the constant feeling of failure is no joke, though her experience is more extreme than most. Haunting & one that I will be thinking about.

As I read this book, I asked myself many times “what‘s the point?”. I‘m still it really sure what the point was, other than the fact that there is a movie on Netflix based on this book. After reading it, I‘m not sure that I‘ll watch the movie. The main character was a very self centered person who I didn‘t like at all. I gave this book a 3 out of the kindness of my heart.

The blurb on the front calls this a "novel of maternal ambivalence" and I don't agree. That only reinforces the idea that there's only one kind of way to be a good mother, which is absurd.

This is the third book I've read this month published by Europa.

My Sunday morning: hockey practice and Elena Ferrante.

I am a Ferrante fan.

I realize her books are not for everyone, but they work for me.

This one is short, but certainly not sweet.

Leda is on vacation in Italy, finds a child's missing doll, and keeps it far longer than she should - all the while grappling with her past.

The family on the beach strongly reminded me of the characters in The Neapolitan Novels.

I love Ferrante‘s writing because it gets to the deepest, most twisted parts of a person‘s (mostly women‘s) innermost thoughts that are often vile, but recognizable. This can be uncomfortable, as a reader, to see yourself in these characters‘ thoughts and actions. In this slim novel, a middle-aged woman, takes a solitary trip to the coast and becomes involved with a family also vacationing there. Her two grown daughters are never far from mind.

I have a near pathological obsession with reading before watching tv and film adaptations so here I am. I‘m very curious to see how this was adapted because it is almost entirely interior and there is very little plot to speak of. Ferrante paints a portrait of a middle-aged woman and her ambivalence about motherhood. It‘s a bit quirky but I found it very provocative.

I had a good group of books I read in September!

This novella was tremendous. Ferrante does fraught parent-child relationships so well and this story is chilling once we see the choices the protagonist made in her life. A beach holiday and encounters with a large family bring out all the feels. I picked this up as this is soon to be a major film starring Olivia Collman. Looking forward to how they film this story.

Saturday afternoon with Elena Ferrante🌸
One more #3

For the next 99 days, I'm sharing recommendations from fellow authors on my blog in a series I'm calling #read99women! Kicking us off is Diana Giovinazzo, author of the upcoming THE WOMAN IN RED, with a recommendation for Elena Ferrante's THE LOST DAUGHTER. Enjoy! http://www.greermacallister.com/blog/2020/1/19/read99women-diana-giovinazzo

This is the first time I‘ve finished an audiobook in one day! The Lost Daughter is a short but powerful book dealing with motherhood. Women in Translation Readathon: a book in a non traditional format 🎧 #witreadathon

My TBR for this week‘s Women in Translation Readathon and Summer‘s End Readathon:
1. A Greater Music 🎶
2. The Lost Child 🎧
3. The Secret Piano 🎹
The Girl who Wrote Loneliness (recommended read)
I‘ve already In Other Words which is the other recommended read. It‘s one of my favorite books though, so I‘ll reread it if I have time!
#witreadathon #summersendreadathon

I like this one more than I liked her Brilliant Friend series. It‘s creepy and smart

I am in pain, physically. This history of my country, seen by Elena‘s story, it‘s making me doubt of margin lines. I don‘t know what to believe anymore, if everything is nothing and nothing is everything.
What a rollercoaster this book has been!
What do I do with my life now?

I can‘t physically read more but my soul is unsatisfied. I foresee wild dreams tonight and a heavier bag tomorrow, cause there‘s no way I will be leaving without this book 80ish pages from the end. The real end this time.

Still hooked up on this series. Afraid of reaching the end. Elena Greco is both me and my worst traits: a Neapolitan Scarlett O‘Hara that I didn‘t know I needed.

Kind of boring

I tried to get into Ferrante but maybe the timing was wrong, I just couldn‘t. It please loooove her writing. Maybe this will kick start me?

https://deadline.com/2018/10/maggie-gyllenhaal-directing-the-lost-daughter-film-...

I really enjoyed this quirky little book. Ferrante takes us into a main character who abandons her daughters (for awhile) and steals a child's beloved doll on the beach. It's a complicated study of motherhood and imperfection.

Absolutely dreamy #audiobookwalk

Ferrante is as always brilliant and far-seeing in The Lost Daughter. Her use of language is exquisite. Her story crafting is filled with unexpected twists and reversals. This is a novel primarily dealing with the complexity of motherhood. To a certain degree, males such as myself, can only stand in the doorway and watch and possibly learn.

Check that. Ferrante takes a twist or two, becomes much darker than Cusk. First person sociopath?

Reading Elsa Ferrante's The Lost Daughter. So far reminds me of Rachel Cusk: first person female writer on vaca speculating on strangers she meets...

Man, I just love Elena Ferrante. This short novel focuses on the summer vacation of a middle aged woman, but quickly morphs to a powerful exploration of motherhood. Fans of the Neapolitan Novels will recognize the similar themes and equally fantastic writing. I had to keep reminding myself though not to try and make comparisons between those novels, this story, and what I can imagine her real life to be!

I missed Ferrante in my summer and this was a delightful revisit.

Friday night reading. My first Elena Ferrante book!

I loved this little book so much. I've read the whole Neapolitan series but this story is as well written. The essence of what is explored in the series is here in a beautiful and uncomplicated way. That is if human interactions can ever be uncomplicated.

Finished reading this book on my flight back home to Singapore from Seoul. With Baskin Robbins affogatto near my departure gate (which was changed at the last minute - boo). Raw and unapologetic - articulates truths that are often left unspoken because they may cause a rupture of the soul. But Ferrante is fearless that way. Heedlessly grounded in her voice of motherhood and its unaccounted for loathing that is inextricably part of love.

Traveling from Asan to Incheon on my way back home to Singapore. My travel companion once again is Ferrante. Keynote speech done for the Soonchunhyang Exceptional Children Institute 2016 International Symposium.

I'm rather bewildered. Leda spends most of the book justifying her dissatisfaction with motherhood in an effort to gain our sympathy, but the plot centers around the fact that she stole a child's beloved doll. Bewildered and yet I am still somewhat sympathetic. I admire Ferrante's unwavering portrait of a less-then-perfect woman, I just wish the plot allowed more action for Leda. Anyone read the Neapolitan Novels? How do they compare?

A subtle and nuanced exploration of motherhood

"I loved them too much and it seemed to me that love for them would keep me from becoming myself."

Lazy days off are perfect for some quality time with my BFF Elena Ferrante.