Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Oh My God!
the ending is so unexpected! i have been rooting for Lenu to end with Nino since day one. and it finally happened!! except that it was not in the circumstances i would have imagined.
well the third instalment of elena ferrante’s story since My Brilliant Friend. i was satisfied that this time around, more focus was given to Lenu herself and her family. we get to have a bit more scenes that tries to portray the relationship between her and her mother. i am happy that her family got more mention, with her sister Elisa suddenly came on into the spotlight towards the end.
i am left satisfied because the previous two books felt like it focused so much on Lila. so this third one feels like it gives more insight on Lenu’s adult life and her frustrations and struggles of being in marriage, with an aloof husband and two daughters, juggling these many roles as well as the difficulties of trying to continue writing but failing to do so.
however, the twist of fates in their lives gives the impression that now Lila is getting the better of their worlds with her involvement and skills in handling modern machines, and now its Elena who is being the lesser of two, juggling her life.
however, this time around, i found some passages which i felt describe this complicated friendship between Lenu and Lila.
“I had been conditioned by my education, which had shaped my mind, my voice. To what secret pacts with myself had i consented, just to excel. And now, after the hard work of learning, what must i unlearn. Also, I had been forced by the powerful presence of Lila to imagine myself as I was not. I was added to her, and I felt mutilated as soon as I removed myself. Not an idea, without Lila. Not a thought I trusted, without the support of her thought. Not an image. I had to accept myself outside of her. The gist was that. Accept that I was an average person.What should i do. Try again to write. Maybe I didn’t have the passion, I merely limited myself to carrying out a task. So don’t write anymore. Find some job. Or act the lady, as my mother said. Shut myself up in the family. Or turn everything upside down. House. Children. Husband.
Although this last statement is giving us a teaser on what is going to happened at the end of this period. as I would find out at the end.
Also Pietro’s description of Lila is on point. “…she wasn’t at all my friend, that she hated me, that she was extraordinarily intelligent, that she was fascinating, but her intelligence had been put to bad use – it was the evil intelligence that sows discord and hates life – and her fascination was the more intolerable, the fascination that enslaves and drives a person to ruin.”
and this part!! I don’t understand how your relationship could have lasted so long, obviously you’ve carefully hidden from each other anything that could rupture it.
to end the beautiful pieces.”My becoming was a becoming in her wake. I had to start again to become, but for myself, as an adult, outside of her.” Yes Lenu, Yes. about time. Finally you understood this.
being almost like an observer to these characters, following their lives. i am glad i picked up My Brilliant Friend some months ago and got hooked to the Neapolitan dramas.
Now that i am moving on to the final book, i feel like i do not want in to end.
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