Synopses & Reviews
"She is among the greatest Italian authors of recent years."-
Corriere della Sera "Ferrante dissects the personal microcosm so well, and with awesome lucidity and precision shows us the meanderings of a woman's mind, the suffering that accompanies being abandoned, and the awful rumbling of time passing."-El Mundo
"Elena Ferrante has given us a startlingly beautiful novel of exceptional and bold strength."-Il Manifesto
"Severe and rigorously unsentimental, packed full of passages written with dizzying intensity at a rare and acute pitch. Ferrante is at her best when her writing holds tight to those nagging, niggling obsessions that make up our mental landscapes."-La Stampa
A national bestseller for almost an entire year, The Days of Abandonment shocked and captivated its Italian public when first published. It is the gripping story of a woman's descent into devastating emptiness after being abandoned by her husband with two young children to care for. When she finds herself literally trapped within the four walls of their high-rise apartment, she is forced to confront her ghosts, the potential loss of her own identity, and the possibility that life may never return to normal.
Review
Praise for Elena Ferrante and The Neapolitan Novels
“Everyone should read anything with Ferrantes name on it.” —The Boston Globe
“Ferrantes novels are intensely, violently personal, and because of this they seem to dangle bristling key chains of confession before the unsuspecting reader.” —James Wood, The New Yorker
“One of the more nuanced portraits of feminine friendship in recent memory.” —Megan OGrady, Vogue
“Amazing! My Brilliant Friend took my breath away. If I were president of the world I would make everyone read this book. It is so honest and right and opens up heart to so much. Reading Ferrante reminded me of that child-like excitement when you cant look up from the page, when your eyes seem to be popping from your head, when you think: I didnt know books could do this!” —Elizabeth Strout, author of Olive Kitteridge
“Elena Ferrante will blow you away.” —Alice Sebold, author of The Lovely Bones
“Ferrantes emotional and carnal candor are so potent." —Janet Maslin, The New York Times
“I like the Italian writer, Elena Ferrante, a lot. I've been reading all her work and all about her.” — John Waters, actor and director
“"Elena Ferrante tackles girlhood and friendship with amazing force.”— Gwenyth Paltrow
“Elena Ferrante may be the best contemporary novelist youve never heard of”— The Economist
“[Ferrante's Neapolitan Novels] dont merely offer a teeming vision of working-class Naples, with its cobblers and professors, communists and mobbed-up businessmen, womanizing poets and downtrodden wives; they present one of modern fictions richest portraits of a friendship.” —John Powers, Fresh Air, NPR
“Ferrantes freshness has nothing to do with fashion…it is imbued with the most haunting music of all, the echoes of literary history.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Elena Ferrantes THE STORY OF A NEW NAME, book two in her Naples series. Two words. Read it.” —Ann Hood, author of The Obituary Writer
“Ferrante writes with a ferocious, intimate urgency.” —Susanna Sonnenberg, author of Her Last Death: A Memoir
“The Days of Abandonment is a powerful, heartrending novel.” —Jhumpa Lahiri, author of The Lowlands
“I am such a fan of Ferrantes work, and have been for quite a while.” —Jennifer Gilmore, author of The Mothers
“No one has a voice quite like Ferrante's. Her gritty, ruthlessly frank novels roar off the page with a barbed fury, like an attack that is also a defense…Imagine if Jane Austen got angry and you'll have some idea of how explosive these works are.” —John Freeman, The Australian
“The womens fraught relationship and shifting fortunes are the life forces of the poignant book” — Publishers Weekly
"An engrossing, wildly original contemporary epic about the demonic power of human (and particularly female) creativity checked by the forces of history and society." — The Los Angeles Review of Books
Synopsis
From the author of My Brilliant Friend
"She is among the greatest Italian authors of recent years."-Corriere della Sera
"Ferrante dissects the personal microcosm so well, and with awesome lucidity and precision shows us the meanderings of a woman's mind, the suffering that accompanies being abandoned, and the awful rumbling of time passing."-El Mundo
"Elena Ferrante has given us a startlingly beautiful novel of exceptional and bold strength."-Il Manifesto
"Severe and rigorously unsentimental, packed full of passages written with dizzying intensity at a rare and acute pitch. Ferrante is at her best when her writing holds tight to those nagging, niggling obsessions that make up our mental landscapes."-La Stampa
A national bestseller for almost an entire year, The Days of Abandonment shocked and captivated its Italian public when first published. It is the gripping story of a woman's descent into devastating emptiness after being abandoned by her husband with two young children to care for. When she finds herself literally trapped within the four walls of their high-rise apartment, she is forced to confront her ghosts, the potential loss of her own identity, and the possibility that life may never return to normal.
Synopsis
From the New York Times-bestselling author of My Brilliant Friend, this novel of a deserted wife's descent into despair--and rage--is "a masterpiece" (The Philadelphia Inquirer).
The Days of Abandonment is the gripping story of an Italian woman's experiences after being suddenly left by her husband after fifteen years of marriage. With two young children to care for, Olga finds it more and more difficult to do the things she used to: keep a spotless house, cook meals with creativity and passion, refrain from using obscenities. After running into her husband with his much-younger new lover in public, she cannot even refrain from assaulting him physically.
In a "raging, torrential voice" (The New York Times), Olga conveys her journey from denial to devastating emptiness--and when she finds herself literally trapped within the four walls of their high-rise apartment, she is forced to confront her ghosts, the potential loss of her own identity, and the possibility that life may never return to normal.
"Intelligent and darkly comic." --Publishers Weekly
"Remarkable, lucid, austerely honest." --The New Yorker
About the Author
Elena Ferrante was born in Naples. Though she is one of Italy's most important and acclaimed contemporary authors, her identity is a mystery. Theories and speculation as to who Elena Ferrante really is continue to circulate; however, the author has successfully shunned public attention and has been able to keep her whereabouts and her true identity concealed. The Days of Abandonment, her second novel, is currently being made into a film by director Roberto Faenza, due for release in North America in 2006.