The Story of a New Name

I struggle not giving this book 5-stars. I say that because I’m emotionally into this story. I was up all night reading and didn’t close my eyes until the sun was good and up. Someone else reviewed that three-quarters into the story she was done. So was I but it had more to do with losing interest in Lina/Lila. She felt to be the embodiment of the mean, stagnate and abusive neighborhood they grew up in. She had betrayed Lenu in the worst way and suddenly my interest in reading this series had changed. I was done with Lina and am now reading to see if Lenu finds a better version of herself to believe in and become. And so, to me, Lina is an unapologetic and abusive friend. Lenu is extremely co-dependent. Okay, those are the elements of drama a story needs, HOWEVER, I can’t bring myself to care about Lina and her ex-husband, boyfriends, brother and his attachments. I’m done with the old neighborhood, and I’m sure that was the deliberate effect the author wanted to inspire. Only in my extreme nature, I find myself skipping through all the parts that involved Lina after the betrayal. I think that’s why a lot of readers are finding it difficult to continue. It’s like after that, all the parts about Lina are tedious. It’s as if I’m reading “blah, blah, blah, blah, blah…” And as a writer myself, I’m not sure how to feel about that. I’m disappointed in myself while praising the brilliance of the author for making me feel that way. However, I will finish this series and hopefully, Lina will arc. But I am GREATLY invested in Lenu’s arc. I’m hoping she’ll fall in love with herself and gain a voice and some self-esteem, it seems the story is going in that direction.

Although I have taken many writing classes over the last few years — both as an undergrad and on-line with published writers — I cannot fully express with words the appreciation and awe I have, not only for “The Story of a New Name” but for all four of the Neapolitan novels. The only other contemporary book I have ever read that even approaches Ferrante’s epic novels is “A Suitable Boy” by Vikram Seth.
The stories are at once of a people, a place, and a time, yet they reveal the complexities of the characters as they change through the trajectory of their lives in Naples — which is in the midst of a cultural change itself. This, is of course, how our lives will appear if, say, in advanced age we sit down with pen and paper or computer, to tell our grandchildren just how we were in our lifetime.

I have lived through the 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and am still moving on. Imagine how surprised my grandchildren (or their children) will be when they who have only known me as kind, loving “Nana” read my journals! Wish I could be there and wish I could write as well as Ms Ferrante.

This book picks up where the last left off, drawing you right back into the conflicts with which the first ended. As the book goes, on, more conflicts come piling on, and we see that for Lila and Lenu their time as young adults is fraught with difficulties.Their friendship, as before, continues tumultuous.

I think I am now done with the series. The betrayal, jealousy, romance here, all take on the quality of a soap opera as the events come thick and fast and everyone becomes more entangled. The unevenness of the friendship, and the divergence of their lives began to feel predictable to me, and the increasingly self-referential nature of the narrative felt worn. Mostly though, what I primarily took away from this book and the last was a feeling of unpleasantness, not alleviated by any especially eloquent phrases or gripping passages.

Masterful handling of point of view, Ferrante uses Lina’s journals to allow Elena to give both her p.o.v. and Lina’s. I love the entangled relationship of these two friends – the co-dependent, twisted, competitive side note of it. It reminds of the kind of relationship of sisters or childhood friends. Elena never quite trusts her own achievements, doubts her brilliance, believes Lina is the genesis of all her thoughts. Lina is so self destructive that the reader thinks she is mentally unstable. The place where this all plays out – Naples – could be any hood where people are poor and resources are limited, where there is a society of rich and poor, class and underclass. Lina could have been anything she wanted but she chooses money to boost her sense of self rather than persue her art, creativity, her intellect. It’s a tragedy really. The text is feminist, social and political without preaching. Issues of then – the 60s, 70s, abuse of women, social and economic disadvantages, political thought – are still issues to be challenged today.

The deep down ugly destructiveness of patriarchy, that wrecker of lives and dreams. The awful invidiousness of comparing oneself to others. The selfish greed that keeps the majority in poverty and the minority in lavish wealth. The raw exposure of these social ills are for what I praise the author. Not the melodramatic teenage love triangle and the steamy sexual scenes. Those I found overwrought. Yet the social issues and class struggles are serious and ongoing in every culture and the author brings them to light in the Italian culture of the last century making the novel a worthy read, although, for me, not as captivating as the first book in this series, My Brilliant Friend.

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