Nobody else's book club: The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante
I have already reviewed My Brilliant Friend, the first book of this series. But after reading the other three I have realized these books are actually one single novel divided in 4 volumes for convenience. So instead of reviewing them one by one, I have joined my review in one single extra post. That said, much of what I have written in my previous post definitely applies to the entire novel. And I could leave it at that, but I do have a few more things to say.
To begin with, a warning to the future reader, this is really a single book. For example, it can be argued that the first volume does not even end where a chapter should end, considering that the second book will continue to describe the continuation of the scene that ends it. None of the volumes ends in a way that feels like an ending has been reached, even if they do not end with a standard cliffhanger, they still end too abruptly. So, if you are planning on reading it, be prepared to read a very looooong book. Is it worth the effort? Well, it is definitely an entertaining and easy read. So you will (at least I did) want to continue to read and never feel that to do so is an effort. As I mentioned in my previous review, one of the qualities of Ferrante's writing is the pace she sets and her ability to keep the reader interested in the story.
Does it really never get boring? Yes, maybe a bit. This is specially true in the last volume. With old age, the rhythm of the events changes. This is a quality rather than a fault, seen from the perspective that this novel's greatest strength is the sense of realism it achieves. It is natural that the rhythms in the life of two old women are much slower than when they were young. It is natural that their social circles decrease as the people they used to know start disappearing from their lives, whether they have died, moved to a different country or just distanced themselves. So, it is natural that the last book is a lot slower and possesses a lot less energy, even if that makes for more boring reading.
There are other parts in the book that I have found, not boring but, irritating. For example, even if I do understand that people, specially teenagers, often have low self-esteem and may constantly repeat to themselves that someone else in their lives has all the qualities and the best they can try to achieve is becoming a lousy copy of the other, there were times were I swore I would stop reading this book if this woman goes on repeating ad nauseam how brilliant Lila is. It does not help that the description of Lila's brilliancy is completely caricature-like, which contrasts with the realistic feel of the book.
Another thing that irritated me through out the book was Nino's story. Nino and his relations show up way too many times in the book in what can only be considered extraordinary coincidences. Here are some examples (big spoiler alert). As a child, Nino leaves the neighbourhood, but Elena soon starts to go to the same school he goes to. This is not such a big coincidence, maybe he did not move far away and that school serves both their neighbourhoods. But then Elena is invited to spend sometime during her school holidays in a house in Ischia where there are a few of rooms for rent and, guess who is renting them during her stay? Nino's family. Huge coincidence, but I am still buying it. Later on more and more coincidences start to add: Elena's future sister-in-law was Nino's lover, with her lives a woman who is the mother of Nino's son, and so on, and so on. It is like Elena cannot do anything or meet anyone that does not lead to Nino, even after they have both moved to completely different cities. It does not help that Nino is, from the beginning, a horrible person you wish would go away for good.
Finally, when their story comes to its unavoidable end, I just had to conclude that, no matter how well written (if you forget the far-fetched coincidences and some ridiculous characteristics of Lila's brilliancy) and how interesting the book is, this is a story about a very shallow, stupid woman told from her perspective. That explains how irritating the characters of Lila and Nino are or, to be more precise, Elena's perspective on them and also other characters and even events is. Depending on how you look at it, this is both the book's greatest strength and most irritating weakness. Elena the author hides behind Elena the character and narrator so completely that they seem to become one, but as the story evolves you start realizing that they cannot be one. The author could not write such a magnificent book and be so devoid of awareness. Can she?
I have ended my previous review mentioning the book's misandry. At the time it was a bit of a joke, but in retrospective this misandry arises mostly from Elena's aforementioned perspective, but also from the choices she makes and, in particular, the men she chooses to be intimate with. I personally know some really nice Italian men that I am happy to call my friends and they do not resemble any of the men Elena describes.
Another strength of the book, that is partly missed by non-Italian readers, is the vivid description of Italian society during the second half of the twentieth century. Elena and Lila are born shortly after the Great War and Mussolini's dictatorship end. The first volume goes on to describe the squalid poverty that many Italians endured in the fifties and how their lives started to greatly improve in the sixties. It then follows the great political instability and the violent decade of the seventies and finally the moral quagmire of the decades that followed, when radical idealism was shamelessly replaced by easy-money, consumerism and corruption. The book ends in a very, very depressive note.
PS: I had actually completely forgotten that I had not finished reading Ficciones. That is what can happen with short stories. You do not need to read them in order and you do not need to read them to the end. But I will do it. I also intend to finish reading Prometheus, but I have started reading The Nigger for a simple reason. I was on holidays when I finished Ferrante's novels and did not have those two other books available, so I was forced to start reading a third one. I must confess that knitting has been disturbing my reading a lot. Otherwise I would have finished all of these books in no time, they are all quite short.
To begin with, a warning to the future reader, this is really a single book. For example, it can be argued that the first volume does not even end where a chapter should end, considering that the second book will continue to describe the continuation of the scene that ends it. None of the volumes ends in a way that feels like an ending has been reached, even if they do not end with a standard cliffhanger, they still end too abruptly. So, if you are planning on reading it, be prepared to read a very looooong book. Is it worth the effort? Well, it is definitely an entertaining and easy read. So you will (at least I did) want to continue to read and never feel that to do so is an effort. As I mentioned in my previous review, one of the qualities of Ferrante's writing is the pace she sets and her ability to keep the reader interested in the story.
Does it really never get boring? Yes, maybe a bit. This is specially true in the last volume. With old age, the rhythm of the events changes. This is a quality rather than a fault, seen from the perspective that this novel's greatest strength is the sense of realism it achieves. It is natural that the rhythms in the life of two old women are much slower than when they were young. It is natural that their social circles decrease as the people they used to know start disappearing from their lives, whether they have died, moved to a different country or just distanced themselves. So, it is natural that the last book is a lot slower and possesses a lot less energy, even if that makes for more boring reading.
There are other parts in the book that I have found, not boring but, irritating. For example, even if I do understand that people, specially teenagers, often have low self-esteem and may constantly repeat to themselves that someone else in their lives has all the qualities and the best they can try to achieve is becoming a lousy copy of the other, there were times were I swore I would stop reading this book if this woman goes on repeating ad nauseam how brilliant Lila is. It does not help that the description of Lila's brilliancy is completely caricature-like, which contrasts with the realistic feel of the book.
Another thing that irritated me through out the book was Nino's story. Nino and his relations show up way too many times in the book in what can only be considered extraordinary coincidences. Here are some examples (big spoiler alert). As a child, Nino leaves the neighbourhood, but Elena soon starts to go to the same school he goes to. This is not such a big coincidence, maybe he did not move far away and that school serves both their neighbourhoods. But then Elena is invited to spend sometime during her school holidays in a house in Ischia where there are a few of rooms for rent and, guess who is renting them during her stay? Nino's family. Huge coincidence, but I am still buying it. Later on more and more coincidences start to add: Elena's future sister-in-law was Nino's lover, with her lives a woman who is the mother of Nino's son, and so on, and so on. It is like Elena cannot do anything or meet anyone that does not lead to Nino, even after they have both moved to completely different cities. It does not help that Nino is, from the beginning, a horrible person you wish would go away for good.
Finally, when their story comes to its unavoidable end, I just had to conclude that, no matter how well written (if you forget the far-fetched coincidences and some ridiculous characteristics of Lila's brilliancy) and how interesting the book is, this is a story about a very shallow, stupid woman told from her perspective. That explains how irritating the characters of Lila and Nino are or, to be more precise, Elena's perspective on them and also other characters and even events is. Depending on how you look at it, this is both the book's greatest strength and most irritating weakness. Elena the author hides behind Elena the character and narrator so completely that they seem to become one, but as the story evolves you start realizing that they cannot be one. The author could not write such a magnificent book and be so devoid of awareness. Can she?
I have ended my previous review mentioning the book's misandry. At the time it was a bit of a joke, but in retrospective this misandry arises mostly from Elena's aforementioned perspective, but also from the choices she makes and, in particular, the men she chooses to be intimate with. I personally know some really nice Italian men that I am happy to call my friends and they do not resemble any of the men Elena describes.
Another strength of the book, that is partly missed by non-Italian readers, is the vivid description of Italian society during the second half of the twentieth century. Elena and Lila are born shortly after the Great War and Mussolini's dictatorship end. The first volume goes on to describe the squalid poverty that many Italians endured in the fifties and how their lives started to greatly improve in the sixties. It then follows the great political instability and the violent decade of the seventies and finally the moral quagmire of the decades that followed, when radical idealism was shamelessly replaced by easy-money, consumerism and corruption. The book ends in a very, very depressive note.
I love a good sailor's story. Next book: "The Nigger of the 'Narcissus': A Tale of the Forecastle" by Joseph Conrad.
PS: I had actually completely forgotten that I had not finished reading Ficciones. That is what can happen with short stories. You do not need to read them in order and you do not need to read them to the end. But I will do it. I also intend to finish reading Prometheus, but I have started reading The Nigger for a simple reason. I was on holidays when I finished Ferrante's novels and did not have those two other books available, so I was forced to start reading a third one. I must confess that knitting has been disturbing my reading a lot. Otherwise I would have finished all of these books in no time, they are all quite short.
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