Absolutely stunning.

This ending left me speechless and with the heaviest book hangover EVER.




P.S. I'm proud to have the same first name. Elena. Isn't it beautiful?

This series was so beautifully written and so perfectly told that it truly didn't feel like fiction. It could have been a memoir, it rang so true to life and relationships. I haven't come across such a rich world in a long time.

Actual rating 4.5
I thought that when I finished all four books, I would be able to write about them and their stories. But now I don't know where to begin. I've been taken on a long and winding journey with too many sights to single out any one for special mention. A big part of this is Ferrante's writing style: contrary to what we have all been 'taught' about good writing, Ferrante doesn't just show us, she tells us. She tells us everything without superlatives or unnecessary adjectives. So while you don't have to work plot wise, it is in the emotional where the reader does the work. You know Elena and Lila so well it is like you are there experiencing everything with them. It is the ultimate literary intimacy. And it works because while aspects of the plot are uniquely Neapolitan, the emotional dramas are universal. If you are thinking of only dipping your toe in and reading only one or two of them, don't. Either read them all or forget about it. The books stand together, not on their own and you will have no real sense of the passage of Elena and Lila's life and friendship.

I was eagerly awaiting this conclusion to the Neapolitan quartet, and it turned out to be all that I’d hoped. Now that it’s finished, I can wholeheartedly recommend the series to anyone, especially to women but also to men.

Two things you should know right away. First, please don’t be put off by the covers. Yes, they look like they belong on the grocery store’s discount rack with lowbrow chick lit. Fortunately, the contents are nothing like that! They are excellent literary books with a lot of depth and no sentimentality or easy answers. Now that they’re gaining recognition in the U.S., hopefully there will be a reissue someday soon. Second, this series is really one novel in four volumes, so if you haven’t already read the first three, don’t start here. You’re looking for My Brilliant Friend. The quality is consistent throughout, so you’ll soon know whether this is something you’d like.

But Ferrante isn’t resting on her laurels here; there’s a lot in this book. It’s about friendship, of course: Elena returns to Naples and she and Lila resume their close relationship, even raising their children together, leading to unexpected drama and tragedy. It’s also about romantic relationships, and about the changes in family relationships as we age, and about loss. It’s about motherhood, and since this is Ferrante, both women are far from perfect mothers (but who is perfect at being a working single mother? Elena in particular is constantly required to choose, as she’s asked to travel the country promoting her books). It’s about what it means to succeed in life. It’s about escaping the place and the social class to which one is born, and whether that’s even possible. It’s about an Italy that’s constantly changing – a vibrant, violent, dangerous place, steeped in history yet teeming with new ideas.

As always, the book rushes along through short chapters that delve deeply into the characters’ lives and interactions. The writing is urgent and electric, not quite like anything else I’ve read. The characters are people, in all their complexity. The author doesn’t make it easy for us by assigning them two or three traits apiece; instead she shows them to us and lets us figure them out for ourselves. You may not always like them, but you’ll remember them.

I’m a little disappointed this series is finished, but looking forward to more from this author (and maybe even re-reading these books someday – something I hardly ever do). If you haven’t yet started this series, you are in for a treat.