The Story of a New Name: A Novel (Neapolitan Novels, 2)
A novel in the bestselling quartet about two very different women and their complex friendship: "Everyone should read anything with Ferrante's name on it" (The Boston Globe).
The follow-up to My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name continues the epic New York Times-bestselling literary quartet that has inspired an HBO series, and returns us to the world of Lila and Elena, who grew up together in post-WWII Naples, Italy.
In The Story of a New Name, Lila has recently married and made her entrée into the family business; Elena, meanwhile, continues her studies and her exploration of the world beyond the neighborhood that she so often finds stifling. Marriage appears to have imprisoned Lila, and the pressure to excel is at times too much for Elena. Yet the two young women share a complex and evolving bond that is central to their emotional lives and a source of strength in the face of life's challenges. In these Neapolitan Novels, Elena Ferrante, "one of the great novelists of our time" (The New York Times), gives us a poignant and universal story about friendship and belonging, a meditation on love and jealousy, freedom and commitment--at once a masterfully plotted page-turner and an intense, generous-hearted family saga.
"Imagine if Jane Austen got angry and you'll have some idea of how explosive these works are."--The Australian
"Brilliant . . . captivating and insightful . . . the richness of her storytelling is likely to please fans of Sara Gruen and Silvia Avallone."--Booklist (starred review)
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Community Reviews
The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante
471 pages
What’s it about?
This is book two in the Neopolitan Novel series by Elena Ferrante. I really liked the first book- but felt like it was an introduction to a very Italian cast of characters. This second book really picked up steam. The book continues following the lives of Lenu and Lila. Two friends whose lives go in different directions.
What did it make me think about?
This book makes me think about the complexity of relationships, the pull of family, and how our early years are always a part of who we become.
Should I read it?
This was such a fun and engaging book. However, almost without you realizing it, Ferrante writes with layered precision about family and relationships. This book has so much to say. I can not wait to pick up book 3!
Quote-
"I understood that I had arrived there full of pride and realized that- in good faith, certainly, with affection- I had made that whole journey mainly to show her what she had lost and what I had won. But she had known from the moment I appeared, and now, risking tensions with her workmates, and fines, she was explaining to me that I had won nothing, that in the world there is nothing to win, that her life was full of varied and foolish adventures as much as mine, and that time simply slipped away without meaning, and it was good just to see each other every so often to hear the mad sound of the brain of one echo in the mad sound of the brain of the other."
If you like this try-
The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra
A God In Ruins by Kate Atkinson
The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman
A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
Two stand out quotes
“Inside was the struggle to leave her, the old conviction that without her nothing truly important would ever happen to me”
“she was explaining to me that I had won nothing, that in the world there is nothing to win, that her life was full of varied and foolish adventures as much as mine, and that time simply slipped away without any meaning, and it was good just to see each other every so often to hear the mad sound of the brain of one echo in the mad sound of the brain of the other.”
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