Tuesday, December 1, 2020

The Story of a New Name (5*)


The second part of Ferrante's engrossing Neapolitan quartet is very, very intense.  Ferrante presents marital rape explicitly enough for even a Neanderthal to vote for conviction in a jury trial.  And while it would take somebody with far greater psychological insight than me to explain why a remarkably intelligent adolescent girl would choose to lose her virginity with an older man who once molested her, her deeply disturbing act rings true nevertheless.  I love spending time with Lila and Lenu in an interior world where men play second banana for a change.

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