Story of A New Name

This is a four-part story, released at one volume each year between 2012 and 2015. Set in a poverty-stricken section of Naples in the 1950s, it is the story of a friendship between two women, Elena and Lina.
At times I found myself wondering whether anything really happened in these books. Is the whole thing just a souped-up soap opera, I wondered? But occasionally, I'd just sit bank and think- Yep, this woman sure can write. There's a huge scope of time encompassed in these books. The plotting of the series of books is masterful, clearly planned in its entirety from the opening pages of Book 1 which tie in so neatly with the closing pages of Book 4. This isn't a saga with one book added after another once they began to sell well: no, it's a complete whole, conceived as a unity from the start. It was always a little difficult to start each volume after a break, but about half way through each one , she'd put her foot to the metal and it was unputdownable.

I have loved these books. They capture so well the ambiguities of a close friendship, and they mark the passing of time and the 20th century development of Naples, with the chains of past family enmities and the allure of modernity. I flipped through the advertisements for Ferrente's other books at the back of the volume. No, I don't want to read any more. They sound too much the same. This was just perfect, just as it is.

For my complete review, see https://residentjudge.wordpress.com/2018/03/14/the-neapolitan-quartet-by-elena-ferrante/

This is the second book in Ferrante's Neapolitan Novels. I couldn't put it down and loved the way that the friendship between Elena and Lina is described - all the conflicting feelings, tensions, and betrayals. I also love that the novel charts Elena's intellectual development and her struggle to find her place in the new worlds she inhabits away from her family.

Damn, I cried near the end of this book. The characters drew me in so much I couldn't stop reading and I ended up finishing the book in 10 days. If you're interested in feminism definitely check out this book.

I want to put it down but I can't.

I enjoyed this continuation of Lina and Elena's story. This story takes the girls through their teens and into their early 20s.
It's a story of raising oneself above one's beginning and the various directions this can take one. It's about feeling out of place and struggling to find comfort and security within oneself.
Who hasn't gone through all that in one's life?
These girls are interesting. Their friendship is complicated.
Elena Ferrante tells a good story. I look forward to continuing with this story very soon.
Also, loved the ending! What a way to end this segment of the story!

Only continuing the series because I do enjoy finding out what happens to characters I've come to know. I am still dismayed with Elena's depressing inability to ever appreciate the value of her own dreams and achievements. She makes so much progress in this book, but still doesn't feel she is "good enough."

"I had made that whole journey mainly to show her what she had lost and what I had won. But she had known from the moment I appeared, and now... she was explaining to me that I had won nothing, that in the world there is nothing to win, that her life was full of varied and foolish adventures as much as mine, and that time simply slipped away without any meaning, and it was good just to see each other every so often to hear the mad sound of the brain of one echo in the mad sound of the brain of the other."

<3

Do not read until you've finished 'My Brilliant Friend,' as you'll miss some important character development and plot points. That being said, I think this book is much better. The story is beautiful, and I can't wait to read the 3rd one. I actually bought this book after checking it out from the library. It's not every day that a story is written this beautifully and is this intriguing.

The second book in Ferrante's Neapolitan novels picks up right up where we left Elena and Lila at the end of "My Brilliant Friend." They have now begun to navigate life as young adults, and their story continues to be engrossing and compelling. Fans of the first novel will not be disappointed.

The continuation of the story of two friends in a small town outside Naples. Readers need to read the books in order to understand the relationships of all the characters. The story is character driven by Elena who was determined to go to university and her friend Lina who chose to quit school as soon as possible and married the most important man in the village. Two lives so different yet so closely tied.