The Story of a New Name, by Elena Ferrante

[Joanne]

I read this for Week 15. A book by an author from a Mediterranean country or set in a Mediterranean country

This book is set in Italy and written by an Italian author. I read the first book, My Brilliant Friend because there was a lot of hype surrounding this series but I didn't really care for it. I knew I would eventually keep going because I don't tend to give up on series too easily. I was pleasantly surprised by how much more I liked the second book in the series. I never race through these books but I was much more interested in the storyline this time around.

[Angela]

Goodreads Synopsis:

In 2012, Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend introduced readers to the unforgettable Elena and Lila, whose lifelong friendship provides the backbone for the Neapolitan Novels. The Story of a New Name is the second book in this series. With these books, which the New Yorker's James Wood described as "large, captivating, amiably peopled ... a beautiful and delicate tale of confluence and reversal," Ferrante proves herself to be one of Italy's most accomplished storytellers. She writes vividly about a specific neighborhood of Naples from the late-1950s through to the current day and about two remarkable young women who are very much the products of that place and time. Yet in doing so she has created a world in which readers will recognize themselves and has drawn a marvelously nuanced portrait of friendship.

In The Story of a New Name, Lila has recently married and made her entrée into the family business; Elena, meanwhile, continues her studies and her exploration of the world beyond the neighborhood that she so often finds stifling. Love, jealousy, family, freedom, commitment, and above all friendship: these are signs under which both women live out this phase in their stories. Marriage appears to have imprisoned Lila, and the pressure to excel is at times too much for Elena. Yet the two young women share a complex and evolving bond that is central to their emotional lives and is a source of strength in the face of life's challenges. In these Neapolitan Novels, Elena Ferrante, the acclaimed author of The Days of Abandonment, gives readers a poignant and universal story about friendship and belonging.

I read this for ATY 2019’s Week 19: a book by an author with more than one book on your TBR. I really enjoyed this book and thought the character development was strong, particularly in terms of what we’ve learnt about the main characters in My Brilliant Friend. The friendship is definitely full of rivalry and jealousies and sometimes I asked myself whether the friendship is actually that at all. A really great book in a wonderful series, I’m looking forward to reading the remaining two books.