Sunday, November 22, 2020

The Lying Life of Adults, Back to Naples with Elena Ferrante


The Neapolitan Quartet written by the illusive Elena Ferrante was my favorite read a few years ago. https://bit.ly/3nNzh9m Now Ferrante’s newest novel, “The Lying Life of Adults,” is out and it doesn’t seem to be making as much of a splash as the previous books. I was a little disappointed by it myself so when I attended Diane Rehm’s book discussion last week on Zoom I was reassured to learn that I was not alone. In fact, Laura Benedetti, professor of Italian culture at Georgetown, posited the theory that Ferrante’s latest seemed so uneven and repetitious that it may have been written by a group, kind of like the James Patterson books. Oh, I hope this isn’t the case.

Thematically she covers much the same territory. Naples, Italy is the setting. Class distinctions are everything. Giovanna and her family live in the “high district” where the language spoken is formal Italian and education is prized. Giovanna’s father comes from the industrial zone south of the city where a vulgar dialect prevails and young women are encouraged to marry young and reproduce. Dad, stern and withholding like many of Ferrante’s fictional fathers, left his sister Vittoria and the rest of the family behind and never looked back. Therein lies the crux of the story.

Giovanna is a bookish teenager with few friends who spends way too much time in her room. She is an observer, a listener, a spy in her own home, so it’s no surprise when she overhears her folks having a disturbing conversation about her, her grades, and her overall behavior. Giovanna is becoming as ugly as Vittoria her father says, and for Giovanna life will never look the same again.

This is a disturbing novel, a coming-of-age story mired in family secrets and lies. Giovanna’s pain and insecurity about her looks become an obsession to connect with the disowned Aunt Vittoria who, sensing the opportunity to drive the wedge between families further in, callously manipulates her niece.

This novel abounds with colorful characters, but they lack the depth and nuance that we came to love in the Lena and Lila books. That failure to create an emotional bond between Giovanna and readers may be a problem for Ferrante since the abrupt ending led me to believe that a sequel is likely in the offing. Will we care?

I would love to hear from you if you’ve read this book already. Am I being too harsh? Did I expect too much? Ferrante aficionados, call me out!

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