Name: The Lying Life of Adults
ISBN: 9781432880545

Elena Ferrante

"Giovanna's pretty face is changing, turning ugly, at least so her father thinks. Giovanna, he says, looks more like her Aunt Vittoria every day. But can it be true? Is she really changing? Is she turning into her Aunt Vittoria, a woman she hardly knows but whom her mother and father clearly despise? Surely there is a mirror somewhere in which she can see herself as she truly is. Giovanna is searching for her reflection in two kindred cities that fear and detest one another: Naples of the heights, which assumes a mask of refinement, and Naples of the depths, a place of excess and vulgarity. She moves from one to the other in search of the truth, but neither city seems to offer answers or escape"--

The Lying Life of Adults

Anna Zainab

Kwan Ann Tan

“You can turn ugly because of worries—Angela and Ida had said—and if the worries go away you can be pretty again.” 

“How wonderful to travel, how wonderful to know someone who knows everything, whose intelligence and looks and kindness are extraordinary, and who explains to you the value of what by yourself you wouldn’t be able to appreciate.” 

Amalie Elisabeth

I could no longer be innocent, bebind my thoughts there were other thoughts, childhood was over.

“I feel ugly, like I'm a bad person, and yet I'd like to be loved.”

A powerful new novel set in a divided Naples by Elena Ferrante, the beloved best-selling author of My Brilliant Friend. Giovanna's pretty face has changed: it's turning into the face of an ugly, spiteful adolescent. But is she seeing things as they really are? Into which mirror must she look to find herself and save herself? She is searching for a new face in two kindred cities that fear and detest one another: the Naples of the heights, which assumes a mask of refinement, and the Naples of the depths, which professes to be a place of excess and vulgarity. She moves between these two cities, disoriented by the fact that, whether high or low, the city seems to offer no answer and no escape.

Very readable, but I’m not entirely sure what the story really told

Tom Koss

My first Ferrante following the Neapolitan Novels, and she did not disappoint. Ferrante is a brilliant descriptor of the female experience; the complexities of growing up as a girl. Once again set in Naples, Ferrante turns our gaze to the richer districts, as our main character Giovanna is raised to be prim, proper and intelligent. She carries many similarities to Elena, and the narration of the book reminded me of a compact Neapolitan Novels, what differs is the perspective of a rich girl who thinks she grows with a loving family, only to realise every adult in her life is deceiving her. The Lying Life of Adults describes the rebelling adolescence of a girl who is turning into a woman, who is learning that the world is an unfair place, especially towards women.

deniz

"The Lying Life of Adults" explores a lot of the themes present in Ferrante's other works but it feels less riveting and much smaller in scale (as expected, the novel being a standalone). Here the conflict between the intelligentsia and the coarser class are central to the story and formative to Giovanna's developing sense of personhood and individuality characteristic for adolescence. And as part of Giovanna's growth - physical and mental - what the story allows is for the realisation that refined or unrefined, we are all messy, messy human beings.

Giovanna's pretty face has changed: it's turning into the face of an ugly, spiteful adolescent. But is she seeing things as they really are? Where must she look to find her true reflection and a life she can claim as her own? Giovanna's search leads her to two kindred cities that fear and detest one another: the Naples of the heights, which assumes a mask of refinement, and the Naples of the depths, a place of excess and vulgarity. Adrift, she vacillates between these two cities, falling into one then climbing back to the other. This powerful new novel set in a divided Naples by bestselling author Elena Ferrante is a singular portrayal of the transition from childhood to adolescence to adulthood.

Lying Life of Adults

giulia

"I could no longer be innocent, behind my thoughts there were other thoughts, childhood was over."

lexie

i really connected with giovanni, she’s very insecure and she has daddy issues and her dad’s an asshole. she’s a rebel. i liked it.

jess

Yes, the everlasting bond we all can't escape from - family, also sicko, eccentric, cant-go-on-a-day-without-gossiping relatives that ruined your life, this book revolves around that notion. 
Giovanna, before growing up in such ambiguous, disguised and intoxicated family of fiction, was a happy child, within her own safe reality until her heart seeks satisfaction of the instinctive need and disguise of sin a.k.a the desire to know Vittoria, the aunt so much hated by her parents, that eventually plunge her deep into a sick reality - which basically was the whole plot of the book revolving her perception to every aspect until the end of the story where she leaves for Venice, to become the "adults" that has shaped her.

Patricia Nelson

We read this as part of book club, and I'm glad I read it, though I'm not sure I would have picked it up otherwise. This author has been on my radar for a while and the acclaim made me want to read something of hers. This book is well written, but may not have been for me right now with the world feeling so heavy. I had to take my time reading it and can appreciate the author's craft and ability to bring you right into the thoughts of the main character. It's gritty and thought-provoking and uncomfortable and very well done. It also impresses me that a book in translation still reads so well. This may be one of the book club choices I look back on and I'm glad it was chosen because it took me out of my comfort zone.

Tracy Brinkerhoff

If I’m being honest, this book would have been more enjoyable if I care more about womanhood. I don’t necessarily understand everything that comes with being a woman and that’s what drew me to Giovanna as a character. It felt like she had ever truly felt comfortable in her skin. She was very real and true when it came to going into all of the events that make us people whether it be the product of divorce, academic failure, or a lack of desire to understand the feelings of others. 

Hellboy TCR

This, I felt, was Ferrante's best so far (I haven't read the last 2 novels from Neapolitan series, But i read Days of Abandonment, Lost Daughter and My Brilliant Friend).

Saima A

This was so slow but maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind to read it. It was really thought provoking though.

Not my favourite Ferrante, but still an excellent one. I love that essentially all the books she writes are more or less about the same thing but each is really distinct in character and somehow manages to examine the problem from a different facet 

Jeremy Boyd

A book that feels best in fragments, in it's overlap of the ugly in adolescent self-image, and adult illusions.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post * O, The Oprah Magazine * TIME Magazine * NPR * Financial Times * New York Post * Kirkus Reviews * Harper's Bazaar AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A NATIONAL INDIE BESTELLER In this powerful novel set in a divided Naples by Elena Ferrante, the New York Times best-selling author of My Brilliant Friend, fourteen-year-old Giovanna is searching for her reflection in two kindred cities that fear and detest one another: Naples of the heights, which wears a mask of refinement, and Naples of the depths, a place of excess and vulgarity, where her guide is the unforgettable Aunt Vittoria. With this new novel about the passage from childhood to adolescence to adulthood, Ferrante gives her readers another gripping, highly addictive, Neapolitan story. "Another spellbinding coming-of-age tale from a master."--People Magazine

Dora Tominic

Disclaimer: this is not a review.

I was so excited to read this book. The beginning was so exciting. It took me longer than expected. It took me a long time to read it. I am so tired.

The Lying Life of Adults

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