Die Geschichte eines neuen Namens

No cover

Elena Ferrante, Elena Ferrante: Die Geschichte eines neuen Namens (Hardcover, German language, 2017, Suhrkamp)

Hardcover, 623 pages

German language

Published May 14, 2017 by Suhrkamp.

ISBN:
978-3-518-42574-9
Copied ISBN!

View on OpenLibrary

4 stars (1 review)

Friends Lila and Elena are now in their twenties. Marriage appears to have imprisoned Lila. Meanwhile, Elena continues her journey of self-discovery. The two young women share a complex and evolving bond that brings them close at times, and drives them apart at others. Each vacillates between hurtful disregard and profound love for the other. With this complicated and meticulously portrayed friendship at the center of their emotional lives, the two girls mature into women, paying the cruel price that this passage exacts. --back cover

13 editions

The precariousness of circumstance

4 stars

In a violent town with violent circumstance (domestic abuse, etc.), what prospects did a young woman have in the '60s? All the while I'm reading, inside I'm screaming like at the final-girl in a horror movie, "Get out! Get out!"

An excellent portrayal of learning how childish we are in an adult world, of learning how deeply the world is stacked in favor of men, of learning how opportunities are pure luck when coming from poverty.

I might have to take a break before reading the next one; I'm so tense. But this was good to read right after the first one as it picks up directly.