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cjmattos's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The writing was incredible, as always. However, I wished some of the mysteries had been solved. I felt it lacked some sort of closure.
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Death of parent
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
virginia_vex's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Addiction, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy
ayanaph's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I messaged a friend halfway through about how each woman decides to deal with their childhood trauma from growing up in the neighbourhood in different ways. Lenu tries to escape the neighbourhood and craft a new life but realises the neighbourhood is part of who she is. Her family suffer as she leaves them behind. And Lina tries to stay in the neighbourhood and improve it while never seeing the world. Her family suffer in the neighbourhood even though she does try to help them.
The scenes of Lenu spending time with her mum in her mums last months of life are really poignant.
Moderate: Addiction and Death of parent
therecoveringbookworm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Child death, Homophobia, and Infidelity
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Transphobia, and Death of parent
Minor: Racial slurs
steph_ha's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Addiction, Infidelity, Physical abuse, and Violence
jeanlobrot98's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Hate crime and Transphobia
Minor: Addiction and Child death
quickermorequickly's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Ferrante does unsettling very, very well. Reading this series (as well as The Days of Abandonment) is like taking stiff shots of very different, equally strong emotions, and then realizing you're drunk, and stumbling through a sinister amusement park. In a good way, I swear!
I found Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay and The Story of the Lost Child to be less enchanting than the earlier installments of the series, if only because I haven't yet been through most of those life stages yet and so the pings of deep recognition or identification were less frequent. But I think the more time I spend on this planet seeing sad and strange things happen, the more I will recognize.
Hats off to Ann Goldstein for this very long project of translation.
Graphic: Death, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, and Kidnapping
Minor: Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Outing, and Abandonment