Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay

This book is just incredible. It's in this third book of the series that Ferrante's masterstrokes as a writer really become clear. As a reader you see how the stories and experiences of the characters in the previous two books have been illustrated to pave the way and lend an emotional gravitas, visceral realism and acuity to Ferrante's social commentary and observations in Book III without sacrificing nuance.
There's no heavyhandedness here. Instead of the emotional and personal plot elements being sacrified for clunky righteous statements, the poignant personal plot elements and character relationships enrich and in turn are elevated by meta-narratives of social and political themes; there is a balance and carefully woven realism that is utterly distinct and which I can't remember having witnesses a writer balance so deftly. This alone places Ferrante in the firmament of the a contemporary literary canon.

In this book I also really began to see Ferrante's qualities as a writer in how she preserves the consistency of the narrator Lenu's voice, but has imbued each book's a perspective and expression befitting her age and stage of life. We see Lenu's emotional intensity, acute observational skills, imagination, and simple naivete in Book I, and the pace of life is sped up and chaotic and exciting in Book II, here in Book III, Lenu begins to draw more complex inferences as she places herself within a wider world and begins to integrate and apply her theoretical and abstract knowledge to her own life (albeit blind spots and hypocrisy notwithstanding).

It was this book that also really began to resonate with my own experience as a AFAB reader in a more distinct and profound way. I couldn't believe how much of Lenu and Lila were in me and the women in my life.