Welcome to Litsy!

This is the 3rd book in the Neapolitan Quartet, about the toxic relationship between Lila and Elena. I found it to be almost unbearable to read, having to engage with such flawed characters. I steadily grew in my dislike of them due to the regressions in their identities and morality. By the end, I was as so emotional that I cried. Positively this may show the author‘s ability to stir feelings if that was her point.

I have to finish this third book in the series and move on to the final one. But, if this was the first and last of dealing with them, I would be done.

This is the third book in a four-part series so I have to finish to learn what happens but I am getting so bored with Lila, one of the friends in this complicated relationship. There is page after page about her. If it was not a series, I would not finish this particular book. Just saying.

We would have written together, we would have been authors together, we would have dravn power from each other, we would have fought shoulder to shoulder because what was ours was inimitably ours. The solitude of women's minds is regrettable, I said to myself, it's a waste to be separated from each other, without procedures, without tradition.

My Current Read fits with the prompt! Yay! #CharacterCharm #Mother&child

This is the third in the four part series. It is the best one yet, to me, so far in the first few pages. It‘s interesting though that its start is entitled “The Middle Part” but the narrator is now in her sixties. I am curious now about the last novel. I highly recommend these books.

Another brilliant, gripping novel in the Neapolitan quartet. Elena and Lila are now young adults with children in the 1960s, and their personal lives and relationships are as turbulent as the social and political landscape. No spoilers, but Elena, what the hell are you doing, girl?

13-8 Sep 24 (audiobook)
Having already made it halfway through the final novel before writing this review, I find it difficult to remember where this instalment started and finished. I am thoroughly immersed in the world of Lila and Lenu now, never quite knowing where my sympathies lie.
I am looking very forward to watching the TV series but after watching half an episode decided to wait until I finish my re-read. And the end of school holidays.

Next up

The 3rd of The Neapolitan Quartet set - compelling reading - lively , dramatic engaging characters - moving straight on to the next one - but I‘ll be left with a void in my life when the it‘s over .

This is the third of the Neapolitan series where we follow Elena and Lila in their late 20s and early 30s. It is a book filled with chaos and disorder, narrating the violent politics of the 1970s and the characters‘ own inner violence. We read about loveless marriages and unusual relationships. We delve deeper and deeper into the lives of the two women and those whose lives are touched by theirs. The Neapolitan novels are a compelling journey

Another great book in the Neapolitan series.

Third book of the #NeapolitanianQuartet is done ✔️! It‘s neither very dramatic nor full of action, but you really get to follow these two women through every stage of their life, both with good & bad decisions, and I really love it.

#ElenaFerrante

Dang, that was good on the reread!

I forgot most of it, other than certain images, and I‘m so glad I didn‘t watch the show before rereading (it‘s a phenomenal adaptation though! Beautifully done, feeling both modern and old, steeped in cultural richness, soaking us in an Italian purview that is only possible if authentically made in that country).

But enough about the show. Anyone who hasn‘t read Ferrante: you have to give this a try.

We had become for each other abstract entities, so that now I could invent her for myself both as an expert in computers and as a determined and implacable urban guerrilla, while she, in all likelihood, could see me both as the stereotype of the successful intellectual and as a cultured and well-off woman….

In the still dark sky there was a weak bluish light that licked the low buildings, the muddy weeds and refuse.

Another great read! I‘ve only got the last one in the quartet to go.

A book of flawed and difficut characters. Beautiful writting. It is an interesting time for me to have read this book as a 40 year friendship is going through a really rough patch. One more book in the series! 4 🌟
First square on the board complete!
#bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

Ultimately, it was a pleasure, once again, to immerse myself in Lila and Elena‘s “furious friendship“. The story naturally progresses beyond the bounds of their Naples neighbourhood and the youthful concerns of the previous Neapolitan novels, a very logical continuation akin to a well-written biography. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/those-who-leave-and-those-who-stay-elena-fe...

What intrigues me most about this series is thinking about past friendships and what kind of influence they‘ve had.

All this and listening to the new Taylor swift album. I just miss a fireplace to have the perfect cosy afternoon

Starting book 3 of the Serie. Reading in Italian is taking me longer but it's good for me to practice ;)

11-22-20: My 96th finished book of 2020! The friendship of Lila and Elena continues in book 3 of the series amid marriages, love, death, children, politics and jealousies. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #thosewholeaveandthosewhostay #elenaferrante 👍🏼📖#️⃣9️⃣6️⃣

Yesterday‘s Thrifts. Some mugs to add to my ever expanding collection, #LitsyLove #JustBecause stamped, recycled paper stationery, a weekly journal for 2021 & 3 books. I‘ve all the Neapolitan novels now but have only read the 1st 1. What a cliffhanger! I didn‘t love the TV series but will try again 1 day. I‘m trying to get back into embroidery & the bottom book still had its stencils for the bargain price of $2! Plus a vintage dress? Nightie?

“Each of us narrates our life as it suits us.”

You want to improve your conditions and the conditions of these people? You‘re convinced that you, and they, starting from here, from what you are now, will join the victorious march of the proletariat of the whole world? No way. March to become what? Now and forever workers?

Love this saga so much! Was not as good as the first two, but I can tell is gearing up for the final installment!

Book #3 shows so much growth in Lenu, yet such trepidation of success. Meanwhile Lila‘s life is a giant chess piece being moved by exactly whom? “As usual it seemed to her that she could enter and leave my life without any worries, as if we were still a single thing and there was no need to ask how are you, how are things, am I disturbing you.”

How accurate can this be?

Filed under quarantine reads ✨😌

I started this back in August and hit a wall about 125 pages in. I re-started it, slowed down around the 125-page mark again but powered through and then devoured it. Ferrante has woven such a beautiful story and Goldstein has done a tremendous job with the translation. Looking forward to the last book in the series.

Third book finished for #24b42020

This is number 3 in the series. I read the first two back to back, but now had a big gap before reading this one. I enjoyed hearing how things are going to Elena and Lina. Also all the other characters. You learn a lot about the politics in Italy at that time, which I knew next to nothing! #bookcover #elenaferrante

#gratefulreads - day 9 is book and snack, I have started this today. Glad to get back to this world of Ferrante
@OriginalCyn620 @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

A cup of tea and this wonderful book .. while on my break at work ... this is the third book in the series .. I‘m being a bit slow at reading at the moment but I just love the story of Elena and Lila and their neighbourhood and family and conflicts and growth .... it‘s wonderfully written ! 📚

I can‘t wait to see how Elena and Lila navigate through adulthood. What a great series.

Just finished reading The Story of a new name ... and managed to find the third and final volume of the Neopolitan series in a second hand book shop in Morecombe ... so excited to read the last two books I‘m loving the series so far ... there is such depth In Her writing and such emotional detail and description ...

Another month, another TBR I‘ll never get through. My #AugustTBR is a lot of carry over from July, the rest of my #14books14weeks books. I‘m not holding out a lot of faith in making much progress this month - we‘re in the middle of a bunch of renos that at this point, seem like they‘ll never end.

As Lila and Lenu get older, marry and have children, their story keeps getting better and better. Ferrante is so good at describing the relationship between girlfriends and spouses.

One more book in this Neapolitan series. Good stuff!

It‘s my #24in48 #stacksandsnacks!

I‘m hoping to polish off my three library books and then at least one or two other books over the course of my 24 hours.

I‘m undecided about picking Sophie‘s World and Less at some point this weekend. I‘m about 1/3 through Sophie‘s World and enjoying it but it‘s a slower read. Less is my Book Club book and I‘m not looking forward to it...

Very good!

It‘s too hot to do anything but read!

The third instalment of the Neapolitan saga sees Elena and Lila as wives and mothers, with careers that rise and fall as relationships do the same. I have completely bought into this series and with this one finishing at a critical point I can‘t wait to listen to the final book.

I really do enjoy these delves into Italian life. The historic context is so interesting and the two MCs are wonderfully complex.