Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay - Neapolitan Novels

book three in the neapolitan stories. I could not put all four books down. incredibly written, powerful depiction of naples and the class struggle and of course the relationship of these two women. I want to read them again

The Neopolitan novels by Ferrante are a masterpiece. Once you read the first one it is impossible to stop. her descriptions on the poor in Naples is so real! And the friendship between the woman is unforgettable. I was lost in their world and emotionally drawn in with every word. The translation from Italian is beautiful!

Sometimes this story gets thick with characters. At times I have had to put it down and come back. This is not necessarily a negative as I love good character driven fiction. I’m glad she puts a list of characters in the front of every book! I enjoyed the series immensely.

Love the entire series. Fascinating characters & locales--thought-provoking.
Beautiful, clever writing that hones in on an honest portrayal of emotions, jealousies, feelings of inferiority, etc, imbedded from childhood, emerging and re-emerging throughout life creating and spinning events out of control.

What I especially like about this book is the exposure of the complex and frought relationship of two friends who grew up in Naples, in a culture where poverty and violence was the norm. I was fascinated by the string that binds the two women together in spite of long periods of separation. This book provides an insight into the values and morals and family loyalties of a segment of the Neapolitan population and I am eager to start the last in the series of four.

2nd in Neapolitan series and is even better than the first (My Brilliant Friend) as the story of the friendship of the two girls unfolds even more. Enthralling story of the impact of family, class, gender, sexual relations, politics in post-war Italy.

The story is riveting, the writing is fantastic, and I can hardly wait until September. In the meantime I am now halfway through "Troubling Love" which is a little more graphic, but explains why Ferrante's writing is getting all of the attention that it is.

Ferrante was brilliant in the first two volumes of this trilogy, and is equally so in this one. The dense and developing story seems to draw out to a finer and finer line of tension. I can't imagine the next volume promised for September. Her coming of age goes on and on.

This is the third book in the 4 Neapolitan novels - they are all compelling and brilliantly written. The story is so rich - the characters are all unforgettable. When I'm not reading these books, I can't stop thinking about what is happening in the story. I simply cannot recommend them enough.

I am hooked on this series at various levels. All in all a great story of the ups and downs of a life-long friendship, or at least at the end of book three I'm hoping that's where it might go despite the intro to book one. Love the Italian neighborhood of the 1940s and seeing how it evolves and changes along with the rest of the post-war world.

A Birdseye view into Neapolitan culture. This is the third book in the series and the best so far (I'm currently reading the 4th). They are all grown up now and dealing with adult problems. Such a well-written series. A joy to read.

Anyone, especially women, who enters into Ferrante's world will not forget it. I read the whole trilogy and now feel bereft. There is hope once the final book (?) comes out in the fall so we will just have to wait for a translate and anticipate the pleasure of revisiting characters we loved to get to know.

The saga continues, and this installment has such strength: colliding family developments alongside Lena's awakening intellect -- especially her personal insights into the role of women throughout time.

The entire series is excellent and once I finished one book I couldn't wait to read the next.Elena Ferrante is outstanding at capturing personalities and developing them as they grow older and goes through life events.

Ferrante's experimental fiction, where two friends are entwined from early childhood, plays around myths - the myths of origin, Dido, Pinocchio and others. The two friends are mirrors to each other, each taking turns to play good fairy/bad fairy. Lila writes a story "The Blue Fairy" that weaves the myth in and out of the quartet. Ferrante works with identity and self. Can one be truly creative alone, or is it a combined effort of shared genius that produces art? Do we all steal ideas all the time, do we merge, mingle, remake originality? Both Lila and Elena reach out of poverty to become "real" women. Will education or marriage be the magic opportunity to be different from their mothers? Lila gives up on education and holds out for love, but when she finds herself abandoned by her lover, she burns the copy of the myth she wrote for herself.
Elena chooses education but then finds herself, in spite of marrying well, in the same predicament as her mother. In this third book, Elena finds she's stuck at home, enslaved to it, to her children and a husband who is himself trapped in an ivory tower. She struggles with the notions of beauty, sexuality, being attractive to men, or just being comfortable with herself.
Both women long to be more than an automaton - a creation of male ideas. I enjoyed the feminist text, the social, political discourse, but in the end the story, with its intertextuality, is just brilliant.

The author definitely has a way of luring reader. Mid-novel , I was thinking I would not go on to the 4th book, but somehow I was intrigued by the plot at the end, I had to find out what was going to happen to Lila. Lenu,and Nino.

Thoroughly absorbing. Incredibly written. I am now reading the fourth book of Ferrante's masterful quartet and can't think of a better binge read. The two main characters will haunt you for a long time!

My review covers all three books in Ferrante's trilogy.

The story line is about two lifelong girlfriends and the differing paths and approach that they both take from small children to their early 30's. The story also includes just about every significant person in both of their lives from family to friends to shopkeepers et al. The cast are summarized at the start of books 2 & 3. By the end of the trilogy, the reader becomes so familiar with cast that they can easily become part of the story. Based on these relationships, several themes are built around politics, marriage, roles of women, class distinctions and so on. You have a very full story line that is extremely well written and worthy of high regard. The emotional descriptions of the characters were honest and captivating. The characters are distinct and the plot believable without any trite manipulations of the audience. Enduring and exceptionally written. This could be an amazing movie.

If I could give this book 4 1/2 stars, I would have because there is one flaw as others have mentioned. The story periodically drags and I found myself trudging through spots in the book that seemed like unnecessary details. For example: The two girlfriends have points of conflict through the years where the emotional drivers of their discord is repeated in great descriptive detail such as the insecurity of one or the selfishness of the other. We know them by now and I think these type of things could have been creatively condensed. Overall, an epic family story and worth my time.

One does get addicted to Elena Ferrante writing. It is details and brings forward lots of feelings and perhaps this is why one keeps reading her books always wanting to know what happens to her and her friends.

My background is Italian ,but I'm having difficulty understanding these characters and their behaviors. Everything is so much different from what my Dad told me of the old country. Even as an American, and supposedly very modern, I feel some of the people are off the wall.

I had trouble following the first part of the book as the author seemed to get ahead of herself. but it eventually got better. My granddaughters gave me the first two books of the series and I am now on the second book and ordered the third but just found out there is a fourth as well. It is interesting to see how things were with poor people in Italy during that time period. Tough!

This third book continues the amazing accomplishment that is this series. I'm amazed by the narrative voice behind these novels. I'd like to pace myself and wait before beginning the forth book, but I don't think that is possible.

This has been and interesting series of books. I am currently reading the 4th and final book. I had a difficult time getting into the first book, however, the end had me wanting more. Now, I will be sad to see the series completed.

The characters from the Neapolitan novels by Elena Ferrante stay with you long after you've finished the books. I was disappointed by the choices that Lila and Elena made at the end of the third book. Their friendship and competition with each other drives the story. I can't wait for the next book to continue their story and struggles.

In book one you realize Elena Ferrante is a powerful storyteller with an authentic female voice; something nags at you, you can't quite figure out why you like it so much. Maybe because is seems so personal and brave-- she talks about the things we hide in ourselves. In book two, there is a certain point where you realize how brilliant she is and how subtle and layered that brilliance is; it shines new light on book one. In this book, book three (yes read them all and read in order to see the way she evolves her writing) there is a point where I actually laughed with delight to discover something new about her characters and her writing-- a layer of metaphor and universal pull that further underscored the intelligence she is so comfortable with she never has to let it dominate. Only the story, the characters, the sweep of human emotion dominate is such a gentle way that you find yourself suddenly crying or in awe or gasping-- and you have no idea why, all she is just slowly finds it's way into your soul. When I hear there's a book that a lot of women love, that's sweep the country in sales just on word of mouth, I generally run in the other direction. But when I saw the fourth book on the NYT ten top books of the year, I had to reconsider and am so glad I did. Yes it is a book women will especially love but not because it is light and silly and romantic-- because it is harsh and beautiful and brings life into a city and a friendship in a way we all understand but have never heard expressed in such a bold and completely vulnerable way.

I've finidhed all four books.
They all were difficult reading. I had a tendency to skip a lot of the political writings. I didn't understand What party was what and who belonged to what party. There are so many characters in her books it's hard to remember all of them and in what order they matter.
The story was addictive. I'm just glad I'm finished. Time to move on to something not so consuming . Don't start these unless you have a lot of time to spare!

Elena Ferrante's three Neapolitan novels are absolutely marvelous. At bed time, when I should have been going to sleep, I couldn't put the books down. They take you on an incredible emotional roller-coaster ride, and are so well written. I can't wait for the next edition.