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Teresa's Reviews > The Lost Daughter
The Lost Daughter
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Troubling Love. The Days of Abandonment. The Lost Daughter. Throw these titles up in the air and whichever lands on whichever book, it would fit. (Not the covers, though: each is uniquely apt.) Ferrante's first-person female narrators could almost be the same woman at different stages of life, except for the three being too close in age and possessing different voices. They are creative women with similar Neapolitan mothers, though with different family ties: single, childless Delia, a cartoonist whose job is barely spoken of, comes from an abusive home; writer Olga, deserted by her husband, has two young children; and here it's a slightly older Leda, a divorced English literature professor with two adult daughters.
Maybe I'm getting used to Ferrante, or more likely it's Leda's dispassionate tone, because I didn't find this one as unsettling as the previous two, though its themes (especially the one at its core) are arguably even more provocative. I admired the novel's circularity and its repetition of lost daughters, including a reference to a story called Olivia if I'm correct in believing it's the Italian folktale that Italo Calvino collected under the title of Olive.*
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* Please see Heath's comment in message 5 for an Olivia.
Maybe I'm getting used to Ferrante, or more likely it's Leda's dispassionate tone, because I didn't find this one as unsettling as the previous two, though its themes (especially the one at its core) are arguably even more provocative. I admired the novel's circularity and its repetition of lost daughters, including a reference to a story called Olivia if I'm correct in believing it's the Italian folktale that Italo Calvino collected under the title of Olive.*
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* Please see Heath's comment in message 5 for an Olivia.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
February 23, 2015
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Finished Reading
February 24, 2015
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Kalliope
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Feb 24, 2015 11:53AM
I still have to read my first Ferrante... Should they be read in any particular order?
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Kalliope wrote: "I still have to read my first Ferrante... Should they be read in any particular order?"No, these don't have to be. Though if you are planning on reading them all, you might want to start with Troubling Love, only because it is her first and leads into themes that she writes of later, but really it's not necessary.
Agreed, Teresa, the dispassionate tone is familiar but so arresting and her ability never ceases to amaze me to find themes which resonate so vividly with her readers - "How foolish to think you can tell your children about yourself before they're at least fifty. To ask to be seen by them as a person and not as a function. "
Mark wrote: "Agreed, Teresa, the dispassionate tone is familiar but so arresting and her ability never ceases to amaze me to find themes which resonate so vividly with her readers - "How foolish to think you ca..."I remember thinking that a great quote as well, Mark.
I was curious about the reference to Olivia too. Since Leda’s area of study is English lit, the Bloomsbury group in particular, I think it refers to Dorothy Bussy’s 1949 novel Olivia, published by Leonard and Virginia Woolf’s Hogarth publishing press.
Heath wrote: "I was curious about the reference to Olivia too. Since Leda’s area of study is English lit, the Bloomsbury group in particular, I think it refers to Dorothy Bussy’s 1949 novel Olivia, published by ..."Thank you so much for this, Heath. Now I need to reread this book. ;)
I see that Bussy is the sister of Strachey (a founding member of the Bloomsbury group, as I'm sure you know).
Great review, Teresa. I had no idea about the reference, thank you for that.
Raul wrote: "Great review, Teresa. I had no idea about the reference, thank you for that."Thanks for commenting, Raul. I see that I need to add a reference to Heath's comment in my review.
I enjoyed reading your review, Teresa. I just finished this, but have not reviewed/rated yet. I loved all four Neapolitan Novels of Ferrante's and I could see many themes and types of characters from this book showing up in those. I love her writing and way of illustrating the human condition in her stories. I'm having a hard time picturing how this will be made into a film (so much interiority!), but it has a great cast, and I see it made quite a splash at The Venice Film Festival in September.
Suzy wrote: "I enjoyed reading your review, Teresa. I just finished this, but have not reviewed/rated yet. I loved all four Neapolitan Novels of Ferrante's and I could see many themes and types of characters fr..."Thanks so much, Suzy. I ended up reading the Neapolitan Novels after this one and also her latest when it came out. Spotting themes and characters across books is one of my favorite things to do.
I haven't heard much about the movie yet. I do like Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Teresa wrote: "Spotting themes and characters across books is one of my favorite things to do."Same here! I did the same for Ali Smith's Seasonal Quartet.
Here's an article about Gyllenhaal's film. Interesting coincidence that it stars Olivia Coleman. :)
https://www.indiewire.com/2021/09/the...
Suzy wrote: "I did the same for Ali Smith's Seasonal Quartet."Ditto. I hope to one day reread those one after the other.
Thanks for the link.
Excellent review - I saw the Colman film first, then read the book. I thought it did very well with the interiority.
Emmkay wrote: "Excellent review - I saw the Colman film first, then read the book. I thought it did very well with the interiority."Thank you, Emmkay. I still need to see it! One of these days.
