Review: Elena Ferrante - The Neapolitan Novels (2012-2015)

[phanero]

What an epic and dramatic set of novels.

I've done separate write ups on the individual of the four novels and then summarized my thoughts in one huge section.

Overall, this was a good book as Ferrante expressed very interesting relationships and themes. However, I will say this book was rage inducing on account of the characters acting in very dramatic ways.

Spoilers abound!!

My Brilliant Friend



Story

This was the first part of the book, beginning with Lenu and Lila's childhood, up until Lila's wedding.

While both were in school, Lila had revealed herself to be a prodigy, a genius, having been able to teach herself to read and write, and also just generally doing really well in school. After graduating from elementary school, a teacher recommended that Lila and Lenu continued on to middle school. But while Lenu's parents agreed to do so (after pressure from the teacher), Lila's did not. This was the first major split between Lenu and Lila, as Lenu would continue on with her education and Lila would not be able to.

While Lenu attends middle school and then high school, Lila grows into somewhat of the it girl of their part of town. It's emphasized that all the men go crazy for her, which makes her a polarizing figure. And while Lila acts unbothered, as Lenu grows older, it's revealed that she does know this.

The climax of this first novel is probably the conflicts between Lila, the Solara brothers, and Stefano. To be honest, I always confuse the Solara brothers. They're just kind of one entity to me. But Wikipedia tells me that Marcello is the one who was courting Lila. Now, they kind of have some bad blood. The Marcello brothers were the local bullies, the local rich douchebags who'd drive their expensive car around. One time they had bullied Lenu and Lila had threatened to kill them, but she always kind of disliked them. When Marcello courted Lila, she didn't like it, and would find ways to avoid him. Meanwhile, she accepts Stefano's courting, Stefano who was the local grocer and the son of Don Achille, whom Lila and Lenu used to be deathly afraid of.

While to others it felt like Lila was only turning to Stefano to escape Marcello, she did insist that she loved Stefano. And it did feel like they had an understanding. When the Solaras spread lies about Lila, Lila told Stefano that they would act above them.

On the side, Lenu was still in school. She had her ups and downs. Sometimes she did well, sometimes she didn't. She was also dating a boy called Antonio. She wasn't really in love with him, but it seemed she did grow to care for him. But she couldn't help but always compare her relationship to Lila.

As Lila was getting married, she was starting to grow some jitters. But things really came crashing down for her when the Solaras showed up at her wedding party. Not only that, but Marcello was wearing the pair of shoes that she and Rino had created, that was sold in the Cerullo shop, which Stefano had bought because he loved Lila. The fact that Stefano had straight up given those shoes to Marcello showed that not only was Stefano friendly with the Solaras to that extent, but that Stefano did not understand Lila at all if he thought it would have been ok with her.

Writing

I won't have too much to say on the writing. The book I read was the English translation and it was decent. there are some odd sentence structures but nothing that makes it unreadable. It is written as a kind of diary/first-person narration of Lenu, so any casualness doesn't actually feel too awkward.

Characters

There are a lot of characters in this book, but frankly the most important are always Lenu and Lila.

Elena Greco/Lenu

Lenu is our main character. She's kind of the withdrawn and more timid one. I read on Wikipedia that one of the interpretations of Lenu and Lila is that they are two halves of a whole, so in that sense perhaps I would call Lenu the more withdrawn and steady one.

From childhood, Lenu was always more passive. While Lila would get into fights, Lenu would just stay at the side and help. When Lila threw her doll into the chute, Lenu threw it after her, somewhat of a follower.

For much of her life (at least in this part of the book), Lenu just kinds of lets things happen to her, and honestly she does luck into a lot. It's by her fortune that her parents were willing to let her go to school while Lila, the smarter one, was not allowed.

Even when it came to her relationships, it was hard to say that Lenu really made an effort. Not in the sense that she was a bad friend. She just didn't really pursue anyone. She even acknowledged that her relationship with Antonio was mostly Antonio being infatuated with her. Meanwhile, Lenu had been in love with Nino all this time and all she could do was try to get involved in the activities that he seemed to show interest in.

But it's a strength sometimes, because while she was passive, she also learned to be agreeable. Everybody always told Lenu that she was the one that everyone liked. And it's probably because she doesn't rock the boat. This definitely happens later but whenever anybody had problems with Lenu, they would go to Lila. When Lila was having problems with Maria and Pinuccia about her wedding dress, she asked Lenu to come with her. Lenu managed to charm Maria and Pinuccia, mostly by choosing when to agree with them, and using that rapport to lead them to an answer. Lila had looked to Lenu with a little bit of disgust at that point, being like "is that what you learn at school?" But it was a rare instance because Lila rarely shows those sorts of emotions in front of Lenu.

At the time I'm writing this, I'm fairly deep into the second book, but My Brilliant Friend does show very brief instances in which Lila is jealous of Lenu. When they took that trip to the edge of town, Lenu recognized that Lila was trying to get her in trouble so that her parents would pull her out of school so that they would be on equal footing again. Or that time when Lila asks Lenu if persuasion is what she learns at school. These moments are briefer in My Brilliant Friend, but I think it's because Lenu and Lila were both still young and hadn't quite contextualized their relationship yet.

On the other hand, I think Lenu felt like she was falling behind on life. Lila was sought after by all the men in town, even the adult men would praise her beauty. Meanwhile, Lenu just spent all day in school learning these abstract things which would not help her in popularity, not when most of her friends did not continue on with school. And I think she did look at Lila with some wonder when she and Stefano would go around like the hottest couple in town (which they were).

If I had to describe Lenu in this book, I'd say that she was generally kind of passive, and always trying to catch up with Lila, without fully understanding why Lila acts the way she does, though she recognizes the patterns in Lila's personality.

Raffaella Cerullo/Lina/Lila

Oof, Lila is a huge can of worms, ESPECIALLY in the Story of a New Name, but this is only supposed to be about My Brilliant Friend, so I will try to keep the discussion to that.

I always thought that Lila was supposed to be the brilliant friend. She was super smart, teaching herself to read and write. She devoured books like crazy, taking out books in the names of her parents and brother. She was primed to be a great mind. But like many people, she was unfortunately hindered by poverty, and traditional gender roles. When Lila wanted to continue her schooling as Maestro Oliviero suggested, her father threw her out the window. I think very few people have been in a situation where a parent was so enraged that they did such a thing, so you understand what Lila was working with. This was revealed in the Story of a New Name, but Nunzia (Lila's mother), had said that she had wanted Lila to continue her schooling, but she had always been too submissive to her husband, and we see why. Lila's father Fernando is not a reasonable man.

In the first little while after Lenu began school, Lila would try to keep up with her. She would do all the readings that Lenu had to do, to the point that it felt like Lila was still smarter than Lenu even when she didn't have lessons. At the same time, Lila and Rino were working on a shoe prototype that they were pretty excited about.

Over time, education kind of fell out of the picture for Lila as she got caught up in the courtship wars. She obviously didn't like Marcello, but had to think of a good way to stop his advances. From what we learned of her courtship with Stefano, it seemed pretty ideal. He seemed pretty respectful of her.

Which was why his gifting of her shoes to Marcello was such a surprise out of nowhere. But I won't talk too much about their marriage here, because it's explored far more in the Story of a New Name.

To put it bluntly in Lenu's words, Lila was mean. That was why I didn't really like her, and disliked her even more in the Story of a New Name. But she doesn't do it in terms of insults (not always). But she does do it sometimes, and Lenu always recognizes and points it out (to us, the reader).

Initially, I always got the sense that Lila felt like she always had to look unbothered and composed. It felt like she never wanted to look like she wanted things. This was a while back but I got the sense that Lila had only wanted to go to school after figuring that Lenu got a shot, and after she was so cruelly turned down by her father, she acted like nothing had transpired. And as I mentioned, Lila had briefly had a "what am I getting myself into" moment when in private with Lenu, one of the only times she seemed to show any doubt at her actions.

I didn't realize this until the Story of a New Name, but Lila wanted to impress Lenu. She wanted to look all put together so that Lenu would look up to her. I'll probably discuss this more in the next book though since it's more prominent then.

The thing is, while Lila is undoubtedly bright, she is restricted by her surroundings. She learns to conquer their town, but her environment is limited, and we will see this emphasized in the next novel. But she learns to control and gain influence in their town. Only, she makes a huge miscalculation in marrying Stefano. I really do think she thought that they had a good thing going on, because Stefano respected her values, listened to her and spoiled her, and he had money which would help her family in the long run.

What she hadn't realized that all that changed with marriage. She wasn't the exception, she was just one of the many. We don't see this until the next novel since this novel ends in the middle of her marriage.

There are unexpected times in this novel when Lila is nice. She calls Lenu her brilliant friend, because she goes to school, and she wants Lenu to keep studying. When Lenu's glasses break in a fight with her family, Lila gets them fixed with Stefano's help. And she undoubtedly considers Lenu her closest friend, even with all that space between them. It's really odd, and that's why I can't like Lila.

I keep saying this but this is more prominent in the next novel!!! But some things that Lila does reminds me of moments in my life when someone claims to care for me and yet time and time again only does hurtful things. So that's why even now, especially since I'm in the second book, I am so hurt on Lenu's behalf.

If I had to describe Lila in this book I'd say that she tries to show bravado, particularly to Lenu because she cares about her opinion. It's more apparent in this book that she's showing bravado because she's only a kid, and also because she does admit to not knowing what she's doing at times.

Themes

Sorry this section is kind of rough OTL

Competition

It really feels like Lenu and Lila are always competing with each other. It was even a source of motivation for Lenu, even when Lila had stopped her education. When they were younger, it was competing in education.

It always felt like Lenu was chasing after Lila, but it took me some stepping back to realize that Lila was also chasing after Lenu, reading all the books so she could keep up with Lenu's education. And she wanted to look competent and capable and put together to Lenu, even when she didn't know what she was doing, even when she made that gross miscalculation.

But at the time, I definitely felt like Lenu often felt like she wasn't enough and that she would always lag behind Lila.

As time goes on, we see that the girls are leaving each other behind in different ways. Lila has already progressed to marriage. Getting married at sixteen years old is quite early but she was so sure of it and by the end of this novel she is Signora Caracci.

As for Lenu, she's leaving Lila behind with her education. We later see that she goes places where Lila cannot follow. Yet, in many ways, they keep getting dragged back to each other.

Class differences

I think it's implied that most of the families in this town are in poverty. The reason why the Solaras are such a big deal is because they're rich.

We're still living in an old time period of Italian history, where standard education does not go to age 18, where women are expected to be submissive to their husbands, etc.

In this town, the most visible differences in class is represented with money. With money, one can do whatever they want. Look at the Solaras. And look at all who cozy up to the Solaras to get by.

But as with Lila, some in the town are so limited in ways they didn't even know. Not even when Lenu began school did she understand the doors that would be open to her. If Lenu was able to be the master of her own future, then she wouldn't be subject to a submissive life like all wives and mothers were.

Lenu only sees the effects of her education gradually. When she hangs out with friends in her town, she notices the differences. She has to hide the parts of herself that she finds at school in order to fit in with her friends because otherwise she cannot fit in. And she grapples with these two sides of her. Does she hide herself for the sake of community? Or does she be herself for the sake of her potential?

Disappearance

This novel begins with Lila's disappearance, and her son Rino calling Lenu to ask about her. Lenu says that Lila's overdone it, implying that perhaps this is something that Lila talks about or has done a lot. Why does she want to disappear? Is it perhaps that she doesn't like her surroundings, or is it a more inward feeling?

Lila had mentioned the disappearing margins once, during a gathering with fireworks, in which she found her brother Rino just as ugly as everybody else. I still didn't really understand what that was to be honest, but I wonder if it was just a moment where Lila saw her brother in a different way, and realized that people that close to you might still not be good for you. I'm not still 100% on this though.

Overall

The formative years of Lenu and Lila's friendship, but I can't say that it's more or less important than all the other parts. Their relationship is constantly growing.

When Lenu and Lila went to Don Achille's home to get their dolls, Lila had taken her hand, and Lenu had said that that changed the trajectory of their friendship forever. So I guess in a way, their formative years anchored them together. No matter how they differed or grew apart, Lenu determined that they would always join hands.

In their formative years, Lenu and Lila are milder versions of the people they are yet to become. They're a little more agreeable, but a little more honest as well, and while the things they do are subject very much to child-logic, we see the hints of their personalities breaking out of their shells.

To be honest, I was kind of hype at the end of this book, not because I want Lila to go through terrible things, but because I thought it was interesting that we would finally get to see Lila face problems in a different way. She couldn't charm her way out of a conflict with Stefano now that she was his wife and I was really intrigued to see how Lila would deal with it.



The Story of a New Name



Story

This second novel began immediately after (or during?) Lila's wedding, and ended when Lenu published her book.

During Lila's wedding, she found out that Stefano had given the original pair of shoes that she and Rino had worked on to the Solaras. That was when she realized that her husband was not who she thought he was. She thought that he would be respectful of her strong will but in fact, upon their marriage, he expected her to become a docile wife, like all the women Lenu and Lila had seen growing up. Lila and Stefano had a terrible honeymoon, where he raped her and beat her.

From then on, they had a poor relationship. It seemed that Stefano regularly abused her, as Lila was noted to have been wearing large sunglasses many times, to cover her bruises.

Lenu continued on with high school. She was still dating Antonio who loved her, but she was still secretly in love with Nino. But in a way, Lenu did care for Antonio, even if not romantically. She saw he was really stressed about being drafted to the military. After doing some sleuthing, she realized that all the men in the town who had dodged the draft had done so by bribing the local military officers, so Lenu, with Lila, approached the Solaras to try to get the draft exemption. That angered Antonio and he broke up with her, and he went to serve anyway (the Solaras' promise did not become fulfilled).

As denoted by Lenu, a huge moment in Lenu and Lila's relationship was when she was invited to a party by a Professor. It was her kids' party, so Lenu would have fit in because she was around the same age. Lenu was a little puzzled by it all, not really having gone to any parties, and she ended up going to Lila for help. Lila kind of strong armed her way into getting Lenu to take her. On the day of the party, Lila was clearly dressed to impress. However, at the party, people only paid attention to Lenu. Right at the door, the Professor's son welcomed her warmly, having heard all about her. Lila was not even given a glance. Nino was among the attendants at the party, as he was dating the Professor's daughter. The night was filled with intellectual debates that Lenu participated in. Lenu was gladdened to know that the things she had learned from school had a use here; she could share her thoughts here, whereas she always had to hide herself when she was hanging out with the friends from her town. Meanwhile Lila just wandered like a ghost. Eventually she called Stefano to pick her up because she was bored. In the car, Lila ranted about how boring the party was, how everyone in the party only parrotted things they read. Lila went so far as to mock Lenu and the people there, making mocking bird noises. Even Stefano realized how insulting it was to Lenu and apologized to her for his wife's behaviour when he dropped her off. Lenu noted that this was the event that led to their first major break, as Lila finally saw that Lenu gained access to a world that she could not dominate as she always used to.

I'd say the next major event was the summer at Ischia. Lila's family was puzzled as to why she wasn't getting pregnant; the doctor said that her body was not strong, and so the family decided that she had to go to the beach for the summer to swim so that her body would grow strong. Lila begged for Lenu to come so that she wouldn't have to deal with her in-laws alone, even going so far as to telling her she would pay her (so that Lenu would feel more comfortable about leaving her summer job at the bookstore). Lenu was hesitant about doing so, but then agreed to go if Lila and her family would go to Ischia instead, as Nino would spend his summer there as well.

Lenu, Lila, and Pinuccia (Lila's sister-in-law, Stefano's sister, pregnant) would meet up with Nino and Bruno (Nino's friend). Stefano and Rino would come to the vacation house on the weekends from work.

Lenu and Nino would have huge intellectual debates that Lila would not be able to join. But she did want to engage. So while on vacation, she would take Lenu's books and read them so she'd have something to say at these discussions. Bruno and Pinuccia would go off on their own, but eventually Pinuccia left the vacation because she was falling in love with Bruno and was afraid of what would happen.

There were hints in childhood of Nino liking Lila, but I guess it was during this time that he really fell in love with her. Nino and Lila confessed to Lenu separately that Nino had kissed Lila, and eventually they fully realized their romantic feelings for each other. Lila felt rejuvenated because Nino stimulated her intellectually. It was revealed that Bruno had romantic feelings for Lenu but Lenu did not like him and got angry at Lila for leaving her alone with him.

It was during Lila and Nino's affair that I began to be really angry while reading this book. As noted, Lenu always had a crush on Nino but kept it a secret from Lila, particularly because she would always call him ugly. So it was kind of breaking girl code, but also hypocritical. But Lenu accepted this, understanding that she would not get Nino because she had been too passive, whereas Lila always went for what she wanted.

One day, Lila asked Lenu to cover for her, for she wanted to spend a finally perfect day with Nino. Lenu eventually relented, and she told Lila's mother that they were all going to visit Maestro Oliviera's cousin. Only Lenu went, while Lila went to spend time with Nino. The rest of the Sarratore family was staying at the cousin's home, including Nino's creep father Donato. And that night on the beach, Lenu had sex for the first time with Donato Sarratore :S Though she walked away without any feeling for Donato.

After their return to town, Lenu and Lila didn't really meet much. Lenu threw herself into her work, including both school, and doing lots of tutoring so that she would earn lots of money. A professor at school told her about a university in Pisa that would cover costs (presumably some kind of scholarship), and Lenu applied for it and got in. I would say that Lenu's decision to apply for university was perhaps one of the first decisions she made by herself, for herself. She had always been rather passive and this was her being active for once.

Lenu made her rounds around town, collecting the last of her wages from tutoring. I don't think she had intended on visiting Lila, but she had arrived at the shop anyway. When she arrived, Lila was in the middle of her tryst with Nino, who had hidden in the back. The curtains had been pulled down. Apparently Lila was closing the shop for a bit every afternoon so that she and Nino could meet. Lila also revealed that she was pregnant and planning to run away with Stefano. At that point, Lenu questioned bitterly why Lila couldn't just continue lying since she was so good at it. Lila said that before, she lied to survive, but now, she would rather die than live a lie again. Lenu left and hoped that they would not cross paths again.

Lenu breezed through her university career quite quickly in the narrative. She dated a rich high class guy called Franco Mari, and her status elevated when she dated him. But when he flunked out of university, she was back to being the hicktown girl.

Lenu then went into detail on what had happened to Lila. Lila and Nino did run away together, living in a small apartment. However, over time, it seemed Nino started to get annoyed with her. He would leave the apartment and even spend the nights at his own family home to be away from Lila. Antonio was enlisted by the Solaras (don't remember which one) to find out where Lila lived. He did so, but he did not tell Solara, only beating up Nino for cozying up to a married woman. Antonio however did tell Enzo, who approached Lila and took her home. Lila agreed to go home, though she made it clear that living at home with Stefano was difficult. So, after only 23 days with Nino, Lila left the apartment.

Lila went home to Stefano. The Caracci family had assumed that Lila had only gone to visit Lenu, but even if it was false, they refused to believe anything else. Lila came home and gave birth to the child, but Stefano refused to acknowledge that the child was not his, again living in denial. The child was named Rinuccio, after Rino.

Lila was obsessed with raising a smart son so she made all sorts of intellectual games for him. For a time, Lila took care of Dino as well (Pinuccia and Rino's son) which Rino appreciated, but Pinuccia and Lila had a falling out and so Lila stopped taking care of Dino.

At one point, Lila bumped into Maestro Oliviero while she was out with Rinuccio. Maestro Oliviero commented on how it was a pity that Lila hadn't continued with schooling, seeing as how brilliant she was. Lila insisted that this was her potential, to be a wife and mother, like many women. Lila needed Maestro Oliviero to be wrong, because it would probably hurt too much to acknowledge her untapped potential.

Lila found out that Stefano had been carrying out an affair with Ada. He had been carrying it out during the vacation in Ischia, before Lila had been having the affair with Nino. Perhaps it would have made her feel a little vindicated but in my opinion she didn't really care much about it. She was done with Nino forever. During this time, Lenu did visit Lila once and met Rino, but they did not maintain correspondence.

Ada started getting antsy about being Stefano's mistress. She even visited Lila and Rinuccio, which angered Stefano and he beat her for it. But Ada continued visiting the house and taking care of it, showing that she wanted to be his mrs. and forcing him to choose. In the end, Stefano relented and told Lila he would put her up in a house. Lenu later revealed that Ada did indeed become the mistress of the Caracci family and the groceries.

As retaliation for Stefano's affair, Rino started having an affair to hurt Pinuccia. It was really messy. Though Pinuccia and Rino's relationship was already very rocky during her pregnancy. Her feelings for Bruno probably didn't help.

Lila did not live in the house that Stefano had allocated for her though. Instead, she asked Lenu to give a message to Enzo; Enzo then came to pick her up and take her away. Enzo still left their address with Stefano, so that Stefano could find them later.

Lila and Enzo lived together. I'm not sure if he had a job but he had obtained an engineer's certificate before. And Lila got a job at Bruno's factory.

In the meantime, Lenu went through a big moment in her life. She cozied up to Pietro Airota. She did not have feelings for him but eventually he wanted to propose to her so she just kind of accepted it.

She had hastily written in a notebook the happenings in her life, including the vacation in Ischia and never really looked at it again, but she gave it to Pietro when he gave her a ring.

After graduation, Lenu returned home but it was awkward because she couldn't exactly get the summer jobs she used to get as a kid, not when she was a university graduate then. Then one day through his letters Pietro told Lenu that his mother Adele had read her story and passed it on to a publisher who was thinking of publishing it as a book.

So Lenu was moving on up in the world and she decided to finally reach out to Lila, who was working at the salami factory. Lila's work was tough, her hands were all bandaged up. Add to that the fact that Bruno, whose family owned the factory, was a total creep who only came by to sleep with women. Lenu got into the factory by saying that she was Bruno's friend, and Lila approved of that because she said that if the other workers thought she was sleeping with Bruno, they'd leave her alone.

Lenu told Lila about her book, and that she had found Lila's story that she had written as a kid, the Blue Fairy, and that their teacher had actually liked it. But Lila had no more feelings about that. Instead, Enzo seemed to have been studying some sort of computer programming and Lila was learning about that too. It was a field that Lenu knew nothing about.

Though brief, this was a part of the story that made me uncomfortable. The way Lenu described it, Lila knew that Lenu was visiting her to show off about how far she'd gotten, that she had "won." But Lila going into her new interests was meant to show Lenu that she had not in fact won. Lila no longer cared about literature and the classics so Lenu's achievements meant nothing to her. It just came back to the idea that Lila and Lenu were constantly in competition and that kind of rubbed me the wrong way.

Anyway, Lenu's book was published and some events were arranged for her to attend. At the end of this novel, she was at this event and she was incredibly nervous. At last, someone stood up and lauded the book, and Lenu recognized him by his voice to be Nino.

This second novel was incredibly hard for me to get through because of the time spent at Ischia. I felt so wrong on Lenu's behalf when Lila and Nino got together, because it was a little hypocritical of Lila. She did not consider Lenu's feelings at all. Whenever Lenu wasn't feeling it, Lila would express that she was paying Lenu to be there. And towards the end of their stay, Lila was just taking books from Lenu's luggage without asking.

As mentioned, the end of this novel was uncomfortable too. Lila always has to know what she's doing. She mentioned that Lenu was her brilliant friend, but now that Lenu is out here doing brilliant things, she has to indirectly belittle them by talking about her new interests, implying that she doesn't care about literature anymore.

Writing

The writing was pretty easy to follow. It was pretty conversational and easy to grasp. I also like that the parts about Lila's life, though absorbed by Lenu through Lila's diaries, were still told from Lenu's point of view. It helped with maintaining the tone.

Characters

As usual, I'm going to focus this section on Lenu and Lila.

Elena Greco/Lenu

Lenu and Lila really started growing apart in this novel, as their lives were very different. Lenu was in the academic world and Lila with in married life.

At first, I think Lenu felt she was being left behind by those in the town. Lila was in a much better financial position than her, so Lila would help her with things like buying books for school, or for helping Antonio get out of the military draft. As well, Lenu noted that whenever she hung out with her old friends in town, she had to hide the parts of herself she had learned at school. She couldn't speak in Italian, had to speak in dialect. It was Professor Galiani's party that finally showed her that there was value in her education, that there were people out there who appreciated her education. I think that's when Lenu started to build her own personality apart from Lila.

One of the thoughts Lenu had when Lila and Nino had first realized their romantic feelings was that Lila had gotten Nino by going out and doing just that. Meanwhile, all Lenu had done was converse with him but more importantly, agreeing with him in many cases. Lenu rarely challenged him, only ever agreed. On the other hand, Lila would dare to challenge Nino, using what she had learned, even if it was not much. And perhaps Nino was attracted to that engagement, though Lila's natural allure probably helped too.

I did think Lenu became bitter about Nino and Lila's relationship, particularly when Lila revealed she was pregnant and that they were planning to run away. I don't think Lenu was necessarily bitter about Lila having taken Nino away, but rather she was kind of tired of the drama and being Lila's accessory.

When Lenu went off to university, she became the hicktown girl that everybody made fun of. She tried really hard to fit in. When one of the other girls accused Lenu of stealing her money, Lenu beat her, and noted that it was Lila's influence on her. Lenu gained some status when she started dating Franco Mari, but she realized that after he flunked out, she was relegated to her lower status as a country girl.

Lenu seemed to have maintained a friendship with Antonio and some of the other friends in town (I'm sorry, I can't really tell them apart :S). I think she retained a fondness for him, and always wanted to help him out when he was anxious or worried.

For Lenu's relationship with Pietro, it seemed like she was back to being her passive self. She knew she had no feelings for Pietro and that was why she only cared to pleasure him in the shadows. But when he wanted to get engaged, she agreed even though she had no feelings fo rhim. That surprised me. Perhaps she wanted that high life, seeing as how she was rather enamoured with Pietro's mother Adele and his sister Mariarosa. She knew they had a certain pedigree, a certain sense of high class that she didn't have.

With regards to the manuscript, it seemed that Pietro never cared much for it. He'd left it at the restaurant when Lenu gave it to him. Afterwards, he never mentioned it again so Lenu assumed he never read it. He mentioned it in passing only when he told Lenu about his mother having taken it to the publisher. But even when Lenu called Pietro to confirm the details, he seemed to not want to talk about it, and I wonder if it will be a point of conflict between them. Pietro had mentioned wanting to publish his thesis, so perhaps it would be a slap in the face for Lenu to have been published before him, just for a simple account of her life that he might consider even crude. Pietro had suggested Lenu take out the beach sex scene in the book, but Lenu had not, citing that no one at the publishing house had thought it bad.

Lenu sought out Lila at the factory, probably feeling proud of herself. Before that, Maestro Oliviero had died, and Lenu had received some of her old notebooks that Maestro Oliviero had kept. Sandwiched between pages was Lila's old novel, the Blue Fairy, which she had written as a kid. Maestro Oliviero had shot it down, but her marks on the story showed that she had thought it was good. I don't remember the chronology of when Lila had presented the Blue Fairy to Meastro Oliviero, so I'm not quite sure whether Maestro Oliviero had done it to try to goad Lila into going to middle school. At the time, Lenu had thought it to be a good story, and the visual of the story sandwiched in her notebooks represented that Lila influenced her writing.

Though Lenu had always seemed a little insecure to Lila's prodigiousness, I think her being a published author finally gave her some confidence in the face of Lila's work and that was why she felt confident enough to seek out Lila. Not only did she seek out Lila, she was so impatient that she went to Lila at the factory.

Lila's reaction to Lenu's news was lukewarm, and Lenu understood it to be because Lila had moved on and she didn't care about such things about literature. I'm not sure how Lenu took it, but I think she was not surprised, as Lila already had a habit of always having to be the superior one.

The novel ended on a cliffhanger as Lenu was very nervous at a book meet, only to bump into Nino who praised her work.

In terms of Lenu's journey during this second novel, I think this novel highlighted Lenu acknowledging that she and Lila were now too different. However, she mentioned towards the end that she had wished that she was always connected to Lila. I don't think it's unusual for people to want to feel connection with their home. Lila was an old friend, and I think Lenu wanted to feel like she still had a sense of herself even with all these new changes in her life. That even if she was the major author Elena Greco, she was still Lenuccia. When her mother asked her if she would change the name she used to publish books under after marrying Pietro, Lenu said no, that she liked the sound of Elena Greco.

Lenu noted that nobody from their town seemed to acknowledge or even had read the book. Nobody in the family read the book. Nobody in town approached her to talk about the book, even after she got her photo taken. And I think this was another sign that her education had taken her to another world and it was difficult for her to return, no matter how much she wanted.

Raffaella Cerullo/Lina/Lila

I was so angry at Lila in this section of the book. She seemed so inconsiderate of Lenu. But let me start from the beginning.

Lila was the it girl of the town. But after she got married, Stefano expected her to be a docile wife. He expected her to understand he had to sacrifice things for the sake of their business, including giving her shoes to the Solaras to maintain business relations. But he had betrayed Lila so she wanted nothing to do with him anymore, and that was final.

She was unpredictable. But Stefano still expected wifely duties from her, including bearing children. And because the Solaras still valued her, she had value from a business perspective too. Even though she was so erratic.

Her behaviour at the party felt peak, pure Lila. Lenu always said Lila was mean and I always felt that, even before Lenu had said anything about it. It felt so disingenuous, the way Lila suggested that Lenu take her to the party. Lila was going to the Solaras' bar and such, since she clearly wasn't having fun at home. And since Lenu had an outing opportunity, she wanted to take advantage of it. She thought it would be like any other rodeo, and she was pretty surprised when her natural charm and allure for once did not attract anyone, especially over Lenu. Lila had always been the one people obsessed over. Even though people claimed that Lenu was well-liked, it was because she was easy to talk to, and people only ever talked to her to get something from Lila. And Lila was so shocked that she turned her surprise into humiliation against Lenu.

Before her marriage, Lila said that she loved Stefano. But Nino was a whole other story. She loved how Nino stimulated her intellectually. Presumably Nino wrote her love letters and was a lot more romantic than the grocer's son. I understand why Lila would have fallen in such mad love with Nino, especially since she was stuck in such an abusive relationship.

For some people, perhaps Lila's love breaking down so fast was a satisfying bit of karma. But it was not that for me, no matter how angry at Lila I was. She was in love, and she risked her life for love, both in running away from Stefano and bearing Nino's baby. And in less than a month, Nino could not stand it anymore. He hid from Lila because he tired of her. No matter how much Nino despised his father, he was the same as him, abandoning a lover after having his fun.

Lila understood the reality that her relationship with Nino was done. I remember reading that Lila almost regretted running away with Nino, but there's nothing to be done now.

For the time being, after returning to Stefano, Lila focused on raising Rinuccio. She wanted him to be a smart child, to fulfill the potential she did not have. That conversation she had with Maestro Oliviero was pretty related to her childrearing, as it highlight how Lila had so much untapped potential. She came from a poor family and managed to teach herself to read. And while Lenu wasn't in that much of a better position, she was allowed to continue school, and look at where she's gotten now. She has an entire world opened up to her. It would be impossible for Lila to not have been a little bitter.

Ada was slowly trying to force Lila out, though more importantly she wanted Stefano to choose her. While Lila seemed to accept what Ada was doing, I think she was just tired of it all and that's why she called on Enzo.

Again, it's kind of a copout that Lila still has so many men wrapped around her finger after she was married. The Solaras, Enzo. Enzo admitted that he was always in love with Lila and he stoically decided that he would be Lila's protector, but he would be the respectful one. Stefano was the macho one, Nino was the intellectual, romantic, but dramatic one. Enzo was the practical, quite one. He lived with Lila, but he did not touch her, and he gave all his money to her. Basically a simp.

Enzo was an engineer and he seemed to have been taking night classes for mathematics, though from what Lila described to Lenu, it seemed he was getting into computer programming. Anyway, Lila knew she had to make a living now to provide for Rinuccio so that was why she got the job at the factory, even if it was a terrible job. But she was content in starting over a new life, with no hint of her old life, including her previous endeavours in literature.

Lila did a lot of growing up in this novel.

Her marriage to Stefano was a massive miscalculation. Previously, whenever Lila miscalculated, she would somehow weasel her way out of it. But with Stefano, it was difficult, because she had no leverage over him anymore. When they were not married, she could still walk away from him whenever. But Lenu and Lila grew up watching wives being beaten by their husbands, and so it felt more difficult to fight back, especially when it would tarnish Lila's name and also because she relied on Lila for her lifestyle.

Lila was difficult at times, like when it came to whether her wedding photo could be displayed at the store. But she still had some leverage because the Solaras still cared about her. Even when she was still married, Michele said that he would take her on as a mistress.

Nino's world was a whole new one to her. She'd never been loved for her mind, only for how she elevated other men. But she was let down by that love as well.

There was a part in this novel in which Lila mentioned (possibly to Enzo) that she had no feelings. I think she felt this way before, and falling out with Nino confirmed that. She had only ever used her charms to gain advantages for herself, never for anything so altruistic.

When Lenu and Lila were discussing her affair at Ischia, I think Lenu was basically expressing some kind of frustration. Lila had said that this was all for Lenu, which was shocking at the time. Why would Lila going after Nino be to impress Lenu? I think it was Lila's attempt to be on Lenu's level. With Nino, she felt like an intellectual, like a person who was privy to the secret world of love like how Lenu was privy to the secret world of the intellectual. Nella told Lenu that Lila knew Lenu was better than her and disproved of her behaviour. I think this was what Nella was getting at, the fact that Lila wanted to be on Lenu's level.

The book began with the idea of Lila disappearing, and I think Lila trying to move on from her life was a form of her trying to live out that dream. She moved away, but not in the home Stefano had prepared for her. She would not learn to work and provide and hustle for her boy. And she wanted to leave all of her past interests behind, including literature. And she also wanted to leave Lenu behind, which Lenu may have felt a little hurt about.

I was very angry at Lila for how she hurt Lenu's feelings, even if Lenu didn't really articulate them. Well, as the reader, I was very hurt on Lenu's behalf because while I understand that Lila was going through really tough times in an abusive marriage, she hurt Lenu in the process.

Lila became more introspective after she returned to Stefano, and I hope she will be a little more considerate in the future.

Themes

Competition

It makes me uncomfortable that competition is such a huge part of Lenu and Lila's relationship. I've never really felt competitive with my closest friends. I did get jealous when they would do better than me on things, but I would never go so far as to actively want to be better than any of them.

I don't remember when this happened but I have jotted down that Lila had mentioned that there was "always something smaller, always something larger." Maybe that was a way for her to get over her own jealousy sometimes. Even if Lenu was doing better than she was, there was another way to feel fulfilled.

But yeah, Lila showed a lot of jealousy and contempt for Lenu during this second novel. It was clear she was taken aback by how well-liked Lenu was at Professor Galiani's party. This was the first time that Lenu was completely in control, that Lila had nothing to offer, and her only response was to mock Lenu because she was powerless in that situation.

Nella mentioned that Lila knew Lenu was better than her. I suppose it's probably the small things that she noticed. Maybe the way that Lila tended to be the leader, tended to dominate Lenu in social situations. With the party being the prime example, Lila stopped being interested in education altogether, to the point that it was a bit surprising that Lila asked Lenu for one of her books while on vacation, because she wanted to engage in the conversations with Nino.

At the end of this novel, when Lenu described their meeting at the factory as Lenu trying to show Lila that she won and Lila not letting her, that pretty much solidified that the two women were in constant competition. Even when Lenu had achieved such success, her oldest friend would not let her. She had to win in her own way, showing that Lenu's success meant nothing to her, and that literature to her was just something childish. After receiving the marked up copy of the Blue Fairy, Lila threw it into a fire.

Home & Influence

I didn't really know what to call this section, but I thought about this when Lenu went to Pisa. There, she was the girl from Pisa that other people bullied. It's always when we're away from home that we feel the most association with our homes.

When Lenu was accused of stealing money, she slapped/beat the accuser. Lenu noted that this felt like Lila's influence on her. Lila had always been more bold with physical aggression, going so far as to hold a knife to Michele's throat. Lenu never had a physical altercation but it was her instinctive reaction to the situation.

Even in adulthood, Lenu found ways in which she lived in Lila's shadow, which was confirmed when she received her old writing and found Lila's story in the heart of her notebook. But at this point, Lenu almost seemed appreciative of that, as she was saying she wished she was more connected to Lila.

Family

This isn't a particular theme, just some things I noticed about specific families.

Greco Family

Lenu became more alienated from her family as she advanced in her education. Even after she published a novel, nobody in her family read it, not even her own siblings. Actually, it's quite surprising how we rarely hear about Lenu's own family compared to how much we heard about the Cerullo family. Her mother and father weren't even given names. And though Lenu had several younger siblings, we never heard of them, knew nothing about their personalities. It is slightly offputting when we see that Lenu still spends a lot of time talking about other families. Or maybe it's a purposeful blind spot. Lenu was so alienated from her family that they didn't even know the name of her fiance, which I would think is something that would be very important, particularly to a family-oriented culture. But the Greco family in general just seemed very...neutral about Lenu's life. Maybe because she had spent so many years studying and not being part of their household that they had just gotten used to her not being there.

Even if Lenu's parents weren't able to connect with her, however, I thought that her younger siblings might be able to relate, but even they aren't able to, probably because they have not gotten to Lenu's stage. I still wish we got to see more interactions between Lenu and her younger siblings.

I think Lenu was very touched when her mother came to visit her while she was sick. Her mother, who had been a meek housewife, had made the trek all the way to Pisa for Lenu. Lenu also had that conversation with her mom about how she'd keep the name "Elena Greco" for her published work even after she married Pietro.

Lenu's mother did show disdain for Maestro Oliviero though. She noted that Maestro Oliviero fancied herself more of a mother than Lenu's mother herself was. I think it was jealousy in some ways, that Maestro Oliviero could nurture Lenu into something that Lenu's mother could not with her limited life experience.

Cerullo Family

In contrast to the Greco family, the Cerullo family was kind of a mess. While Stefano was courting Lila, it was implied that he was going into business with the Cerullos, setting up a shoe factory and such. At the time, Stefano was very magnanimous about it all, easing the Cerullos' minds about any financial risks.

But things fell apart very soon. There was trouble about the Cerullo shoe factory not turning profits. More importantly, the Solaras had taken Cerullo designs and had them produced independently (basically stealing their intellectual property). It was clear that Stefano cared more about business with the Solaras than the Cerullos, and he had only gone into business with the Cerullos for Lila's hand.

Rino and Pinuccia eventually got together, probably because they were spending so much time together with Lila and Stefano having gotten married. They were very lovey-dovey, more than Lila and Stefano, and even got pregnant first. I think they were presented as somewhat of a more traditional couple. And with that, very soon came problems. Even during Pinuccia's pregnancy, things were tough, and she fell in love with Bruno. Bruno had a crush on Lenu and was therefore weird with her but was quite pleasant and his normal self with Pinuccia, which is how she fell in love. But afraid of her own feelings, she ran away, wanting to be faithful to her husband. But in Dino's early years, Pinuccia and Rino already hated each other. The straw that broke the camel's back was when Rino found out about Stefano's adultery and had an affair to hurt Stefano through Pinuccia.

Lenu spent some time interacting with Nunzia while in Ischia. Nunzia spent a lot of time cleaning the house and rarely any time enjoying herself. At one point, Nunzia praised Lenu for being so well-educated, and she admitted that she wished Lila could have continued school, but could not stand up against her husband. As we saw in the first novel, Fernando went so far as to throw Lila out the window about it, so we understand why Nunzia was so timid.

I forgot when this happened, but Lila was told that her family didn't care about her anymore. I think this might have been after she left Stefano the second time. But I think that tracks. Fernando and Rino weren't the most loving. They put their pride and their values first. As for Nunzia she would have been too afraid to seek out Lila herself. But I don't think that was a problem to Lila. She wanted to wipe her slate clean.

For Lila, I think her only family now was Rinuccio and maybe Enzo. She liked Enzo, and people assumed they were husband and wife, but he had not touched her at all. Since Lila started going by Cerullo again, people assumed Enzo was Enzo Cerullo.

Sarratore Family

In their conversations before, Nino expressed huge disdain for his father, who had seduced Melina and then abandoned her. Nino hated any association with his father for that.

We saw Donato's behaviour confirmed in how he approached Lenu. The first time she stayed with Nella, Donato had come on to her and groped her. She was so shocked and afraid of it that she went home immediately, and told no one about it. The second time she was alone with Donato, Lenu accepted his advances and had sex with him, but made it clear that she had no feelings for him. Perhaps she was feeling self-destructive and worthless and that was why she let Donato do that to her on Ischia. But it seemed like it was something that she just got over.

Though Nino and Lila ran away together, Nino soon got tired of Lila. What's crazy is that even though they had a secret apartment together, Nino was still regularly going home. He had never jumped into this like Lila had. And after only 23 days, Lila was confident enough to believe that she had no future with Nino.

So is Nino so different from his father? Like Lila, I am so over Nino. But I wonder how Lenu will react to Nino showing up in her life again. After all, she had a crush on him. Will she try to be active and approach him this time? Or is she done with him too?

Cappuccio Family

Lenu briefly talked about Antonio and how he was trying to take care of his family. He'd always been protective of his mother Melina, especially in the face of the Sarratores. Unfortunately, Melina committed suicide in this novel.

As for Ada, she was after Stefano and apparently after Lila left, she moved in to Stefano's home and became the mistress of the groceries. I believe she was pregnant with Stefano's child. So I guess Ada and Stefano were always a better fit for each other, Ada willing to give Stefano what he wanted and Stefano being exactly what Ada wanted.

Disappearance

I think Lila moving away with Enzo was her attempt at disappearing from her past life that had given her so much grief. I think she had intended on leaving without a trace and it was Enzo who left the address for Stefano.

Lila did not take any money from Stefano, leaving all of her jewellery. She would make money on her own. She went back to her maiden name Cerullo.

She gained new interests, in the field of math and computing, leaving behind the books that used to mean so much to her.

Perhaps it's Lila's way of coping with the hurt she experience.

Passivity

This is more of a theme for Lenu. She had been a passive person for most of her life. She barely made any choices for herself.

Since childhood, Lenu was always by Lila's side, picking up after the pieces whenever Lila got into a fight. She would go along with Lila's ideas, only understand their intiont or impact afterwards and even if negative, accepting them. Her going to middle school was something that was decided on by her parents, through pressuring from Maestro Oliviero.

In her teen years, Lila's way of showing her love for Nino was just by agreeing to everything he said, agreeing to doing everything he asked of her, even when he himself did not care much about it. Lila's crush on Nino did prompt her to make one big decision, which was to join Lila on vacation as long as she went to Ischia. But when Lila and Nino got together, Lenu understood that it was because Lila was a go-getter, and that Lenu had never been so active as that.

I felt that Lenu applying to university was one of the first most important decisions she made for herself. She did it without telling anyone, and when she decided she was going, she told the decision to her parents rather than discussing it.

When Lenu arrived in Pisa, she reverted back to that passivity, though I think her personality changed. She slapped that girl who accused her of stealing, but I don't consider it a decision, just something instinctive. Lenu didn't make an effort to date Franco, she just did it even though she didn't love him. Same with Pietro. These were just things she did, without passion.

Even with the publishing of her book, that was not her own doing. It was a hastily written draft in a notebook, not even edited. It was Adele who had taken it to the publisher, who had coordinated so much of it so that it could be done, who accompanied Lenu to her book meet.

At the same time, I think that passivity is in a way decision making for Lenu. Not acting is also a decision. But for example, when it came to the party at Professor Galiani's house, Lenu finally felt like there was value in continuing to study and so I think that's what spurred her on to continue studying.

Gender Roles

There are a few different sorts of men in this novel. We have the typical macho types that were the big dogs in town. Stefano, the Solaras, even Rino aspired to be like this. They wanted to be the man, the boss.

Then we had Nino and Bruno, who were educated and a little more romantic, but no less flippant with the people around them. As discussed, Nino mirrored his father's behaviour. As for Bruno, Lila described him as a disgusting man who used the women at the factory.

And then we have men like Antonio and Enzo who might be considered weak or timid, but by the end of the novel, they seemed to be on the receiving end of more positive feelings from Lenu and Lila. Lenu never loved Antonio but she appreciated what seemed to be his sincere affections for her. He was always under a lot of stress because of his family situation. When Lenu went to the Solaras for help, Antonio hated the gesture and they broke up because of that. After Antonio returned, he seemed a bit different, like he'd embraced that he had some mental health issues. He did work for the Solaras even though he hated that Lenu went to them to get him a draft exemption. After everything that happened, however, Antonio still seemed ok being on friendly terms with Lenu. In general, after acknowledging his weaknesses, Antonio seemed a softer person, someone more agreeable and less intense. As for Enzo, he was always kind of a low key guy. He went to the military with Antonio, and later on Lenu noted that he had studied and managed an engineer's certificate. And now he was studying math. And now Lila loves him. Why does she love him? Maybe because he's taken care of her and respected her boundaries. Stefano "took care of her," and did not respect her boundaries. And Nino didn't take care of her. Not saying this is the kind of man that are ultimately better, but it's clear that these kind of men are the kinds that Lenu and Lila look to for some kind of comfort.

As for women, Lenu and Lila grew up seeing their mothers and other people's wives being beaten. Even if Lila was treated a princess before marriage, afterwards she would suffer the same fate. Lila thought she could have been different but that very much was not the case.

The only other sorts of women we saw in this book were teachers, like Professor Galiani and Maestro Oliviero. They were very nurturing of Lenu and Lila's education, pushing for them to continue their schooling because they knew how important education was for a woman's self-sufficiency. Though Nella was not a teacher, I imagine she might have been similar to Maestro Oliviero in how she saw value in women. The only time Professor Galiani was not so caring was when she was a mother, associating Nino's breakup with her daughter with Lenu.

Overall

A pretty tempestuous novel, this was. I got really angry reading about the vacation in Ischia. But I started feeling better as Lenu lived a little more for herself. She even came to associate with Lila positively, wanting to be her friend, even if Lila was not the most receptive to it.



Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay



Story

This book began immediately after Lenu's first book talk, where Nino showed up. It focused more on Lenu's life, her writing career (or her struggle to have one), her marriage with Pietro, and her relationship with her kids.

On Lila's side, we learned about her tough times at Bruno's factory. The conditions were poor and a labour organization caught wind of it. Lila didn't join the labour union but eventually she did leave that job. Lenu did go back to town to help Lila and it was probably the first time in a while that they had spent an extended period of time together.

There was also a part in which Lenu found out that many people from her childhood were returning to the Solaras. Her younger sister Elisa was living with Marcello Solara, and Lila was now promoted to a high position in a computing company that Michele had set up.

The latter part of this book focused on Lenu's budding relationship with Nino, who had befriended Pietro. Eventually, Lenu decided to leave Pietro and her kids and to fly away with Nino.

I think the story arc here was that Lenu was becoming the "bad girl." Towards the end of this novel, Lenu and Lila got into an argument about Lenu's affair with Nino. Lenu had formulated an argument in her head to hit back at Lila, saying that it was now Lenu's turn to make her mistakes. Growing up, Lenu was always the good girl and Lila was the troublesome one. But because of that, Lenu never got a chance to make the mistakes to help her grow. As I mentioned earlier, Lenu was always the more passive one. She didn't make mistakes because she barely made her own decisions. Her first major decision was going to university, and perhaps this was her second one.

Writing

I enjoyed reading from Lenu's point of view about her own life. It's just that up until now it felt like a lot of the story was focused on Lila. But now that she was making her own decisions we could finally get her insight on herself.

Characters

Elena Greco/Lenu

We started to see the flaws in Lenu's character. Before, we only saw hints of it because Lila was always the one who was making the big decisions, while Lenu was just absorbing the effects of it. I say flaws, but I guess what I mean is just that things in her life aren't perfect.

While being indoctrinated into the Airota family, Lenu became increasingly alienated from her own Greco family. She didn't want a religious wedding because Pietro didn't want one. And while her father understood and her mother came around to it, Lenu was already quite cold with her family. She never really considered their feelings, while very much respecting Guido and Adele and honestly as someone who has been on the side of the Greco family, I totally understand why her mom was so hurt. Though Lenu didn't want to name her second daughter Immacolata, perhaps she could have given her a name that was closer to that, though Lenu went with Elsa which she claimed was based on Elisa. But Lenu was also completely out of the know about Elisa's relationship with Marcello Solara as well. Lenu had become so detached from her family. She and Lila had grown up despising the Solaras and she managed to stay away, but she also probably couldn't see why her family and friends eventually gave in.

Lenu's relationship with Pietro was never really one of love to begin with. Lenu was not madly in love with Pietro, nor did I even think she cared for him like she did with Antonio. She understood him but I don't think she ever wanted to make him happy. She respected him but again that was probably her going with the flow. To be honest, I don't blame her growing distant with Pietro totally, because Pietro himself was not a good husband. Like all the other men in Lenu's life, Pietro expected her to become a good wife. While he was off doing important things, her job was to serve him and give him children. He was also somewhat passive despite having those kinds of beliefs. He didn't know when to let things go (like with the student protestors) and yet he was too timid to actually do some things (like when he wasn't ready to hear about Lenu's affairs).

Lenu's relationship with her daughters was iffy too. I didn't feel that Lenu ever felt true affection for them. She just wore it as a costume. Her relationship with Dede already started rocky. Lenu had hired a nanny to take care of Dede and then later her mom came to help, but by the time that they no longer had external help, Dede and her didn't really have an innate bond. We saw a bit of strain when Dede noticed how Lenu would talk to other men; one time, Lenu low key threatened Dede but later Dede spilled to her father anyway. Still, when Pietro revealed Lenu's affair to the kids, they were still upset and didn't want to be abandoned, but Lenu left anyway.

I did not want Lenu getting together with Nino, especially after I learned about Sylvia and Mirko. I remember after reading that chapter going "wow, what an absolute scumbag." Except this novel is trainwreck after trainwreck so of course Nino somehow makes his way back into Lenu's life in a too-comfortable manner. That being said, the way this novel ended did surprise me. I was surprised that Nino agreed to reveal his affair to his wife (which was Lenu's condition for her going with him). He was in a committed and he broke off his commitment to be with Lenu, which is more than what he can say with his past relationships. He did break off his relationship with Nadia to be with Lila but they were only dating then, and he also never committed to a relationship with Sylvia. That being said, a part of me continues to worry that he will grow tired of Lenu but I guess I will find out later. Nino has been such a big part of Lenu's story line ever since childhood so I can see them having a long-term relationship but this book is just so dramatic.

When Lenu returned to town to help Lila after she had left her factory job, we saw how Lenu and Lila's positions had kind of switched. Lenu had become the high lofty one (whereas Lila used to be the rich Signora Carracci), and Lila was now the practical one who was trying to make a good life for herself. The biggest example of this was when they went to Professor Galiani's house. Professor Galiani felt that Lenu had become stuck up and was too good for them, whereas she admired Lila's work. It was jarring, especially since Professor Galiani's approval of Lenu in their teenage years felt so triumphant. Otherwise, Lenu was using all of her Airota connections to help Lila and I felt that at times Lila hated it because Lenu was acting like a saviour. Which was kind of how Lila used to act.

I think this book was Lenu being a late bloomer. While Lila made all of her mistakes in her late teens, Lenu is only getting to make her mistakes now. Because only now was she really starting to make her own decisions.

Raffaella Cerullo/Lina/Lila

Lila was working at Bruno's factory and the conditions were terrible. All of the women were at risk of being sexually assaulted, etc. Lila was pressured into speaking up at a labour union meeting and somehow became involved in the labour movement. She eventually left the factory job because it was too much. Lenu had come back to help Lila, writing an article on what had happened at the factory and at that part of the book, it low key felt like Lenu was swooping in and stealing Lila's hard work and suffering just because she was the mouthpiece to put the the Soccavo factory on blast to the wider public.

Lila was living with Enzo and they were learning about computer programming together. Through Pietro, Enzo got a better job in computers. Eventually, Lila became his assistant though Enzo claimed that she was just as smart as he was (which I don't doubt).

At one point, Lila had left Gennaro with Lenu because things at home were tough. In her own way, Lila was becoming a working woman who would put her own self-fulfillment over Gennaro. It seemed her reltaionship with Gennaro wasn't too close either, seeing as how Gennaro didn't care too much about phone calls with his mom.

Speaking of Gennaro, Lila's outlook on love changed a bit too. Of course, she was over Nino; at one point she realized that Gennaro looked quite like Stefano and because of her getting over Nino, the fact that Gennaro was not his was somewhat of a triumph for her. It was true that she was Signora Carracci so it made sense that Gennaro was Stefano's son, but she never had anything official with Nino and so it would have made her feel cheated to have had a son by him if she didn't feel any of those strong feelings for him anymore. But the bigger relationship in her life became Enzo. She loved him, but she didn't need anything more with him. Just living together and supporting each other and having his respect was enough. Honestly, that's not crazy! Enzo really respected Lila and didn't pressure her into sex or anything but also, just being around Lila was enough for him. Lila just wanted someone to see her for who she was and also not pressure her to have sex. Such a high bar, right?

Lila continued to struggle with the Solaras at the factory as Bruno was in business with them. But one day on a phone call with Lenu, Lila said that she had finally agreed to work at Michele Solara's new computing business, holding a very high paying role (that I think might have paid even more than Enzo's role). As a woman, this was huge. But also, Michele Solara was always absolutely obsessed with Lila and I guess Lila finally took advantage of that. Michele was married to Gigliola but Michele made it clear that he would never love her like he loved Lila; but what's special is that it really seemed like Michele was in love with Lila's brain rather than her body. Even in their younger days, Michele was always trying to get Lila in on his business. And I guess now Lila decided taking this job could be a symbiotic relationship.

Lila was obviously against Lenu eloping with Nino because she was so hurt by Nino herself. But Lenu now wanted to break apart from Lila's influence. Even if it was wrong, Lenu needed to find out for herself, just as Lenu had let Lila make her own mistakes, even if it was out of personal reasons (ie Lenu being too passive).

Themes

Women, Sexuality, and Feminism

As Lenu and Lila were older, there was a bigger focus on women, feminism, and sexuality.

Lenu's first book was considered filthy and sensationalist. Perhaps that was why it was such a best-seller, because Lenu was brave enough to write out what other people did not (though she hadn't expected it to be a book then). When Gigliola asked Lenu where the filthy parts of the book were, it felt a little degrading that Lenu's book was just essentially porn, but I think Lenu slowly came to terms with the fact that she had written explicit material. She later began to prepare answers since she would get questions about writing explicit material at school seminars and such.

I vaguely remember Lenu talking about sexuality with Lila and it being a little odd, because they had never spoken about it explicitly like that. But perhaps it was an experience that brought them a bit of understanding.

During her marriage with Pietro, Lenu started getting interested in feminism. That interest was somewhat encouraged by the other women in her life (like Mariarosa I think) but also Nino, who encouraged Lenu to be brighter. Pietro didn't like that, probably because it didn't make sense to him, but also Nino would praise Lenu's intelligence to the detriment of Pietro so of course he didn't like that feminism business.

Family

While jumping social classes, Lenu alienated her old family to become part of her new upper class one.

Lenu in particular struggled a lot with her mother. Her mother didn't like that Lenu kept all her money separate, she didn't like that Lenu barely told them anything. I can relate to the latter for sure, though for a working class family I can understand why the former is such a big deal. For the Greco family that raised Lenu, it seems ungrateful to not share anything with your family. Lenu did promise to get her family a phone and a TV, but her mom complained that all of the calls were for Lenu anyway. At the same time, Lenu's mother was probably insecure about being a mother. When Professor Oliviera died, Lenu was sad but her mother basically said good riddance, as she hated the fact that the teacher tried to act more of a mother than she was.

Lenu's mother hated the fact that Lenu was going to have a secular wedding. When Pietro came, she was absolutely in love with Pietro, and even told Lenu that he was too good for her. In hindsight I don't think there is necessarily truth to that. I just think that her mom felt that they weren't necessarily compatible and also wanted to knock Lenu down a peg, to remind her that she was one of them. I mentioned the fact that Lenu's mother was offended that Lenu wouldn't name their second daughter after her when they named the first daughter after Adele.

The deal with Elisa was a little difficult because while Lenu had a good relationship with Elisa, she wasn't tight with her. Nothing Lenu could say to Elisa would hold any authority because she had long not been an authority figure in Elisa's life. Lenu's siblings had not gotten as far as she did in school, and I think Lenu's mother blamed her for not tutoring them. That entire dinner at the Solara family showed us how Lenu had drifted too far from their neighbourhood in Naples.

On the other hand, it seemed like Lila had slowly reconciled with her family. I think much of that has to be due to the fact that Lila made good money even as an assistant to Enzo, and then she later got that well paying job with Michele Solara.

Very how the turntables, but I think that is only if we consider Lenu and Lila in a good-bad dichotomy.

Lenu and Lila's relationship and Good-Bad dichotomy

When Lila went to Professor Galiani's house to see Nadia, she had a conversation with Professor Galiani, where Lila got upset with the educated class because she felt that they interfered with the lives of the working class with no regard for how they would support themselves. Professor Galiani questioned whether Lila considered Lenu (as an educated person) as one of those bad people and Lila said no. She said that when they were young, they made a pact that Lila would be the wicked one and Lenu would be the good one. I didn't remember this pact actually happening so I wonder if Lila was saying it figuratively that there was an implicit understanding that Lila would be the daring one and Lenu would stay back and be untouched by sin.

Despite being very angry with Lila, I did sympathize with her a lot, knowing that she did not have the opportunities that Lenu did. But seeing Lila take ownership of her misfortunes instead of chalking it up to being dealt a bad hand was definitely a little heartbreaking.

During the course of this third novel, we saw that despite Lila taking all of the hits for Lenu, it was impossible for her to shield Lenu completely from making her own mistakes. It wasn't realistic that way. And Lenu wanted Lila to let her make her own mistakes. At least Lenu would have done what she wanted to do, rather than letting things happen to her. Just as Lila had a right to live a good life with self-fulfillment, Lenu had a right to make mistakes and learn from them.

When Lenu and Lila went to Professor Galiani's house together, Lenu felt humiliated because Professor Galiani paid no attention to her, just like how nobody had paid attention to Lila at the party all those years ago. Professor Galiani didn't care about getting an autographed version of her book. Instead, she was talking only to Lila. Lila did not defend Lenu at the time, but when the left the house, Lila told Lenu not to pay Professor Galiani any mind. It was mixed signals, but perhaps Lila was now able to read the room much better, and knew that causing a scene would bring no good. A long time ago, Lila would not have had that level of social awareness in my opinion.

Class differences

The differences between Lenu and Lila extended to their class differences. Lenu had married into an elite high class family and she had lost touch with her roots. This was fairly obvious when Lenu returned home to Naples to help Lila and she was using her connections to help Lila, including getting in touch with a doctor for Lila's health, getting in touch with a lawyer who would get Lila's back pay from the Soccavo factory, and getting Enzo a job in computers. At the same time, Lenu began to worry about things that high class people worry about, like pride. This was noticeable when they both went to visit Professor Galiani. Professor Galiani basically considered Lenu too high class and too stuck up, whereas Lila was clearly in a lower class than them. Professor Galiani deemed it appropriate to associate with Lila but not with Lenu. Lenu was insulted, but I think perhaps Professor Galiani felt insulted too, that Lenu who was from a lower class than her, was now in a higher class.

As they lived their lives, Lila became a lot more practical than how she used to be. When Lila was the hottest thing in town, she let pride dictate a lot of her actions. But now, it was short-term survival for herself, Gennaro, and Enzo (like food and money), but also a matter of long-term survival (like her career). She would bite her tongue and tolerate things she used to not stand for the sake of those things. On the other hand, Lenu became enamoured with the "frivolous" things, like romantic love. Since Pietro was not giving her any attention, she would turn to other men. There was a friend of Pietro's that Lenu had a short flirtationship with, and of course there was Nino.

At one point in this novel, Lenu noted how the highborn girls like Nadia and Mariarosa would become "vulgar," swear and having explicit sex and such. And honestly that is a really good observation. I think a lot of rich highborn girls want to rebel to act cool, but they have the financial backing to risk their lives. Even if nobody knew where Pasquale and Nadia went, Nadia could probably show up on her family's doorstep and could get some help from her mother or brother. I can see why this behaviour can feel like a mockery of people who don't have that luxury of being frivolous and unproductive. Meanwhile, women like Lenu who were born in the working class worked really hard to fit into the upper class.

Those who leave and those who stay

Lila, despite having run away from home, run away from Stefano, run away from her family, eventually stayed. Stayed with Enzo despite not being married, stayed in the neighbourhood and took a job with the Solaras and reconciled with her family.

Lenu, the other hand, has left everything. She left Naples to go to university and never really returned after that. She offered no help or guidance to her family. Her wedding was done entirely without their input while she completely took the input of the Airotas. She left Naples and moved to Florence. And by the end of the novel, she's left her family in Florence to be with Nino.

Overall

Funnily enough, reading about Lenu's mistakes form her point of view were not as infuriating as reading about Lila's mistakes. Maybe it's because Lila's mistakes as a teenager actively hurt Lenu, even if Lenu never spoke up about it. That's not to say Lenu's mistakes don't hurt people because she clearly is hurting Pietro, Dede, and Elsa, but we're reading it from her point of view and so their hurt doesn't feel as significant. Maybe this is the unreliable narrator.

I actually don't feel that Lila feels hurt by Lenu getting together with Nino. Rather, I think Lila was more worried for Lenu, that she would be hurt, but also because Lila didn't want Nino to have any good things. But I don't think Lila was hurt by Lenu getting with her ex.

I thought this novel was a really interesting parallel to The Story of a New Name, allowing Lenu to branch out and to make her mistakes. I am pretty excited to see how this story ends with The Story of the Lost Child.



The Story of the Lost Child & The Story of Bad Blood



This part is probably going to be shorter compared to the previous three books because I do want to jump to the overall impressions part.

This last part was actually split up into several "books" so just know that this part is the Story of the Lost Child to the very end Epilogue.

Story

This last book started right after Lenu and Nino get together. Things were messy as many were against this relationship, including Lila, Lenu's family, and Pietro's family. Despite it all, Lenu went ahead. At the end of the last book, she said that it was her turn to make her mistakes (as Lila had with Nino the first time), though of course Lenu didn't see it as a mistake.

Lenu went ahead with the divorce with Pietro. Though there were troubles with Pietro, I think he accepted the divorce relatively well compared to others, namely Lenu's mother, and Pietro's mother Adele. Lenu's mother had violently attacked Lenu in front of Pietro because she was so upset with the divorce, to the point that Pietro apologized because he hadn't meant for that to happen. As for Adele, she and Guido did take care of Dede and Elsa at first, but over time she grew very passive aggressive with Lenu. After a fight in which Lenu pointed out the fact that Adele had had affairs (as told by Pietro), Adele kicked out Lenu, Dede, and Elsa.

At first, Lenu stayed with Mariarosa. Mariarosa had heard about the fight and sided with her mother, but she still let Lenu stay. Franco had also been staying with Mariarosa. However, he was in a very poor mental state. Mariarosa had left on a trip and asked Lenu to look after Franco but Franco ended up committing suicide. I forgot whether Mariarosa kicked out Lenu though she was of course very upset with her.

Lenu then moved back to Naples with Nino, who had rented an apartment. Things were okay, though Lenu started to see Nino's flaws as she spent more time with them.

The first bombshell for Lenu was when she found out that Nino had not divorced his wife Eleonora as Lenu had divorced Pietro. However, she forgave him after that and came to believe that they were in a good spot, that he truly treated her like his wife. He even brought her home to see his parents and they loved her, though Donato did have some remarks that Lenu ignored.

Lenu and Lila fell pregnant at the same time, Lenu by Nino and Lila by Enzo. They ended up giving birth three weeks apart, Lenu to baby Immacolata (Imma), and Lila to baby Nunziatina (Tina). Like Lila had when she had first given birth to Gennaro, Lenu couldn't help but compare Imma to Tina, who seemed to be so much more advanced in her intelligence even though she was three weeks younger.

Lenu's relationship with her sister Elisa was turning bad as Marcello (Elisa's partner) blamed Lila for the ills that fell the Solara family. Elisa became like the Solaras, always trying to appear high and mighty. Lenu's mother Immacolata fell ill and that time they spent together was a bit of a reconciliation. Lenu's mother kept refusing care but she finally could not when she collapsed. While in clinic care Immacolata revealed that Lenu was her favourite child and that was why she was so hard on her. But even then Immacolata worried for her other kids who had gotten so involved with the Solaras. Lenu would bring Imma to see her mother. Immacolata eventually did pass.

The second bombshell for Lenu was when she once returned home to find Nino having sex with Silvanna, the domestic worker. Lenu left the apartment and stayed away until it was time to pick up Dede and Elsa from school. She was afraid of bumping into Nino then, but she realized he hadn't even come to pick them up. She then later went to Lila where she spilled the beans. Lila listened patiently, and tried to talk things through with Lenu, asking her what her next steps would be, and low key encouraging her to split ways with Nino. Lila revealed the fact that Nino had propositioned her several times, including when the two took Immacolata to the hospital. Nino told Lila that he was only with Lenu to be closer to Lila, which was disgusting because he had said something similarly when he had gotten with Lenu.

Lila sent Antonio to see Lenu when she returned to her apartment. Antonio had been following Nino and revealed his list of affairs, including the neighbour who sometimes watched their kids, the gynecologist who delivered Lila's baby, and several guests (single or married) that he had invited to his and Lenu's apartment. Antonio joked that he was almost loyal in that he kept in contact with all of his affairs. More on this later.

Antonio said that he had kept this a secret because it would only have its intended impact at the right time. Before, Lenu was still so in love with Nino that she would have forgiven all of his wrongs. He had to wait until the time was right for her to actually see with clarity how he had betrayed her. Antonio and Lila both knew about the affairs. However, Antonio also revealed that after Nino and Lila had parted ways, Nino had went back to Lila to reconcile but Antonio had beaten him up, so that they never had that reconciliation. He considered it the right thing to do, so that Lila would move on with her life.

The breakup was actually covered pretty briefly in the book. Nino tried to win back Lenu. He first tried to tell her that she had everything mistaken. Then when that didn't work, he tried to express his love for her. Lenu realized that Nino's goal was that he wanted each of the women he seduced to see him as their first choice, their main spouse. He needed all of these women to consider him their most important. So that was probably why he kept going back to the same women.

But Lenu left Nino and she moved into an apartment just above Lila's, because it was affordable. Funnily enough, Lenu maintained an okay relationship with Pietro. After Pietro and Lenu had divorced, Pietro had gotten together with a woman who was a student of his called Doriana. He did take the children sometimes. He wanted to take Dede and Elsa when Lenu moved to the smaller apartment but Lenu said that her three daughters couldn't be separated and she knew Pietro wouldn't take Imma. Otherwise, Lila, Enzo, and Lenu all took care of their kids together: Gennaro, Tina, Dede, Elsa, and Imma.

The next part of the story covered Lenu's struggles in parenting and living as a single working woman. While Pietro was good to Dede and Elsa, it was hard to get a hold of Nino to spend time with Imma, as he had entered politics.

The first time Nino visited Imma, he had taken Dede, Elsa, and Tina, and Tina had gotten lost and was never found. This was a big turning point in the story, particularly for Lila. Her relationship with her own family was already beginning to fracture. She was getting into arguments with her family, Stefano and his mistresses needed money from her, Gennaro had descended into drug addiction.

For Lenu, her career improved and she became a very successful writer. However, she encountered major struggles in parenting her growing daughters. Dede was fiercely dedicated to Gennaro and planned to run away with him after she became an adult if he accepted her feelings. Only, Gennaro and Elsa were deeply in love and they had run away to Adele and Guido. This caused a rift between Lenu and Lila as Lila didn't see it as her problem. Elsa at this time was only 15 and Gennaro was 24, so Lenu went to the Airotas. Adele seemed to accept Gennaro and Elsa, if only to spite Lenu.

Dede told Lenu that Elsa would only return if Dede left, so Dede decided to go to the States to join Pietro. Lenu allowed them to live together under her roof and soon Elsa lost interest, going from man to man, including teachers at her school and such. Eventually, Elsa went to the US as well and it seemed the daughters somewhat reconciled, though this was a bit of a guess on Lenu's part.

A small subplot was that Nadia had given herself up and started naming names as to her co-conspirators. She had named Enzo as he had worked with Pasquale before. Even though Enzo was released, his reputation was tarnished in Naples. Especially with the stress over losing Tina and Gennaro's issues, Enzo and Lila eventually separated.

Guido and Nino were eventually both exposed for corruption and Imma, who had idolized Nino, had sort of lost her shine. Lila and Enzo had sold Basic Sight and in her older years (50s), Lila spent more time with Imma, and worked on a project to document the history of Naples. Eventually, Lenu and Imma left Naples for Turin.

Dede, Elsa, and Imma grew up and had their own lives, Dede and Elsa in the States and Imma in France. She sometimes sensed love from them, like when Dede suggested that Lenu live with her and her husband. She sometimes sensed animosity from them, like when Elsa read Lenu's old novels mockingly. But Lenu decided she was ultimately pleased with her daughters, pleased that they had not grown up like her.

Though Lenu understood that she would be breaking some kind of taboo, she eventually wrote a book about her relationship with Lila, from beginning to end. After that, Lenu understood that she had lost Lila forever. This converged with the beginning scene, in which Gennaro called Lenu to tell her that Lila had disappeared. Lenu understood and accepted that she might have upset Lila, but at that point she kind of accepted that and her feelings were neutral towards it. However, one day, Lenu found a package for her, the old dolls Tina and Nu that Lila and her had thrown in Don Achille's cellar. She decided it had to be a sign from Lila. What it meant, she didn't know. And that's how the book ended.

This novel was definitely extremely dramatic! But it showed a lot of development from Lenu's side. She was really starting to develop herself apart from Lila. Even if she was a flawed person who made mistakes, they were hers and hers alone. I would say it was a satisfying ending, and ends the way that life ends. We don't always get closure, we find closure.

Writing

The writing was similar to how it was before. But considering how this book focused more on Lenu's personal story, I especially appreciated the first-person perspective. I really appreciated reading how Lenu grew from the person who was always following Lila around to her own eprson.

Characters

Elena Greco/Lenu

This last part began right as Lenu and Nino got together. At the end of the last book, she and Lila had gotten into an argument in which Lila called her an idiot. Lenu decided that it was her turn to make her own mistakes. Previously in the book, Lila had said that the two had made a pact that Lila would be the wicked one and Lenu would be the good girl. And all along, Lenu had been the one who had taken the proper paths and made something out of herself. But Lenu was only human, and nobody could shield her from making her own mistakes forever.

Lenu's arc with Nino was similar to Lila's arc with Nino in the sense that it was a period of growth and that after the break up, Lenu became more focused on her other issues in life, including parenting.

Lenu struggled a lot with being a working single mother, especially since her work took her travelling. She even recognized that she often forgot about her own children when she travelled because she enjoyed her career. That being said, I think she was reluctant to call herself a bad mother. This was something that she and Lila butted heads on, as Lila would sometimes accuse her of being a bad mother. In my opinion, there were no clear sides in this debate. Sometimes, Lenu did not pay enough attention to her children and that was true. Like I said, she was more concerned with her career. Sometimes, she tried her best to be a better mother, like trying to get the kids' dads involved in their lives. Sometimes, Lila purposely riled up their family life, like when Lenu was wary of having Gennaro in her daughters' lives. It's messy and there's no right answer here, which is realistic. But based on how her daughters grew up well, Lenu chose to believe that she had ultimately been a good mother.

With regards to her relationship with Lila, this novel was a slow decoupling of herself from Lila. As kids, they were attached at the hip. As young adults, they were very much caught up with their own lives, Lenu at the university and getting married to Pietro, Lila working her way up from the factory to the computers industry to setting up Basic Sight. And during this period of time, the only way Lenu could decouple herself from Lila was to be away from her entirely. In their adult years together in Naples, I felt Lenu starting to learn to be her own person apart from Lila, even when Lila lived right downstairs. It came with conflicts, but Lenu had grown into a person with her own agency, and she accepted that things would be how they were.

Lenu understood that writing about their private lives would anger Lila as Lila never liked it when Lenu did. Lenu didn't fully understand why. She had theories, but it was impossible to know why. But it was Lenu's wish to organize and interpret and document their relationship and she did, and she accepted the consequences of never seeing Lila ever again. Receiving the dolls was closure for Lenu. Not in the sense that she understood whether or not Lila approved of the novel, but that regardless of how Lila thought of Lenu and her novel(s), Lila acknowledged what they had.

Raffaella Cerullo/Lina/Lila

I finally figured out why Lila bothered me. It always felt like everybody was walking on eggshells around Lila. It became especially prominent in this novel as Lenu noticed the differences in attitudes of Lila towards her children at different periods of time. Lila was extremely hot and cold and I think that was why I found her tiring to be with.

To be fair, there were times in Lila and Lenu's adulthood where I really felt that their relationship had settled and matured. They knew they didn't fit together perfectly, but there was patience between each other.

But the tension between them was definitely exacerbated as the children grew up and their relationships became complicated. It was like Lenu and Lila were reliving their young adult years and that was why it brought out those aggressive emotions in each other.

For Lila, once she had Tina, it felt that she put all of her pride and arrogance in Tina. She even said that Tina would grow up to be better than all of them. She failed with Gennaro, so she would try again with Tina. She would give her the best education, and Tina was already showing signs of brilliance in her young age. When Tina got lost, it definitely changed a lot of things. Lila became less predictable again, and she started fighting with Enzo, who had been her rock for so many years.

In their adult years, I think Lenu started to understand that Lila was only human. Yes, Lila was a genius and could do whatever she put her mind to, and she had even done great things, but her dreams were not all-powerful, just because they were grand didn't mean that they had to work. Lila said she didn't have ambition, but perhaps it's because her success was never permanent and that's what disappointed her.

I think that her sense of superiority over Lenu continued. Lila and Lenu were at a balance when Lila would ask Lenu to write things on behalf of bettering the neighbourhood. But their relationship kind of changed when Lenu started to understand that Lila was using her and didn't see her as a friend but instead a tool, a mouthpiece.

But Lenu acknowledged that maybe she was projecting Lila's negative feelings towards her. She would never know. Lila was always somewhat of a mystery. That was why I said that it always felt like we had to tiptoe around Lila.

In the end, I do think Lila somewhat of a tragic character in that it seemed like she was afraid to have ambition even when she had it. It's kind of a call back to how I said that as a child, Lila always wanted to act like she had planned and masterminded everything. So when things didn't go the way she wanted them to go, she had to trick herself and the people around her that it was never her plan and she never cared that much. It was her coping mechanism, and it's a little tragic.

At one point in this last book I felt that I might even come to like Lila but as Lenu started to break down Lila a little more, I realized that she was still somewhat of the same girl. A person who ultimately didn't really quite fit with Lenu, but they still had a deep relationship.

Themes

Lenu and Lila

As I mentioned, it felt like Lenu and Lila were decoupling from each other. Lila could no longer absorb the bad energy and let Lenu forever be the good girl.

When Lenu and Lila had the phone call where Lenu told Lila about her relationship with Nino, Lila called her an idiot. Lenu was upset because Lila had never called her an idiot. Lila even used a "think of your children" argument, and that was when Lenu understood that Lila wasn't entirely sincere or truthful with her, because she had noticed that Lila never cared much for Dede and Elsa. Though they later reconciled, I believed that was the beginning of the decoupling, in which Lenu understood that she had to be her own person, mistakes and all.

Another example of Lenu decoupling herself from others (not just Lila) was when she had published a book that Lila had previously read and disliked. That manuscript had also been read by Adele, who did not like it. And that was when Lenu understood that she had to be her own person.

Lenu at one point even said that she understood that she gave too much importance to Lila. Maybe she attributed too much greatness to their friendship and that was why she allowed things to happen to her up until then. But as she built her own career, I think Lenu started building the confidence that they have their own lives and that's okay.

Men & Women

This section is really about Nino. Obviously by being with Nino, Lenu started observing a lot of Nino's relationships with women. She noticed that he really only ever befriended women, and he was always very seductive and charming towards them. She noticed this even as he was with her, and yet she didn't really think much of it.

She noticed that with other couples, the husbands would give up a part of themselves in order to fit in the marriages and yet Nino never did.

To me, I almost believed the narrative that Nino loved Lenu only because Lenu believed it. I was so glad when Lenu had discovered Nino cheating because then she saw Nino's behaviour for what it actually was.

With the help of Antonio's research, they deduced that he always wanted to assert himself as the first and prime man for every woman he was with. That was how he felt powerful.

At one point, Lenu also pointed out Nino sucking up to the authorities, including her ex-in-laws. I think she implied that Nino was somewhat of a fake revolutionary, and we could say that maybe she was right because he was eventually exposed for corruption.

Naples

As Lenu and Lila grew older, Naples became more of a prominent character in the book, as Lenu and Lila now had the agency to move around. While Lenu moved around a lot for work, Lila insisted on staying in Naples.

It seemed Lila had grand visions about Naples. She wanted to reform Naples with Lenu's help. And in her older years, she started becoming somewhat of a Neapolitan historian.

But for Lenu, she went through phases in her life. As a young adult, she found her footing away from Naples, and Naples reminded her of the home life that she had outgrown. As she grew older, Naples became somewhat of a reminder of home, of all the people she had known, of the life she had known. And as she grew even older, with the kids growing older, she understood that some things never changed and could not change.

Children

Ultimately while Lenu implied that she enjoyed her career more than her children, she was reluctant to call herself a bad mother at all times, even when others accused her of it. And her daughters growing up well was her consolation that they were not.

Lenu and Lila's relationship changed a lot when Lenu moved back to Naples and they lived close together. It was like they parented all five kids together, though it wasn't exactly that. Lenu and Lila seemed to start reverting to some behaviours from when they were children, especially as we saw those behaviours mirrored with Imma and Tina. Lila was immensely proud of Tina and she was convinced she was going to be the successful genius she didn't get to be. Meanwhile, Imma was even more withdrawn and easily influenced than Lenu was, on account of having barely any permanent parental figures in her life. Lenu and Lila living with their children definitely brought out parts in their personalities that they otherwise would have kept secret. When Gennaro was causing a ruckus for Dede and Elsa, Lenu was angry with Lila, and Lila implied that (1) Lenu felt Gennaro wasn't good enough for her daughters and (2) despite Gennaro not being good enough, he did flip their house upside down, and Lila said that smugly.

Lenu acknowledged her thoughts on class when this happened. She understood why Adele was wary of Lenu marrying into their family, because Lenu was of a "lower class." And given the Airota pedigree and her daughters bearing an important name, she was wary of a drug addict like Gennaro ruining them. It felt like Lenu and Lila had reverted back to the party at Professor Galiani's, where Lila was reminded of Lenu's different social status, yet this time, Lila actually had something to fall back on.

Overall

Appropriately complex final installment to this last book series. Now onto the overall thoughts!



Overall Thoughts



Story

An extremely dramatic story covering the lifelong relationship between two women. They grew up together as children, until they had their first major split. Their first major split began with the party at Professor Galiani's, went through Lila's affair with Nino, and ended with Lenu going off to university.

During their split, Lenu went to university and eventually married Pietro, having two children by him. As for Lila, she soon split from Nino, had her children while back living with Stefano, and then eventually moved out with Enzo and started working at the Soccavo factory.

They sort of kept in contact as Lenu lived with the Airotas and Lila and Enzo slowly transitioned into having a computer business.

Lenu and Lila reunited after Lenu began her relationship with Nino, as Lenu returned to Naples and relied on Lila to help with childcare. This second long period of time together covered Lenu's split with Nino, the birth of their daughters Tina and Imma, the disappearance of Tina, the departure of Dede and Elsa, and eventually until Lenu decided to leave Naples for Turin.

The final part of the novel was short, talking about how Lenu felt looking back on her life. She had written the book about her and Lila's life, and the book ended with her receiving the two dolls in the mail.

Lenu and Lila were incredibly dramatic. I feel like this book was somewhat implied to be based on reality, considering the main character has the same name as the author. This book was very dramatic for me, but perhaps it would have been normal at the time in this place to take on such dramatic actions. Or, dramatization was Ferrante's way of writing her ideas.

In terms of what her point was, I think it was really just to highlight the incredibly complicated and rich but dramatic relationship she had with Lila. Lenu and Lila did not fit on a fundamental level. Lila was too domineering, Lenu yielding for the wrong reasons. They shared too much history that was too painful. And yet their not fitting together didn't negate all the time they had spent together. Even if Lila was truly angry with Lenu for publishing their private relationship to the world, it was enough for Lenu that Lila acknowledged that it existed and that it meant something, if Lila had kept their dolls all those years.

Writing

I read an English translation of the novel and I found it easy to follow. I think the fact that it was written in such a diary-like way made it really fascinating. I really felt like I was reading a real biography/memoir.

Characters

Elena Greco/Lenu

As a youngster, Lenu was always the follower at Lila's side. But in her life, Lenu was always very passive. She never fought for anything, always letting things happen to her. That was how she lucked into an education. That was how she "let" Lila and Nino get together despite her years-long love for Nino.

The first major decision that Lenu had made on her own was applying for university. That gave her an education and a way out of the tough life they had grown up in. However, away from home, Lenu continued to let things happen to her. She didn't exactly love Pietro (or even Franco), but she married him because he asked. She had children with him because it was the thing to do.

Lenu's second major decision that she made on her own was to get together with Nino. As bad of a decision as it was, it was necessary. Lenu would never have become the person she was meant to be if she had stayed with the Airotas. And the only thing that was able to get her out of that situation was her love for Nino. Even though Lenu was tired from spending time with Nino, her career, and taking care of Dede and Elsa (to varying degrees of care), Lenu was happy because she was doing what she wanted to do.

The third decision that Lenu made was perhaps her decision to leave Nino. I'm a little less sure about this decision as it wasn't made with as much conviction. However, when Lenu talked with Lila about the affair, Lila asked her what she was going to do. She predicted that Lenu was going to stay with Nino, despite Lenu obviously being very upset. Lila sent Antonio to speak with Lenu, and I think the combination of Lila and Antonio's words helped Lenu think things through, but ultimately it was still Lenu who decided to split with Nino.

The fourth decision that Lenu made was to leave Naples with Imma (Dede and Elsa were already in the US by this time). I think it was a major decision because after this, Lenu's relationship with Lila faded away. This decision eventually led to Lenu writing the book about their relationship and severing their ties forever.

I'd say that through this book, we saw Lenu grow from a child to the person she is now. I can't say whether it's good or bad development, just the natural growth that comes from a person aging and going through stage in their life.

Raffaella Cerullo/Lina/Lila

In the first book, I found Lila slightly intimidating, mostly because she dominated Lenu's life so much. Lenu talked way more about Lila than herself. Her world revolved around Lila, and Lenu later acknowledged that she had perhaps ascribed too much importance to Lila as a child.

In the second book, I absolutely detested Lila for what she did to Lenu. We saw Lila act on her whims, from humiliating Lenu because she herself felt humiliated at the Galiani party, to getting together with Nino after she constantly told Lenu that Nino was ugly. It really felt like Lila was always putting Lenu down. And Lenu accepted it because she still felt like a child whereas Lila was further along in life, married to Stefano, a rich man.

In the third book, I became neutral to Lila. She was a struggling working woman who had become disillusioned with life after the break from Nino and leaving Stefano for good. She was learning life lessons here, and I appreciated that.

In the fourth book, that was when I understood that the wariness I felt around Lila was that I was always walking eggshells around her, because her mood and her thoughts affected everybody in Naples. She had never really stopped being the It girl of Naples, and it was partially because the Solaras always had their eyes on her. Not only was Michele always infatuated with her, but they also saw her as a business rival after she started Basic Sight.

With the births of Tina and Imma, I started to see Lila's pettiness. What she dared not say as herself, she would say about Tina, about how Tina was going to be the best and brightest of all of them, that Lila would raise Tina to be that way. It's not wrong to be proud, but I think it reflected on some natural superiority that Lila always felt over Lenu.

Right from the beginning, it always seemed that Lila wanted to be the leader, to dominate Lenu's life. Whether it was out of protection for Lenu, or whether it was a way to exert her own power, it's hard to say. But it interlinked the two women forever. Lenu can never say that she wasn't affected at all by Lila, but she is her own person and she is allowed to make her own decisions, as long as she faces the consequences. The thing about Lila is that she doesn't accept the consequences, she only changes the intentions to fit the consequences.

Immacolata Greco

Immacolata was Lenu's mother. Immacolata was tough on Lenu. She came into the story more when Lenu had started going to university. We saw how Immacolata held a bit of resentment towards Lenu. Lenu never came home, and when she did, she was basically a freeloader. She never sent money home (the last time she gave money was when she spent a lot of time tutoring before going to university and giving a big chunk of money to her mom), and she never spent time tutoring her younger siblings so they did not manage to pursue further schooling.

Then, Immacolata was angry that Lenu would not have a church wedding. Her tune changed when Immacolata met Pietro as she felt that he was too good for Lenu and she was disappointed that someone was crooked as Lenu would get to marry Pietro.

As expected, Immacolata was extremely angry when Lenu decided to leave Pietro for Nino. However, her anger was violent and she physically attacked Lenu. Pietro even apologized, telling Lenu that he did not mean for this to happen.

While Lenu was living with the Airotas, her younger siblings had gotten involved with the Solaras. Immacolata didn't exactly express an opinion, only saying that Lenu never looked in on them, and that Lenu didn't listen to her, so why did it surprise her that Elsa (who had gotten together with Marcello) didn't either?

Lenu's relationship with Immacolata was so-so when she returned to Naples, but at least they had a bit of closure when Immacolata fell deeply sick. Immacolata admitted to Lenu that Lenu was her favourite child and that she poured all of her hopes into Lenu. So that was why Immacolata was always so violently angry whenever she felt Lenu was doing a bad thing.

I can't say I quite understand Immacolata, but like Lenu's relationship with Lila, it was an important relationship to Lenu.

Elisa Greco

Elisa was Lenu's younger sister. She didn't come into the picture until later, when Lenu found out that she was dating Marcello Solara. Elisa was disappointed to know that Lenu disproved of it, but that didn't change Elisa's stance. She insisted that Marcello was a gentleman. Elisa had a son with Marcello, Sylvio.

Later on, Elisa became very aggressive towards Lenu. Elisa blamed Lila for all of the troubles that had befallen the Solaras (including their money troubles), so she hated Lenu by association.

Their relationship didn't really have much closure.

Rino Cerullo

Rino was Lila's brother. When they were younger, they were close. They worked together on developing a shoe prototype.

Rino later married Pinuccia, Stefano's sister. On the outside, they had an even better marriage than Stefano and Lila's (which was over immediately after their marriage). They even had a baby soon after their marriage. However, their marriage soon fell apart. When it was revealed that Stefano was having an affair with Ada, Rino took revenge by having his own affair.

Rino had no relationship with Lila when she was struggling at the Soccavo factory. When she had money, their relationship improved again.

Towards the latter years, Rino became a drug addict. Lila did give him a job as the Carraccis had no money but it did no good. Rino pulled Gennaro into drug addiction as well, and Rino later died of a drug overdose.

Donato Sarratore

Donato was a writer. He first came into the story after gossip went around that he had seduced Melina Cappuccio and because of the fuss, the Sarratore family would leave Naples. At first, Nino showed much detest for his father for what he did.

Lenu met Donato at the summer house of a relative of Professor Oliviero's. At the time, Lenu was still in love with Nino. Donato had made advances towards Lenu and touched her inappropriately, after which Lenu had immediately gone home.

During that summer in Ischia, while Nino and Lila were having their last day together before they parted ways for the summer (with Lenu covering for them), Lenu had sex with Donato on the beach. However, Lenu did not ascribe any importance to losing her virginity to the creepy old man.

Donato never really entered the story again. He made comments when Nino introduced Lenu to the family, but Lenu again gave him no importance.

As a youth, Nino was disgusted by what his father had done to Melina, seducing her and then leaving her, writing the book of poetry for her to give her some hope that he was in love with her when he in fact would never return to her. As an adult, Nino did the exact same thing. We'll talk about that below in Nino's section though.

Nino Sarratore

As a youth, Nino had confessed once to Lenu, but Lenu had declined. Maybe out of fear, maybe out of nervousness. But Lenu did love Nino madly and would continue to do so for a long time.

Even when Lenu was dating Antonio, she was still deeply in love with Nino. She did everything to appear agreeable to him, writing articles on his requests, agreeing with his political takes.

Nino and Lila fell deeply in love during that summer at Ischia. It was a whirlwind romance. Lila felt as if she'd never fallen in love before, because Nino was a learned man, a man who knew words. Nino and Lila had both confessed their love to Lenu who acted as a kind of confidant to them both, despite being in love with Nino and best friend to Lila.

After they returned to Naples, Lenu ignored Lila and Nino, focusing on earning money tutoring before leaving for university. She had made an impulsive decision to see Lila at the shoe store, where she found Lila and Nino having a secret rendezvous, and Lila telling her that she was pregnant and that the two would run away together.

Lenu narrated to us the 23 days of romance between Lila and Nino. They had run away together to live in an apartment. Lila was pregnant, Nino was studying. But soon, Nino grew tired of her. He in fact returned home to sleep sometimes. At this time, Antonio was following Lila and had beat up Nino for going after a married woman. According to Antonio, it was because of him that Nino and Lila never got back together, and Lila could move on with her life.

Lenu ran into Nino again at her first book meet, where Nino was a guest. Lenu's love for Nino was reignited, despite the fact that she was married to Pietro. Nino slowly weaseled his way into their lives, charming Dede and Elsa. And then Nino weaseled his way back into Lenu's heart, telling her that he had been looking for her all along. Lenu gave Nino an ultimatum that they would both split from their spouses.

The first bucket of cold water over Lenu's head was when she found out that Nino had not in fact left his wife and that he continued to reap the economic and social benefits of being married to her. He claimed that she would kill herself so that he had to stay with her.

For a period of time, like Lenu, I really believed that maybe he was telling the truth and that he did love Lenu. Lenu had made observations about Nino's behaviour towards women, how he seemed to only ever pay attention to women and how he was ultra charming with them, but she didn't really think much of it. And as Lenu said, she felt that Nino never gave any part of himself to any relationship the way that other husbands would tend to meet their wives in the middle.

The second bucket of cold water, a necessary one, was when she returned home to find Nino with the hired nanny. Lenu had left right away, avoiding home. She was worried she would bump into Nino when picking up the kids from school but he did not show up and she understood that he never cared abou ther or the kids, and that his indifference towards Imma was true.

Then Lila and Antonio revealed Nino's list of crimes. Lila revealed that Nino had come onto her, telling her that he was only with Lenu to be close to her again. Antonio had a huge long list of Nino's affairs. He noted that Nino seemed to remember all of his affairs, and that once in a while, he would always return to them to reestablish his presence in their lives. Lenu understood that Nino needed to be every woman's #1 man. And perhaps him never giving up a part of himself to any relationship was the only way he could keep up. His list of affairs included people that Lenu spoke with regularly, such as the nanny, the neighbour who would watch over the kids, etc.

Lenu's break with Nino was fairly quick and non-dramatic, and it showed how non-important this relationship with Lenu was to him. Lenu said that Nino at first tried to convince Lenu that she had seen wrong. And then when she wasn't falling for it, he tried to tell her that he was still madly in love with her. But now, because she was disillusioned, it did nothing for her.

Nino barely saw Lenu and the kids later. She only demanded that he come and see Imma after Lila noted how Imma seemed a parentless child. The first time Nino came, he overdid it a bit, acting very flashy and showering Imma with lots of presents, to the point of ignoring Tina who wanted a bit of attention. At one point, he had taken Imma, Tina, Dede, and Elsa out, and that was when Tina got lost. He had bumped into Lila and Enzo and had started talking and Lila had not paid attention when Imma was trying to get her attention to tell her that Tina could not be found. Lenu said that Nino was almost an afterthought. Nino had called to insist it wasn't his fault but nobody cared about him.

Nino later entered politics and Lenu sought him at times to help with legal matters, such as finding out about Enzo or Pasquale when they were in prison. Imma absolutely idolized her father and was upset with Lenu when she didn't support him. When Nino was outed for corruption, Imma was pretty down as she was so proud of being related to him.

Later in life, Lenu saw Nino, aged and fat, and felt nothing.

Marisa Sarratore

Marisa was Nino's sister. Lenu was friends with her and Alfonso in high school.

As an adult, she married Alfonso, which was surprising as it seemed Alfonso was reluctant, but Marisa was apparently pregnant. Later, it was revealed that she was a mistress of one of the Solaras (I forget which one) and that was how Alfonso was pressured to marry her. Marisa later became Stefano's second mistress (after Ada).

Stefano Carraci

Stefano was the son of Don Achille. I didn't quite catch what Don Achille did but he was feared by the neighbourhood. As a young adult, Stefano was quite rich, having run the local grocery. He wooed Lila, and Lila accepted. Lila claimed that she loved him, though Lenu suspected she had accepted Stefano to avoid Marcello Solara.

During their engagement, Stefano and Lila were the It couple of Naples. Lila dressed like a movie star, and they were immune to gossip, especially words thrown about regarding Lila. When preparing for the wedding, Lila had suddenly turned to Lenu, showing fear about whether she was making the right decision, but up until that, Lila had been very comfortable in her relationship with Stefano.

Their relationship changed completely on their wedding day. Not only had the Solaras come to their wedding, but Marcello Solara was wearing the pair of shoes that Rino and Lila had made. It was a very special pair of shoes that they had sold to Stefano. Stefano not only inviting Marcello Solara but giving away that precious gift was a huge violation of Lila's trust. Stefano insisted that it was done for business reasons.

Lila immediately became cold to Stefano, and on their honeymoon, Stefano raped her. Thus began the abusive relationship. Stefano would sometimes approach Lenu to get Lila under control, but it did little to help. Even after being married to Stefano, Lila would continue to use her popularity to get her way, especially since the Solaras continued to put a lot of weight on her thoughts and judgments.

It was revealed that even before Lila began her affair with Nino, Stefano was already having an affair with Ada. It didn't really quite vindicate Lila in my opinion (nor did I think Lila or Lenu feel that Lila was vindicated), only that it showed that Stefano had truly moved on and he and Lila had no chance of getting back together.

When Lila was pregnant, she told Stefano that the baby was Nino's, and Stefano would pretend that she was lying. After Lila broke from Nino and returned, she continued to live under Stefano's roof. But she couldn't do it, and eventually left.

One time, Gennaro and Ada's daughter with Stefano had met and Lila realized that Gennaro was actually Stefano's son and not Nino's.

Stefano later came to rely on Lila for money as his grocery failed. After he got tired of Ada, he had another affair with Marisa. But he remained officially married to Lila.

Stefano sort of had a relationship with Gennaro. Sort of. It was just that Gennaro would sometimes live with Stefano if he was fighting with Lila. When Rino was missing, Gennaro said he would only go out to find him if Stefano came with him, as Gennaro basically knew where Rino's drug hideout was and he didn't want Lila or Enzo to know.

Pinuccia Carraci

Pinuccia was Stefano's sister and Rino's wife. At the beginning, Lila found her annoying because she was overbearing. Later, she was annoying because she would flaunt her relationship with Rino.

Pinuccia had joined Lenu and Lila during the vacation in Ischia. Pinuccia was pregnant at this time. She had left early, however. And that was because she had fallen in love with Bruno Soccavo and was afraid of the feelings growing into something more.

After Pinuccia had her child, Lila would sometimes take care of the child and Gennaro together. However, after a fight, Pinuccia stopped letting Lila take care of the child.

Pinuccia wasn't really a major character for the rest of the book. As mentioned, Rino had taken revenge regarding Stefano's affair with Ada by taken an affair of his own which was really messy.

Alfonso Carraci

Alfonso was a friend of Lenu's in school. He later worked in the Solara shoe shop.

In adulthood, Lenu learned that he and Lila had become quite close, and actually, Lila knew that Alfonso was gay whereas Lenu did not even know.

At one point, Alfonso was in a relationship with Michele Solara, though it seemed Michele just completely didn't acknowledge it.

Lenu also noted that Alfonso became more effeminate and looked like Lila a little bit. He grew his hair long, and when Lila was pregnant, she asked Alfonso to try out clothes to see how "she" would look in them. Alfonso later also worked at Basic Sight.

There was a relationship between Alfonso and Lila that wasn't really explored, but it seemed like Lila encouraged Alfonso to explore his gender identity, to explore different facets of his personality and his skills.

I think Alfonso started spiralling after Michele Solara broke up with him. He was later murdered.

Marcello Solara

I'll be honest, I kept getting the Solaras mixed up so bear with me.

I believe it was Marcello Solara who broke Lenu's bracelet when they were kids, and Lila had threatened Marcello with a knife. I guess that impressed Marcello and he eventually wanted to puruse Lila. However, whenever he came to the Cerullo house, bearing gifts and such, Lila would not be there. As we know, Lila later got together with Stefano.

Michele and Marcello Solara continued to be the neighbourhood gangsters. I don't remember whether it was Michele or Marcello who showed up at the Soccavo factory though...

Marcello later came back into the story when it was revealed that he and Elisa were dating. He seemed a gentleman to Elisa and Elisa was dearly devoted to him. When Lila was at odds with the Solaras, Elisa was fully on the side of the Solaras. Marcello and Elisa had a child, Sylvio.

Marcello and Michele were killed, though by whom it is not certain.

Michele Solara

Michele's story line basically followed the same trajectory as Marcello's. He was always backing up Marcello.

Michele had a lifelong obsession with Lila. He was dating Gigliola, but she noted that while she was just sex for him, Michele wanted Lila for her mind, and that was why Lila was special.

Michele briefly dated Alfonso and not much was made of that surprisingly. But it seemed Michele did not acknowledge it at all, even when everybody could see for themselves that they were together and lived together.

Gigliola Spagnuolo

Gigliola was a childhood friend of Lenu and Lila's. She was dating and later married Michele Solara. She was very devoted to him, hoping that it would give her a stable life, but she soon realized that she was nothing to him. She did later leave him.

Gigliola was found murdered when Lenu and Lila were in their later years.

Carmen Peluso

Carmen was another childhood friend of Lenu and Lila's. As a child, her father was taken to prison, accused of having murdered Don Achille I believe.

Carmen later married a gas station attendant who was quite a few years older than her. However, she seemed to live happily with him.

Carmen later joined in Lenu and Lila's life when Lenu returned to Naples. At one point, she was forced by the Solaras to sue Lenu but it was made clear that she was forced.

Carmen and Lenu did butt heads over the topic of Pasquale. Of course Carmen was worried for Pasquale's safety, so Lenu's suggestion of letting the carabinieri take him did not sit well with her. But ultimately the carabinieri did take him.

In her older years, after her husband died, Carmen went to live with one of her sons.

Pasquale Peluso

Pasquale was Carmen's brother. As a young adult, he had gotten involved with Nadia Galiani, the daughter of a professor, and the communist movement. Pasquale (with Enzo) had convinced Lila to go to labour union meetings.

Later in life, Pasquale and Nadia became more...militarized? They were acting outside of the law, I guess you could say. It was suspected that Pasquale and Nadio were behind politically motivated murders.

Carmen was constantly worried about Pasquale as he had gone missing. At one point, Pasquale and Nadia had visited Pietro and Lenu's house and made themselves at home (which Pietro of course found intimidating and rude).

Nadia was caught by the police first and later Pasquale was caught.

Enzo Scanno

Enzo was another childhood friend. He first started having a larger role in adulthood. He and Pasquale had taken Lila to the labour union meetings.

It was Enzo who had taken Lila back to Stefano's after she had broken with Nino. Enzo asked Lila to try to make things work, and that if she really couldn't, then he would come and get her. It was actually Lenu who had finally delivered the message on Lila's behalf to Enzo, telling him that she was ready to leave. From then on, Enzo and Lila lived together. Enzo was very respectful of Lila, not touching her, nor did Lila want to be touched. She appreciated his devotion, and did not care for romance or sex from him.

Enzo had gotten an engineer's diploma, so he was supporting Lila and Gennaro (while Lila worked at the Soccavo factory). Together, they also became interested in computers. They later joined a computer company where Lila was Enzo's assistant. But later on, Lila decided to work at Michele Solara's company.

According to the Solaras, Lila screwed them out of their money. Whether she actually stole money, or just drained them of money through wages is unclear. But she and Enzo then started Basic Sight which became the big thing in town.

Enzo was always very agreeable. As I said, he never demanded sex of Lila. And he was considerate of the children. When Lenu lived in the apartment above Lila, and they often hung out together, Lenu always noticed how Enzo would dote on Tina, but also remember to give all of her daughters the same amount of attention. And he was basically Gennaro's father figure.

Lenu never really heard Enzo raise his voice or get into arguments, not until after Tina had disappeared. One time, Enzo had been arrested by the police as he had been named by Nadia as an accomplice. Lila couldn't visit him in prison because they weren't officially married. Though he hadn't done anything, his name was tarnished and people actually believed Pasquale to be the more innocent between him and Enzo.

Eventually, Enzo and Lila parted ways.

Bruno Soccavo

Bruno was a rich friend of Nino's that he vacationed with at Ischia. He often walked with Pinuccia while Lenu, Lila, and Nino would talk, and eventually Pinuccia fell in love with him, but she left in order not to let her feelings to continue developing.

However, Bruno actually liked Lenu. He tried to kiss her but she rejected him and was annoyed at his constant advances.

After Lila left Stefano the second time, she bumped into Bruno Soccavo who gave her a job at the sausage factory. However, conditions were terrible there. All of the women were subject to sexual assault to secure their jobs. Lila would rebuke Bruno and yell at him and that made him back off. People were still under the impression that she did sexual favours for Bruno though and that gave her protection. It was revealed that Bruno was also in cahoots with the Solaras which was a headache to Lila.

Lila attended the labour movement meeting and voiced her complaints about working at the factory. Her words were published without her consent and that gave her problems at work. Lila was angry because her livelihood was threatened. She eventually left that job. Bruno Soccavo was later killed, and I believe his death was one of the politically motivated murders that Nadia and Pasquale were accused of, though that might have partially been Lenu's dramatization.

Melina Cappuccio

Melina was known as the the town's madwoman. She was a single mom who worked as a cleaner and it was known that Donato Sarratore had an affair with her. The Sarratore left town, but later on, Donato had published a book of poetry dedicated to Melina and it had lifted her spirits.

I forgot who said this, but someone had said that it was bad that the poetry had been published, because then Melina had hope.

Melina was mentally unwell. She was seen eating soap, and her children had to take care of her.

Lila had a bit of a fascination with Melina the madwoman. I'm not sure what exactly the fascination was, but I think it was maybe just the idea that Melina didn't really fit in a neat little box like a lot of the other women that Lenu and Lila knew as kids were. If we compared Nino to Donato, then the comparison of Lila to Melina is apt, as the women who were used and thrown away.

I believe Melina died by suicide.

Antonio Cappuccio

Antonio was Lenu's high school boyfriend. She didn't love him as she was in love with Nino, but Antonio was deeply devoted to her and she recognized this. She recognized that Antonio saw her as better than him, and would do anything for her. He was a little insecure about Nino and Lenu would assure him that it was nothing.

On Lila's wedding night, Lenu began to distance herself from Antonio as her mother didn't like her hanging out with him, and then Lenu began to understand her education put her in a different social class. Antonio was upset then. Lenu had also wanted to lose her virginity to Antonio at the pond on Lila's wedding night, but it didn't go through.

Antonio was under stress due to his mother's poor mental health. He was worried about doing his mandatory military service because then no one would be able to take care of his mother. He wanted to get a military exemption like Stefano and the Solaras did. Lenu tried to help by asking Lila, who would speak to the Solaras for her. When Antonio found out that Lenu had asked on his behalf, he was upset as he felt his pride had been hit a bit. And it turns out that the "military exemptions" were not because of a widowed mother but because Stefano and the Solaras had bribed the military officials. So Antonio had to serve anyway. I believe he served at around the same time as Enzo and Pasquale.

When Antonio came back, he was a little different. I guess Lenu saw him as a little more sensitive. He had definitely seen some things. He found work with the Solaras and that was why he ended up following Lila when she left Stefano (on the Solaras' orders). Otherwise he was occupied with caring for his mother, though she eventually committed suicide.

Then, Antonio went to Germany and he had a wife and children. Lenu always noted that his wife was blonde and very pretty and their children were blonde too. At one point, Antonio had sent a gift to Lenu, a German copy of one of her books, to show her her success.

Antonio returned to Naples for a short while. I'm not sure about his work situation but I guess he did some jobs for Lila. When Lenu and Nino became a couple, Antonio expressed to Lenu that he would stand up for her, and also joked that he was right to be suspicious of Nino when they were teenagers.

It was Antonio who revealed the full truth of Nino's infidelity to Lenu. He had been tailing him for Lila. He seemed very lax about it all, and he even joked about Nino being faithful to all of the women as he constantly went back to them. Antonio also revealed that when they were young adults and he had tailed Lila, he had beat up Nino of his own volition so that he would not return to Lila, so Antonio was the reason Lila could move forward, because he knew that if Nino had managed to reconcile with Lila, she would not have moved on as she was still in love with him. In the same vein, though he had collected all of evidence of Nino's infidelity, he couldn't reveal it to Lenu yet as she was still deeply in love with him.

Lenu was very shaken by the revelation and she sought comfort from Antonio. He rebuked her advances at first, but she said that they owed each other their first time as they didn't have sex at the pond. So Antonio agreed, and they both pretended that this was their first time at the pond.

Antonio eventually returned to Germany with his wife and kids, as they didn't really fit in in Naples.

Ada Cappuccio

Ada was Antonio's sister. He was Stefano's first mistress. She needed to make a move on Stefano because she worried she would not be able to establish herself. I believe she had gotten pregnant by Stefano when she went to the Carracci house and told Lila the situation. Stefano had at first abused her for daring to approach. But later on, Lila and Ada had sort of established an equilibrium as Ada was so eager to take care of the house.

Ada had a daughter by Stefano, but Stefano eventually moved on from her to Marisa.

Guido Airota

Guido was Lenu's father-in-law, Pietro's father. He didn't really interact with Lenu that much. I guess he was supposed to be an important and vaguely kindly old man, definitely important, and the reason why the Airotas even had a name.

In the midst of the domestic disputes with Pietro, Adele, and Mariarosa, Guida stayed quiet and appeared cordial though distant with Lenu.

He was eventually exposed as having taken bribes. However, the aftermath of that wasn't really shown.

Adele Airota

Adele was Lenu's mother-in-law, Pietro's mother. At first, Lenu saw her as a sophisticated mother figure, definitely very different from her own mother. It was Adele who read Lenu's manuscript and sent it to the publisher, kickstarting her writing career.

Adele was generally agreeable, but things obviously began to change over time, especially when Pietro and Lenu began to have marital troubles. I don't remember the arguments too much.

When Pietro and Lenu were having marital troubles, Adele and Guido would take care of Dede and Elsa. In the first days of Lenu and Nino being together, Lenu was still travelling a lot for work. Lenu asked her daughters whether they wanted to stay with Guido and Adele and they had said yes, so she let Guido and Adele take them in.

During an argument, Lenu said to Adele that Pietro had accused her of extramarital affairs as well. That angered Adele, who said to Lenu that she knew nothing of love, and she kicked out Lenu as well as Dede and Elsa.

Over the years, Lenu noticed Adele trying to thwart Lenu's writing career by wielding her influence at the publishing house, though it didn't do much to stop Lenu's success. Adele would sometimes compliment Lenu's books when they spoke but nothing big.

The next time Adele came into the story was when Elsa and Gennaro ran away. Adele treated Elsa and Gennaro as a couple, probably to anger Lenu. Adele also tried to wheedle Lenu into saying she hated Gennaro, but Lenu didn't fall into the trap. She agreed to let Elsa and Gennaro come back and live together. At that point, Lenu understood what Adele had gone through when she married into the family. Lenu felt that Elsa was born better than Gennaro, just as Adele probably thought Pietro was born better than Lenu.

Adele only showed up briefly when Guido's corruption was exposed. Lenu phoned to talk to Adele but Adele just replied decently.

Pietro Airota

Pietro was Lenu's ex-husband. They met during university, where they would have sexual encounters in the dark. Lenu wasn't even as involved with dating him as she was with Franco Mari. But I guess he saw that as good enough and he eventually proposed to her.

Lenu had given Pietro her manuscript and she guessed that he hadn't read it, but his mother eventually had and had sent it to the publisher. At that time, Pietro was working on his thesis, and I think there was a suggestion that Pietro was jealous of Lenu's success from writing novels.

Immacolata loved Pietro and thought he was too good for Lenu. She loved it when he talked about fun facts about Naples, that he had shown interest in their city whereas Lenu kept trying to escape it. During their marriage, when Immacolata visited, she would sometimes barely talk to Lenu, and it would be like she was going just to visit Pietro.

Pietro soon lost interest in Lenu and the kids. He was always cooped up doing his work, and barely helped with the household. At some points Lenu had considered affairs but felt silly about them. That changed when Nino came into the picture. He befriended Pietro so Nino was always around the house and the kids.

When Lenu decided to reveal her affair, Pietro was almost afraid and disbelieving. When he asked her if she was having an affair, he thought she would deny it but she just told the truth and that upset her.

So Immacolata was extremely upset when Lenu wanted to divorce Pietro, to the point that she was going to attack and kill Lenu for doing it. At that, Pietro apologized as he didn't know Lenu would go through so much.

Eventually, they divorced. Pietro began dating a student of his, Dorianna, and the two would even take care of the kids together. Lenu actually had a relatively good relationship with Pietro after the divorce. He would visit the kids and take care of them when Lenu was in tough times. They would talk on the phone about parenting the children. Sometimes he would come just to chat. Lenu mentioned that he was a better father when he didn't always have to be one, and suspected Nino was the same. When Pietro had come to visit at one point, he and Lenu had shared a bed (I think they had sex, I don't remember clearly), and she didn't tell Nino about it.

Pietro eventually broke up with Dorianna and went to the States. Dede and Elsa eventually joined him there. I think Pietro eventually got together with another women who was his senior.

Mariarosa Airota

Mariarosa was Pietro's sister. She was supposed to be hip and woke. I believe she was an academic. I actually can't remember Mariarosa too much. In the days after Lenu, Dede, and Elsa were thrown out of Adele and Guido's house, Mariarosa housed Lenu for a period of time. She was staying with Franco Mari, who was not mentally well. Mariarosa knew that Lenu had brought up Adele's infidelity. She sided with Adele, saying that Lenu should not have said that, but still took in her and her daughters.

Mariarosa would have seminars at her apartment, and Dede and Elsa would get to see not only Mariarosa but also Lenu in action, participating in discussions with students.

Mariarosa had left for a trip, asking Lenu to watch over Franco. However, Franco ended up committing suicide. This of course rattled Mariarosa a lot. Afterwards, Lenu went back to Naples.

Franco Mari

Franco was Lenu's university boyfriend. He was supposedly rich and important, so dating him was a big status boost for Lenu, who had originally been made fun of for being from Naples and having an accent. He would take Lenu on trips and such.

However, one year, he flunked out and couldn't return to the university, and so Lenu's social status dropped a bit again.

Lenu later met Franco again, finding him an acquaintance of Mariarosa's. They resumed as friends, though he was not nearly as great as he once was.

As mentioned, he later became very mentally unwell. He had committed suicide, leaving a note for Lenu not to let Dede and Elsa see, as they were also staying with Mariarosa at the time. I think Mariarosa partially blamed Franco's death on Lenu for not giving him the attention he needed.

Maestro Oliviero

Maestro Oliviero was Lenu and Lila's childhood teacher who had pushed for the two girls to pursue higher learning. While Lenu's parents gave in to her pushiness, Lila's did not. Lila's father went so far as to throw her out the window for daring to ask.

Every year, Lenu would go to see Maestro Oliviero to ask for books for school. It was also Maestro Oliviero who asked her relative to take Lenu in for the summer at the summer house.

Shortly after Gennaro was born, Lila had bumped into Maestro Oliviero, who expressed that Lila had wasted her potential. Lila disagreed and expressed that her potential was becoming a wife and mother. But Lenu believed that Lila had to disagree or else it would be too painful to see her potential to go to waste, as Maestro Oliviero thought.

When Maestro Oliviero died, Immacolata showed disdain for her. She didn't like that Maestro Oliviero tried to act more of a mother than Immacolata herself was. However, later in her old age, Immacolata expressed a bit of awe over Maestro Oliviero, that she would be so aggressive about getting an education for children who were not hers.

When Lila was a kid, she had written a story called the Blue Fairy. Lenu thought it was brilliant, and Lila had shown it to Maestro Oliviero. Maestro Oliviero said nothing about it, which disappointed the girls. After Maestro Oliviero died, Lenu received all of her old notebooks back from Maestro Oliviero, and between two pages was the Blue Fairy, marked up with positive comments. Lenu had noted that the Blue Fairy was in the middle of her notebooks, just as she felt Lila speaking through her when she wrote at times. Anyway, Lenu went to Lila, who was working at the sausage factory at the time, to show her the marked up copy of the Blue Fairy. At the time, Lenu had also wanted to tell Lila about her book being published. But instead of congratulating Lenu about her book, she just talked a lot about computers, and when she received the Blue Fairy from Lenu, she threw it in the fire, eager to leave it behind.

Professor Galiani

Professor Galiani was a teacher at Lenu's high school. She was very encouraging of Lenu's education and she was very impressed with her. She held a party at her house and had invited Lenu, who was still in high school. Nervous about the party, Lenu talked to Lila about it, who basically inserted herself as being Lenu's plus one. Lila was dressed to impress, but upon arriving at the party, she was promptly ignored.

Professor Galiani's kids Armando and Nadia had heard so much about Lenu that they were immediately taken by her, whereas Lila in her pretty clothes was no one. Her charms did not work here. At the time, Nino was dating Nadia so he was at the party too. The night was filled with intellectual and political debate.

Lila soon grew bored and asked Stefano to come pick up Lenu and her. On the drive back, Lila made fun of everyone at the party, saying that all they did was regurgitate things they read like parrots, and said Lenu would be like one too. She would make silly parrot noises, to the point that even Stefano apologized for Lila's behaviour as it was clear Lila was making fun of Lenu.

After the vacation in Ischia, Professor Galiani grew cold to Lenu as Nino had broken up with Nadia.

The next time Professor Galiani came up was in adulthood, when Lila was dragged into the labour union meeting and her words being traced back to her became a problem to her livelihood. She went to confront Nadia at Professor Galiani's house. On her way out, Lila told Professor Galiani that she had attended the party many years ago.

Professor Galiani showed disdain for Lenu, feeling that Lenu thought she was better than them all now and thus never contacted Professor Galiani. Professor Galiani and Lila got into a disagreement about academics. Lila felt that people like Nadia talked big but didn't realize how they threatened the livelihoods of real people like her. Professor Galiani questioned Lila whether Lenu, another learned person, was bad, and Lila said that Lenu was the exception, as when they were children they had made a pact that Lila would be the evil one.

Later, Lenu had returned to Naples briefly and helped Lila when she was very ill. They had both visited Professor Galiani, and their positions had reversed from the party years ago. Professor Galiani only spoke to Lila, impressed with the work she did in bringing light to the Soccavo factory conditions. She basically ignored Lenu. Lenu awkwardly gave Professor Galiani her book and asked her if she wanted a dedication, which Professor Galiani agreed to. While Lila didn't defend Lenu at all in front of Professor Galiani, once they left the house, she defended Lenu, and it was hard to figure out which was the truer of Lila's feelings.

Professor Galiani in this situation represented some problems of social dynamics. Professor Galiani seemed to represent an authority figure who decided who was hip and who was not. Years ago, she decided that Lenu was cool for her education. But once Lenu had risen above her to fame, then Professor Galiani no longer wanted to fraternize with her, only praising Lila for her work. It seemed a little patronizing, but the truth is that this is not uncommon.

Nadia Galiani

Nadia was Professor Galiani's daughter. She was first in the picture as Nino's girlfriend, whom he later broke up with to be with Lila.

She came back into the picture when Lila was dragged to the labour union meeting. Lila was very upset that her words had been quoted as she did not agree to it and it put her livelihood at stake. She went to Nadia to confront her. Nadia seemed nonchalant about it. Lila asked that if she lost her job, whether Nadia would support her and her baby, and Nadia said yes, clearly very disconnected with reality. She already housed several randoms at the time.

Later on, Nadia became more involved with Pasquale, and Professor Galiani didn't like it when they would perform public displays of affection.

Nadia and Pasquale then went on the run as they became more of a terrorist group, suspected of some murders and vandalisms.

An observation that Lenu had about Nadia (and later Mariarosa) was that they were rich girls who seemed eager to be vulgar. Nadia wanted to be hip, so that was why she did "hip" things like kiss in front of other people etc. Later on, Nadia and Pasquale had visited Lenu and Pietro and completely made themselves at home without asking, which angered Pietro, who told Lenu never to let them back.

Nadia was eventually caught, and she gave lots of names of accomplices, including Enzo.

Dede Airota

Dede was Lenu and Pietro's first daughter, named after Adele. The first time Dede became a character was when she noticed Lenu's flirting with other men and Lenu threatened her not to tell.

At a young age, Dede grew to have a crush on Gennaro, and the crush continued in her teenage years. She planned to confess to Gennaro after she graduated, and if Gennaro returned her feelings, she would run away with him to Bologna, as he had a friend there. After her graduation, Lenu found Dede crying, but not because Gennaro had rejected her, but because Gennaro had run off with Elsa.

Lenu noted that Dede and Elsa disagreed and fought on everything, and the only thing they agreed on was tormenting Imma. So the three girls probably had a pretty rough childhood that Lenu just didn't see. Actually Lila was the one who reported a lot of Dede and Elsa's poor behaviour. Lenu had hired Nunzia to help with cleaning up the house and Dede and Elsa were very insulting.

Anyway, after running off with Gennaro, Elsa called and apparently had a talk with Dede. Dede then called Lenu and told her that she would go to the States to join Pietro, because otherwise Elsa wouldn't come back. In her last days before leaving, Dede was a little more agreeable, even a little affectionate with Lenu and Imma.

Lenu assumed that Dede and Elsa reconciled in the States, though it was never really revealed.

As an adult, Dede married an Iranian man, and they had two kids, a son Hamid and a daughter Elena. Dede had even suggested that Lenu come live with them, but Lenu knew that Dede would get tired of her soon.

Elsa Airota

Of Dede and Elsa, Elsa was probably nastier. She lived to torment Dede more than anything. Apparently in her young age, she was reported to speak very crudely and rudely at school.

At the age of 15, she ran away with Gennaro (age 24), and said that they were deeply in love. While it was probably true that Gennaro loved Elsa, Lenu suspected that she had run away mostly to spite Dede.

Elsa ran away to Adele's, where she knew her grandmother would help her, and she did. As mentioned, Lenu did not fall in Adele's traps of badmouthing Gennaro and Lenu let Elsa and Gennaro come back and live together.

I recall there being times when Lila went up to the apartment to yell at Elsa, calling her names and such. Lila had always thought Dede and Elsa to be rude though.

Elsa soon lost interest. She had a crush on a math teacher, though she claimed that it was attraction and not love as an excuse to assure Gennaro. But later on she broke up with Gennaro anyway, saying she didn't love him anymore. Elsa went through a few more guys before going to the States.

As an adult, Elsa became a professor of algebra. She had brought a boyfriend, a mathematician to visit Lenu. When she visited, she had taken one of Lenu's books, and began reading it in a mocking manner, describing how outdated it was. Lenu noted that nobody except Elsa's boyfriend seemed to notice that she was making fun of her mom, and made her stop, instead turning to Lenu to ask her about Naples.

So it seems Elsa continued to be a nasty woman. However, Lenu was still pleased with her daughters as she was proud that they had not grown up like her.

Imma Sarratore

Imma was Lenu and Nino's daughter. As she and Tina were only weeks apart, they naturally became playmates. Lenu became concerned that Imma's development was so much behind Tina's despite being three weeks older.

Later on, Lila told Lenu that Imma felt she had no parents, as Nino was never around and Lenu was so caught up with her career. When Pietro came to visit Dede and Elsa, Imma would try to get his attention too, saying hello and such. Poor Imma was also constantly being tormented by her older sisters.

Imma and Tina mirrored Lenu and Lila's behaviour in more direct ways. Tina leading and Imma following. There was the story of the two girls colouring. Imma was going to paint her elephant a certain colour (blue or green, I don't remember). Tina suggested that Imma could colour the elephant gray. Imma said she didn't want to and made a big fuss about it. Tina said that she wasn't demanding it of Imma, she was just suggesting it. But even then, Imma said she would colour the elephant gray. It showed that Imma was incredibly yielding, if only because she wanted to belong with someone.

So when Nino came, Imma was obviously very pleased, as he showered her with gifts and attention, though Nino realized he had overdone it. But from then on, Nino became the cool dad. Imma was so smitted with him and supported him whenever she could. She was even angry at Lenu for not supporting him. So she took it hard when he was taken down for corruption.

Towards the later years of them being in Naples, Lila would be hot and cold with Imma. Sometimes she would shower her with attention and sometimes she would retreat. Eventually, Lila shared her Naples project with Imma, telling her about the history of Naples, though Lenu suspected that Lila would inject her own fictions into the history.

We didn't really get to see how Imma handled Tina's disappearance. I think Lila had told her that Tina had gone away, but we didn't really know how Imma handled it as she got older.

Gennaro Carraci

Gennaro was Lila's son. She originally believed Gennaro to be Nino's son, as she was pregnant when she was having an affair with Nino. However, their romance lasted only 23 days, and Enzo took Lila back to Stefano if only so that she would be taken care of when she gave birth.

Lila put a lot of work into Gennaro's development, wanting him to be smart. She made games for him to play, and showed him off to Lenu when she visited.

Later on, Lila realized that Gennaro was actually Stefano's son, as he looked very much like Ada's daughter by Stefano. I guess it helped Lila get over her past mistake with Nino, realizing that she had nothing of us.

Lenu was known to Gennaro as a youngster. When Lenu had visited Enzo and Lila's flat, he recognized her. When Lila was very ill, she made Lenu promise to take care of Gennaro if she was very sick, never expanding on what she meant by that. And for short periods of time, Lenu did take Gennaro into her house, which is how Dede first fell in love with Gennaro. Enzo became a father figure to Gennaro.

As mentioned, Dede and Elsa got into a feud over Gennaro, who was revealed to be deeply in love with Elsa. Lenu went to Lila, angry at the mess that Gennaro had made. Lila had only seemed smug, that Gennaro, someone she considered without much merit, has caused such a ruckus among two Airota daughters. She did not sympathize with Lenu's situation, probably because she did not share Lenu's same views on class. Lenu considered her daughters of a higher pedigree than Gennaro.

After he returned to live with Lenu and Elsa, he became somewhat of a servant around the house. Elsa was very mean to him, and Gennaro picked up Lenu from her trips etc. It was almost like he was a better son to Lenu than to Lila, which probably irked her. When Lenu got annoyed over Gennaro living in their house and talked to Lila about it, Lila kicked up a fuss and got into a huge argument with both Enzo and Gennaro, and Lenu realized Lila had kicked up a fuss on purpose so that Lenu would take him back.

I don't remember the sequence of Gennaro and Elsa breaking up, Gennaro moving back to Lila's apartment, and Elsa going to the US, but those happened. Lila kept Gennaro at Basic Sight but through contact with his uncle, he began using drugs. Gennaro also kept some sort of contact with his father Stefano.

When Rino went missing, Gennaro knew where to find him.

And that brings us full circle to the beginning, when Gennaro called Lenu to tell her that Lila had gone missing. Gennaro wasn't smart enough to know where to look, but Lila was always especially cryptic, even to people who knew her well.

Tina Scanno

Tina was Lila and Enzo's daughter. Lila wanted to raise her to be the perfect and smartest girl. It was clear that she put effort into teaching Tina to speak and such at an early age, as she had done with Gennaro and the games.

One time, Lenu had a photoshoot at her apartment while taking care of Tina and Imma. The photographer had asked that she pose with Tina because she found Tina more photogenic, and Tina was incorrectly stated to be Lenu's daughter.

As mentioned, Tina naturally became the leader of Imma, if only because Imma was so desperate to follow someone's lead. Tina was too young for us to know if she was naturally as dominant as Lila was.

Lila said that Tina would grow up to be better than all of them. Whereas Lila had confidence, she was straight up arrogant with Tina. She dared to be proud of Tina whereas she didn't dare be proud of herself. So Tina (and Imma) shed light on parts of Lila and Lenu's personalities that they would have kept secret otherwise as adults.

Tina went lost on an outing with Nino, Imma, Dede, and Elsa. Lila and Enzo hadn't even noticed because Lila was holding Imma and she and Enzo were busy talking to Nino. The entire town went looking for Tina but she was never found. There weren't even any signs of her being run over by a truck or anything.

Many years later, Lila discussed with Lenu that she had always wondered if Tina had been abducted because someone was targeting Lenu and thought she was her real daughter. Honestly it had never occurred to me, and I think maybe it had never occurred to Lenu as well. It actually surprised me, and I guess it would have added to any resentment that Lila might have had over Lenu still having her daughter.

Lila continued to grieve over her daughter. Her relationship with Enzo broke down and they separated.

Themes

Oh there were so many themes in this book. I'll just cover the big ones I guess.

Lenu and Lila

The biggest theme of this book: Lenu and Lila's relationship. I always thought Lila was Lenu's brilliant friend. But when they were teenagers, after Lila had gotten married and Lenu continued her schooling, Lila called Lenu her brilliant friend, buying her her textbooks when she didn't have the money for them.

From youth, Lila was naturally dominant over Lenu. Lenu accepted that it was the way of things and would always be following. When Lila threw Lenu's doll into Don Achille's cellar, Lenu threw Lila's as well. Lila then took Lenu's hand and they went to Don Achille's together to ask for their dolls back. Lenu said that that moment when Lila took her hand changed their relationship forever. Maybe that was what made Lenu so devoted to her relationship with Lila.

And as mentioned, I always felt like Lila had to pretend everything was according to plan. Lila had taken Lenu to the edge of town in order to get Lenu in trouble so that she would be taken out of school. Lila had also gotten into a huge fight with her dad who threw her out a window because he didn't let her go to school. But she had to act unbothered about it. To be fair, there was no other way for her to act than to accept it. But later in life, she continued to not let herself show any weakness or any hesitation.

There was the good/bad dichotomy between Lenu and Lila. Lenu was characterized as the good girl, the one who was easy to talk to. Lila was the bad girl, the one who got into trouble, but the one that EVERYBODY wanted. The Solaras, Stefano, Enzo, random ADULT MEN would approach Lila and tell her how beautiful she was, it was like something from /r/thathappened.

As they grew up, we saw these themes in their relationship grow. Lila was always the leader, but it extended to the fact that she felt she always had to be the better. At Professor Galiani's party, she was so humiliated because for once, she was not acknowledged as the better. In their friend group, she was always the one who turned heads. She didn't realize that education could take her so far.

Lila allowed herself to be more daring, and I think she allowed herself that by saying that she was the "bad girl." She was allowed to take risks, have affairs, work with the Solaras. After all, when she tried to be good, it only came back in her face, like when she tried to work at the Soccavo factory and it just ended up being terrible.

On the other hand, Lila was very angry with Lenu when she wanted to run away with Nino. And I think part of it broke their "pact" of Lenu being the good girl. Lila was supposed to make the mistakes so that Lenu wouldn't have to and here Lenu was throwing that away. But Lenu wanted to make her own mistakes. She was only human, not a bird to be kept in a cage.

While Lenu was learning to make her mistakes, Lila struggled to learn that just because one was bad, didn't mean that you were only destined for bad things. I think Lila struggled to let herself have good things. The only good things she let herself have was probably Tina and maybe Basic Sight, though I don't think Lila was really passionate about Basic Sight, just that it was something to do that she was good at and could be even better at. But she didn't dream about Basic Sight.

Rewinding a little bit back, there was a constant competition in their relationship. In their childhoods, Lenu felt motivation in trying to catch up to Lila in their studies. As an adult, when Lenu became an author, she became proud for finally having overtaken Lila for one thing for once. Lila had always been first, better at studies, becoming a married adult first, etc. Lenu was so excited to show off her first book to Lila, and when Lenu went to tell Lila about it at the Soccavo factory, Lila no longer cared about writing, having already moved on to computers. She threw the Blue Fairy into the fire to show that she did not care about writing anymore.

In their adulthood, when Lenu came back to Naples, Lila said that they could work to change the neighbourhood together. At that point, I really thought that their relationship had come to a place of peace. Lila had patience for Lenu, and they worked together. They really seemed like they were a family together.

But that changed when Lenu realized that Lila was trying to control her writing. She would submit writing on Lenu's behalf when Lenu didn't want to publish them, etc. And it came back to the idea that Lila was the leader. But in this case, it seemed even more explicit that Lila was just using Lenu for her fame.

Their adulthood was Lenu learning to split herself from Lila. She acknowledged that she used to put too much weight into Lila and it affected her from the core, in her writing. But as their lives converged, Lenu started to understand that she had her own agency, that she could do things for her own reasons.

Lila didn't like it when Lenu wrote about real life things, about their neighbourhood. Lenu had written a story based on reality once and Lila said she didn't like it, but Lenu ended up submitting it to the publisher because she had nothing else and the publisher liked it.

After Lenu moved to Turin, she understood that she was afraid that Lila would publish a book, ask her to read it, and that it would be better than her own writing. So even in her old age, Lenu had insecurities about Lila overtaking her. The competition between the two came back, and perhaps that was what drove Lenu to write things on her own terms.

When Lenu wrote The Friendship, about their relationship, she knew she was taking a big risk in their relationship. But it was something that she knew Lila would not write. And she had to do it for herself, if only as a way to express her own feelings for her lifelong friendship.

Bt she was no longer the protected good girl, and she knew the consequences. She knew Lila could get really angry at her.

Their friendship ended with Lila sending the two dolls of Nu and Tina to Lenu. What did that mean? Lenu had both positive and negative theories. Maybe Lila sent them to tell Lenu that they were finished. Maybe Lila sent them as an apology, that she had kept both dolls all this time. Maybe Lila had sent them only as a sign that she was there, and she saw Lenu, that they were two friends and nothing can ever change their past with each other.

Lenu and Lila have a very deep friendship, but by god I cannot relate to having such a dramatic friendship. I got really angry with Lila quite often during the book.

Women

While still married to Pietro, Lenu became more interested in feminism, and it was something that Pietro seemed to criticize her a bit on, whereas Nino pushed Lenu to explore it more. While maybe it was true that Pietro wasn't respecting the feminist movement, I also can't help but think it was Nino's way to draw Lenu to him. Lenu had noticed that he always focused all his attention on women, and telling them that they were better than their husbands. Ugh. What a scumbag.

Throughout the book, so many of the women were affected by the men in their lives, their husbands, their fathers, their brothers. Even highly educated women were very much influenced by the men. Especially the case for the women who were financial reliant on their husbands, like Immacolata and Nunzia. Nunzia had mentioned that she ahd wanted Lila to go to school but she was afraid of standing up to her husband. But even for women of higher social class. When Lenu married Pietro, she was at times basically a housewife. Same for Adele. When Lenu found out about Nino still being married to Eleonora, Lenu said that she felt the anger of her female relatives, probably because she understood now what it felt like to be completely manipulated by a man.

Class

Class is a huge theme that might be more uncomfortable to talk about but I thought the way it was handled was really interesting. Lenu entered a higher social class because of her education, while many of her friends and family remained in the same social class, a little lower.

The first signs of this came at Professor Galiani's party, where Lenu could socialize with Nino and Armando and Nadia, and Lila could not.

Lenu was at odds with her mother because she did not share her money with her mother. Lenu started thinking differently, not wanting to get married in a church while her mother insisted on it. So she was already starting to live differently, affected by all she had absorbed in university.

Lenu joining the Airota family was a new experience. Everybody and everything felt so sophisticated. She looked up to Adele as the sophisticated mother figure she did not have. And she tried so hard to belong, knowing that she did not. She rarely contact home, probably not wanting to associate. She had cut herself out of the Greco family.

When Lenu went to get Elsa and Gennaro, she understood Adele's concerns when she had married into the Airota family. She understood that she was now in the higher class and she was looking down on people in the lower class.

I'll just quickly mention again the situation with Professor Galiani who had considered Lenu acceptable, but not after she became famous and apparently too good for her. In such cases I think Professor Galiani had a bit of an inferiority complex, and only wanted to be around people she knew she could be considered better around.

I also neeeeed to talk about the differences between the "rich" women and the "vulgar" women. Lenu noticed that for women like Nadia and Mariarosa, who had grown up wealty to a good family, they were so eager to appear hip and cool by swearing and doing all of the "bad girl" things. Being rebellious, I guess. Meanwhile, girls like Lenu were so desperate to join the upper echelons. It was such an interesting comparison and it's one that we still see today!! The rich people always want to look like "one of the hip ones," pretending like they hustle when in fact they can go home to their comfortable homes. At one point I think Lenu called Mariarosa, after Guido had been exposed for corruption. I think Mariarosa was kind of in a lull and when Lenu asked her what she would do, she said that she was rich (implying that she would be fine), though it was ironic because Guido had just been exposed for corruption.

Naples

Naples became a bigger and bigger character as the story went on. There's a reason this book is called the Neapolitan Novels.

First, I think Naples was a character in the sense that Lenu as a child told us so much about her neighbourhood and Naples. She told us all about her friends, about the kids in the community.

But Lenu didn't feel so Neapolitan as she did outside of Naples. At university, nobody ever let her forget she was less good because of her accent and because she was from Naples. Peopl made fun of her. When she was accused of stealing money, she had to fight to protect herself.

Later on, Lenu tried to distance herself from Naples, and she barely called home. That was how all of the things in Naples happened without her knowing, Lila working with the Solaras, Elisa dating Marcello Solara.

After being kicked out by Mariarosa, Lenu finally returned to Naples and reestablished herself. Lila, meanwhile, had never left Naples. She didn't really like leaving, even if just for vacation. When Lenu came back, Lila was a little invigorated, hoping that they could change the neighbourhood.

But Lenu didn't really share the same goals as Lila, and she later left Naples. It was probably better for her, as she needed to focus on raising Imma, in a place that was free of past bad memories.

I liked that the translation of this book would differentiate when characters were speaking in dialect or in Italian. Sometimes it illustrated the tensions at stake, or certain situations.

For example, characters would speak in Italian if they want to come off as polished or more high class. But sometimes characters would speak in dialect if they were speaking from the heart, or if they were speaking to somebody at home.

It's clear that Ferrante has a lot of feelings about Naples and I love that they come through in this novel.

Overall

What a monster of a book. In the good way. There's just so much meat in it.

Again, this was a rage inducing book, but there is a lot to say. This really feels like Elena Ferrante's magnum opus, and I think she has much to be proud of.