Where is the lying life of adults? - Elena Ferrante

Once upon a time a girl was called ugly by her own father. That changed everything for her. 

The lying life of adults follows our main character Giovanna a young girl who is struggling with growing up and becoming a young woman. Meanwhile, she is struggling with her parent’s struggling relationship, her bizarre friendship with her best friend and her sister and at the same time she is reconnecting with the evil but loving Vittoria, her aunt. 

Ferrante’s writing is truly a work of art. She can write the most disturbing things or the most real things with life and beauty. You could really feel Giovanna’s rage, disappointment, sadness and embarrassment on herself and her family. I felt everything that she was feeling and it felt so real that I felt along side her. 

Giovanna as a character is fantastically written. She truly comes form growing up as a woman in a world where being a woman can be so hard. How it is to grow up in societal standard and the male’s gaze as well as the men that exist around you. How unfortunately it is quite impossible 

Vittoria is another perfectly written character. She might be my favourite character. She is. She is wrong, ugly, angry, mean and terrible. But she is also wonderful and loving. She is the most complicated character I’ve ever read. She seems like she is one thing but she quickly turns around and is a totally different thing. She has layers to peel and that are slowly and carefully and with craft peeled through the book. But by the end of it you still don’t know what and who Vittoria is. Ferrante creates a hero and a villain all in one. 

The rest of the characters are also wonderfully crafted. Giovanna’s mother and father, friends and her parent’s friends. They’re all filled in depth and are crafted with a lot of care. 

The plot itself is complicated and although it doesn’t necessarily take us anywhere, it’s still filled with life. It takes us through a very important time in Giovanna’s life. When she grows up and when she discovers how adults are not perfect but rather children who are just a bit older than you. They lie, they make mistakes and they are sometimes terrible. 

I loved this book, I truly did, I fell in love with Giovanna’s story about growing up and sexuality and sex and family and love. And I wish this touches many others people’s hearts.