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What Members Thought
I only wish that I could read these novels in Italian but thankfully the translation is beautiful and captivating. I devoured them all, savoring the gorgeous writing and the messy, complicated story that begins with two girls and their dolls, an almost mythical origin story. So many novels rely on cliches or use a female friendship as a side story to one person's life or romance but Ferrante puts the friendship at the center of her novels and presents a nuanced and deeply emotional relationship
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This is the 4th and final book about Elena and Lila - friends in Naples since they were 10. This book covers their lives from about age 30 - 65. I read the first 3 books and watched Season 1 and 2 of the TV series, so I feel as if i know these main characters very well. The book is long and the topics ranged from very interesting to kind of boring. For some reason there were a lot of things the women did which I found hard to understand - but as Elena states over and over, their upbringing in th
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In the same way that the first book in the series felt like more setup and less story, this last book in the series was a lot of wrapping up. I really enjoyed the first half which focused on Elena, Nino and Lina and Elena's continued discovery of independence from both of those very strong influences on her. The last 150 pages are so were a strange mix of repetitive descriptions of Lina's strangeness and estrangement and what felt a bit too dutiful a wrap up of the secondary character's storylin
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The final and most touching book of the Neapolitan Novels. Ferrante's prose is powerful and stirring, but so is life in the Italy of 50s through today. I felt completely immersed in the lives of these families and the dynamics of the relationships portrayed. I will probably come back to these books in a few years.
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I'm sad this series has come to an end. A very satisfying conclusion. Now I looking forward to the HBO series coming out in November 2018.
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Dec 01, 2015
Curlysue
marked it as to-read
Dec 27, 2015
Terri
marked it as our-shared-shelf
Mar 08, 2017
Sadok Rouai
marked it as to-read
May 12, 2017
Juliana Philippa
marked it as to-read
Oct 20, 2017
Diane
rated it
really liked it
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review of another edition
Shelves:
era-1900-s,
locale-europe
Jul 01, 2019
Ayda Akça Akkoç
marked it as to-read
