The Lying Life of Adults by  Elena Ferrante

The Lying Life of Adults

Elena Ferrante

This is raw emotion pinned down into precise social context in the Naples of the 1990s - a fast read where you worry for Giovanna on every page. Ferrante is brilliant on sex, friendship, envy, aspiration - complicated and blunt at the same time. It's not just the lies the adults round you tell, it's the lies you tell yourself as you grow up. Can't wait for a sequel.

Extract

‘Did you see how she batted her eyelashes? And the move with her hand, to smooth her hair? And her voice? Of yes, uh-huh, professor, of course.’

I laughed, really like a child, my old childish admiration for that man was returning. I laughed loudly, but in embarrassment. I didn’t know whether to let go or remind myself that he didn’t deserve that admiration and scold him: you told her that men are always wrong and should assume their responsibilities, but you have never done that with Mamma, or with me. You’re a liar, Papa, a liar who frightens me just because of that good will you can draw out when you want to.

 

Parallels
  • Little Women by Louisa M Alcott
  • The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
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Explicit sexual Content