This is a story of overlapping couples who are opposites, all of them drawing together to create a larger human design. The dissimilar men have been bThis is a story of overlapping couples who are opposites, all of them drawing together to create a larger human design. The dissimilar men have been best friends since school, as have the contrasting women, and they meet and marry in heterosexual complements. Each couple gives birth to a daughter, also opposites from one another, who become best friends. And then there are the boys they desire, as well as the relationships with each parent, all clashing and complementing in waves.
But the most interesting dynamics are between every pair of the four adults, twisting and weaving together in ways that give unusual strength to the whole. So, when the “striding cheerful giant� in the group, the one with “torrents of energy,� suddenly and unexpectedly dies, it leaves them frayed, falling and scrambling to land.
I opened this book having no idea what to expect: I’d read nothing about it, only saw enough five stars from respected gr friends to pique my curiosity about the author. When Zachary, a vibrant, giving, art collector dies unexpectedly on page 4, the book launches us into both past and present to make sense of the irreparably altered bonds. I wondered then if I were a masochist to continue to read: on January 1st of this year, my vibrant, giving, art-collecting father also unexpectedly died, shredding the fabric of my family forever. But, unlike jarring moments during other reads, I found this book cathartic. Whatever the conflicts between the characters, their love for truth and for one another was dominant. That’s not to say it wasn’t fraught and complex: this work is smart and real and written in gorgeous, insightful prose. The high quality, along with the resonating different circumstances, made it the perfect read.
The novel is told in a masterful integration of close third, switching point-of-views quickly, yet seamlessly. We learn where each character comes from, their very different backgrounds that made them who they are, providing us with social and political context as well as psychological. And they are all artists of one kind or another–a painter, a poet, a collector, and a self-image maker, which plays a large part in how they move and grow in the world. Christine, the protagonist and painter, is the one whose struggle is revealed most to us, and her creative expression is key to these relationships, most importantly the one to herself.
“You could not have everything: the whole wisdom of life amounted to that. Whatever you had, was instead of something else.�
I rarely reread, but I’m already looking forward to entering this world again....more
Reading Elena Ferrante’s second book in her Neapolitan series felt like a return to a time when working-class teens married young and were forced to pReading Elena Ferrante’s second book in her Neapolitan series felt like a return to a time when working-class teens married young and were forced to play the role of adults. How well Ferrante captured this mix of adult responsibility and adolescent urge in each character, as well as in the overall tone! I felt immersed in the delicious excitement of girlhood friendship and first times, and how all decisions must be navigated within the loyalty of the one friendship that matters most.
Lately, I feel like everything matters more than it used to. The problems we’re all dealing with seem now to be of the highest stakes. But perhaps life is really a series of crossing thresholds? I believe one of the hardest is the transition to adulthood: going from that place where your stomach is in knots from all that happens to you, to being faced with the choices that will shape the rest of your life.
This book is wonderful at capturing what it’s like to rise above your community of origin, and what it’s like to abandon it even if it means you fall. Here, the experiences are of ambitious, intelligent, female teens marked by a working class neighborhood where violence is the primary language. The friendship between the two women is symbiotic: They live without each other for long stretches, but the threads of one another are permanently interwoven, forcing a constant seesaw of success and sacrifice. Of course, this leads to betrayals.
Ferrante also wonderfully captures the fate of a smart, gorgeous, hard-working girl whose only choice for her future lies in which man she will attach to, and how she will use other influential males in the community. We see how she tries to let academic learning fall away because there’s no use for it in her every day, and yet her drive to devour ideas is not easily thwarted. To change would mean to no longer be compatible with the world she grew up in. So, one half of this pair makes the decision to go, one to stay; both decisions can be lonely, both exciting, both incomplete.
Ferrante is good. I like her more than I thought I would. Her first two novels in this series are relatable and immersive, and of the first three, this was my favorite. I liked book-one more than I thought I would, too. This one goes deeper, and I think a reader can start here, and later read the first for background. Be warned, however: this one ends on a cliffhanger.
One of my favorite creative writing exercises was to simply write “I remember…� and follow it with all the memories that come. Anytime you get stuck, One of my favorite creative writing exercises was to simply write “I remember…� and follow it with all the memories that come. Anytime you get stuck, you'd start over again with “I remember�.� It was effortless � no editing, no trying, just flow. And it was great to share out loud, the results moving, sometimes even poetic. We even played with variations, such as, “I don’t remember�.� Well, I had NO idea that this exercise began with a book by an artist, Joe Brainard, in 1975! He wrote 160 pages of simple, honest sentences and paragraphs that form a unique memoir. It becomes a glimpse of life in midcentury US, the life of a boy exploring his sexual orientation through crushes and first times, the life of a young man making his way as an artist in NYC. Some of his memories were my memories, a sign that not much has changed:
“I remember the 4th of July. Sparklers. And stories about how dangerous firecrackers are. I remember being allowed only sparklers. (And I remember only wanting sparklers.)�
Other moments felt revealing the way the postcards in the PostSecret project made me feel. (/book/show/8...) The effect was simple, charming and intimate:
“I remember feeling sorry for kids at church, or school, who had ugly mothers.�
This is an enjoyable read, and � whether you’re looking for inspiration or not � will have you writing your own list of I remembers in no time. ...more
If the words penis, pussy, dick, cunt and cock bother you in print, don’t read this. If you were disappointed by Sarah Waters,� Tipping the Velvet,4.5
If the words penis, pussy, dick, cunt and cock bother you in print, don’t read this. If you were disappointed by Sarah Waters,� Tipping the Velvet, and still want an urban coming-of-age story about performers in a historical setting, but without the sentiment, this may hit the spot. And if you did love Tipping the Velvet, you may love this, too, although this one is about heterosexual love.
There’s an element of fairytale in this story about a boy and a girl who fall in love while living at an orphanage together in 1914-Montreal. O’Neill is unafraid to show a population seeped in sex, as sex is a free power for the poor. It also shows the power of creative minds to express and spread what buoys us in life, and how possession of these gifts separates you from your fellow man, whether they revere or dismiss you.
In a believable reversal of the norm, the boy is molested by a nun, and the author is unafraid to show how pleasure mixes with disgust, how the effect can be passed from person to person, and become a way of life for those without options. The boy and girl age out of the orphanage, and begin separate lives, taking us through the depression era in New York City and Montreal. They’ve never forgotten one another, and it feels like the story is leading up to the two meeting again.
This is the kind of unwholesome tale I like, one that isn’t gratuitous, just showing a way of life unafraid of judgment and not needing to prove a thing. And the whole orientation of the story feels directed towards hope, with the characters using their gifts of kindness, intelligence, and creativity to make the best of the cards dealt, letting the reader laugh and love with them....more
At first, I loved this so much. The portrayal of childhood in all its innocence, yet still such complex feeling and the intensity of first times. The At first, I loved this so much. The portrayal of childhood in all its innocence, yet still such complex feeling and the intensity of first times. The writing never loses its beauty, but the themes become less relational to humans, and more towards the god of organized religion. As I grew up without, I could no longer fully connect - but I suspect lots could. It’s really very short, the already slim book plumped with extras that I enjoyed as much as the story.
Worthwhile, but my first of an author who I suspect peaks with a different work....more
Can we ever really know our parents, our friends? Can we ever really know what goes on in a relationship between two others? Where are the limitationsCan we ever really know our parents, our friends? Can we ever really know what goes on in a relationship between two others? Where are the limitations of this human life, and what might be possible?
The Lightness asks these questions in the form of a coming-of-age story that takes place in a Buddhist summer camp for teens. Each character is specific and alluring, yet ultimately unknowable. The central action takes place among a group of girls, yet their family circumstances are present in all they do. The Buddhist mind faces and accepts what truly is, and responds to this truth without judgment. These girls are fueled by their neuroses. How can they possibly see what is?
Why did I love this book so much? The writing was excellent, yes. But I think it was the longing that really resonated with me: the longing for the unreachable, the impenetrable, the incomprehensible. Temple takes the bewildering teen years and adds layers of confusion by questioning the spiritual and mystical in the absence of adults. And through it all, you feel the longing for their guidance, love, and grounding. These girls are floating without an anchor....more
Updating this to a solid 5 stars, as I keep thinking about it, recommending it, gifting it. If this book keeps resonating for me, it may make it to myUpdating this to a solid 5 stars, as I keep thinking about it, recommending it, gifting it. If this book keeps resonating for me, it may make it to my favorites list.
*
Many of us still carry an event that broke us open, that created and destroyed us all at once. This is a story about that event for a girl, unnamed perhaps because she is all of us, or because she’s still figuring out how to put herself back together. In her drive to understand, she gives full respect to her pain, and the beauty forged from it.
Our girl is 13, and before the story, life goes along much like it does for any girl she knows. She has a mother and a father and a best friend. She does well in school and enjoys ballet lessons. She has no idea that she was born to another family living a parallel life across the city. One day, her father takes her in his car and drops her off at a new address - the address of her “real home� with her “real family.� She goes from only child to sharing a bed with her sister in a bedroom with 3 older brothers, and in a home with parents she never knew. She doesn’t even get to say goodbye to her mother, doesn’t even know if she’s alive. That’s how this story begins.
The question, “why was the girl returned to her birth family,� drives the action forward until it’s replaced by “will she - and therefore, we - ever find out why?� But the simple question also provides space for lots to happen around it, fully immersing us in her new life in the 1970s, in a city near Rome. The gorgeous, interior language, the emotional authenticity, the aliveness of the characters and their relationships, all had me savoring this work while also hungering to know what happens next.
The girl is called L’arminuta, the returned one. We see and feel with her. What she accepts without understanding, what she learns without accepting, and how she absorbs and shares information, all feel authentic. She’s exposed for the first time to baser feelings, like lust and rage, hunger and survival. She finds an ally in her younger sister, Adriana, who is wise beyond her years and navigates her world with strength and dignity. She introduces Adriana to another way of life, too - to privilege that fills bellies, and dreams of escape. She gives Adriana everything she can. And Adriana can’t help but protect L’arminuta from violence and debasement - she wants her untarnished, just the way she arrived. Ìý The only issue I had was with the story’s glimpses into the future. I felt the point of the story could NOT be made without these glimpses, yet it made me miss what wasn’t said from the adult perspective. The message seemed to be that we never really recover from these traumas, but that they are so integral to who we become that to wish them away would also be to lose all their gifts. The gift here for our girl was the lasting relationship with her sister. The future reassures us of this, while also admitting that the pain will never go away.
It turns out that there’s a sequel to this called A Sister’s Story. I enjoyed reading and discussing this moving and personal book with Lisa, and because the story left us both wanting more, we read the sequel together as well.
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