The Story of a New Name

I had to return this to the library at like, 3/4 of the way through and finally got it back (three months later...), and I wish I hadn't had the break, since it took a little bit of re-reading to get back to the place where I'd left off, and I'd forgotten some of the minor characters and their relevance to the story. I'm glad this one finished with more closure than the first book, but I also found myself getting irritated with Elena toward the end, for being embarrassed/ashamed about literally everything, good or bad, that happens in her life.

Also, I know that it's important to read perspectives that are different than mine, but ... I don't really want to read about men who beat their wives and girlfriends. I get that in this series, the neighborhood is full of violence, kids are raised in violence, and so they don't expect anything different from their spouses, but ... it still really bothers me that this is used a way of communicating instead of having actual conversations about hard things.

Ferrante's writing is lovely, though.