The Lying Life of Adults: A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
A powerful coming-of-age story set in Naples
Elena Ferrante author Ann Goldstein translator
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Europa Editions (UK) Ltd
Published:1st Sep '20
Should be back in stock very soon
This hardback is available in another edition too:
- Paperback£9.99(9781787703124)
Giovanna's journey in The Lying Life of Adults explores the challenges of adolescence and the quest for identity amidst familial and societal pressures.
In The Lying Life of Adults, the story revolves around Giovanna, a young girl grappling with the tumultuous transition from childhood to adolescence. As she navigates the complexities of her changing identity, she begins to perceive her once-beautiful face morphing into something she perceives as ugly and spiteful. This unsettling transformation prompts her to question her surroundings and the authenticity of her relationships. Giovanna embarks on a quest for self-discovery, seeking to understand who she really is and where she fits in the world.
Her journey takes her between two contrasting cities in Naples, each representing different facets of life. The Naples of the heights boasts an air of sophistication, while the Naples of the depths reveals a raw and unrefined reality. This dichotomy symbolizes the struggle many face when caught between societal expectations and personal desires. As she oscillates between these two worlds, Giovanna confronts themes of betrayal, sexuality, and the often painful process of growing up.
Elena Ferrante masterfully captures the intensity of adolescence in The Lying Life of Adults, presenting a narrative that is both poignant and deeply reflective. The book explores the complexities of female sexual awakening, family dynamics, and the search for authenticity in a world filled with contradictions. Readers are invited to experience Giovanna's emotional turmoil and the profound insights she gains along the way.
"Modern, urgent, truthful." -- Lucy Hughes-Hallett * The Telegraph *
"Elena Ferrante is an expert chronicler of adolescence and its many indignities, as well as its erratic, overwhelming passions." * The Observer *
"Ferrante is unbeatable at pulling you inside the mind of a teenage girl, making you see how everything that looks irrational from the outside - the moods, the silences, the jealousy, tears, fears and resentments - are utterly logical and reasonable." * The Times *
“Layer by layer, piece by piece, with her customary deftness, Ferrante builds up her story, introducing new characters and bits of information, as Giovanna’s once safe and sane world becomes ever more slippery…. Ferrante has a voice very much her own.” * The TLS *
“The most intense writing about the experiences and interior life of a girl on the cusp of adulthood that I have ever read.” -- Isabel Berwick
“Exquisitely moody.” -- Merve Emre * The Atlantic *
“Elena Ferrante is so good.… an astonishing, deeply moving tale of the sorts of wisdom, beauty and knowledge that remain as unruly as the determinedly inharmonious faces of these women.” -- Lara Feigel * The Guardian *
“Ferrante’s page-turner talent for suspenseful storytelling and scenes teeming with vivid characters finds terrific scope … From this gorgeous and squalid two-tier city that haunts her imagination comes another compulsive novel.” -- Peter Kemp * The Sunday Times *
“The accurate and evocative depiction of adolescence is also a significant factor in the fierce devotion inspired by the works of the Italian writer Elena Ferrante … Ann Goldstein, who has translated all of Ferrante’s works into English, does so again here with precision and poise.” -- Miranda Collinge * Esquire *
“An incendiary portrait of the volcanic currents of sex and betrayal rumbling away beneath polite society.” -- Anthony Cummins * The Mail on Sunday *
“Ferrante is a hypnotist.” -- Frances Wilson * The Spectator *
“Compulsive.” -- Alex O'Donnell * The Times *
“Ferrante is finally back. Her new novel, the first since her blockbusting Neapolitan Quartet finished, takes us back to Naples.” * The Times *
“The Lying Life of Adults simply enriches a magnificent canon which began with Troubling Love nearly 30 years ago. There’s not a weak page, let alone a weak novel, among the eight to date.” -- David Nice * The Arts Desk *
"The Lying Life of Adults has the magnitude of great literature - from Balzac to Stendhal to the always beloved Proust. It is a necessary book." * Il Manifesto *
“A must for Ferrante fans.” * The Times *
ISBN: 9781787702363
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
336 pages